Category Archives: Wrestling
Not so nostalgic for Mardi Gras
I apologize for not posting anything for so long. Then again, there wasn’t much to write about except the stupid Chiefs, who had their stupid little parade last week.
It was Mardi Gras two days ago. Not that it mattered much to me.
The last parade I went to was the Krewe of Thoth the Sunday before Mardi Gras 1994 (13 February). I knew a few of the men riding in the parade. Those men are still riding in it 29 years later. It would be the only parade I would consider attending if I ever went back to my native city for Mardi Gras.
Thoth is the longest parade within the city of New Orleans. It starts further upriver (west) than every other one, commencing at the corner of State Street and Tchoupitoulas (pronounced CHOP-it-oolas) Street near the Mississippi River. It proceeds lakebound (north) on Henry Clay Avenue, downtown bound (east) on Magazine Street, lakebound (north) on Napoleon Avenue, then downtown bound (east) on St. Charles Avenue, the main route for every parade in the city except Endymion, which parades in a different neighborhood.
The reasoning behind its starting point is to bring a parade to many who cannot attend parades.. Thoth takes in several group home as well as Children’s Hosptial, one of the best pediatric facilities in the United States.
When I attended Thoth for three years (1992-94), the parade started at Henry Clay and Magazine, went south on Henry Clay, turned onto Tchoupitoulas, went east to State, then north on State to Magazine, where it followed the current route.
I stood at the corner of Henry Clay and Tchoupitoulas. When the float carrying the men I knew came by, I was bombarded by beads, doubloons, cups and assorted other trinkets. I got pushed by more than a few kids for the cheap stuff. My dad, who was with me for the first two of those parades, just said “let them have it”, and I agreed.
I went to Rex, King of Carnvial, in 1991 and ‘92. Nothing to write home about. Everyone should see it once, but after that, take it or leave it.
I saw Endymion, which is the largest krewe in terms of members and floats, a few times in the 1990s. I wasted my timeevery time.
I never attended Bacchus, which is the Sunday night before Mardi Gras. Too many people. Way too dangerous, as evidenced by a shooting at this year’s parade which left one dead and four injured.
And I never, ever dared venture to the French Quarter. I didn’t go to the Quarter much during my time living in Louisiana, and certainly not during Mardi Gras.
There are things I miss about Louisiana. Mardi Gras isn’t one of them.
Another thing I don’t miss is the Kansas high school wrestling state tournaments.
Kansas can’t get all of its grapplers under a single roof like Louisiana, Missouri, Nebraska and several other states. Instead, the boys are split between three locations and the girls at two.
It would not be hard to put six to eight mats on the floor at Bramalage Coliseum at Kansas State or Koch Arena at Wichita State (it is not practical for Allen Fieldhouse due to its construction) and hold the tournament over three or four days.
Instead, Kansas only wants to hold it for two days and forces fans to sometimes choose one site or the other.
I haven’t covered events since the spring of 2015. I don’t miss it one bit. It has meant a lot less stress for everyone. I don’t need any more stress given my myriad of health issues.
Voicing my opinion
This letter to the editor appears in Sunday’s edition of the Kansas City Star.
High school wrestling concluded in most states last month with state tournaments. While the four states bordering Kansas all held their championships for all classifications in one location, Kansas held its tournaments in three locales.
Kansas is one of the few states that hold tournaments in more than one location. In fact, only one state, Connecticut, uses more than three sites for its state tournament.
Sadly, this is typical of the Kansas State High School Activities Association, which forces fans to pick and choose one location to watch state championship competition, except for track and field.
I’m sure many coaches in the Kansas City area envy Missouri, where all the wrestling championships are under the same roof at Mizzou Arena, instead of spread out among Park City, Salina and Hays.
The KSHSAA would not have to hunt far and wide for an appropriate site for state wrestling. Intrust Bank Arena in Wichita, the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka and the Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina are all excellent options.
Get with it, KSHSAA. The student-athletes and coaches deserve better.
Wrestling’s last hurrah
The final day of the 2014-15 Kansas high school wrestling season is upon us. By 8 p.m. tonight, 56 state champions across the four divisions will be crowned, and four teams will have large new trophies to add to their collections. For most wrestlers at the smaller schools, track and field or golf is next. Some will move on to baseball at the larger schools. And some might well just not do anything until it’s time for summer conditioning for football.
Norton fell to third in the team standings at the end of the first night of the Class 3-2-1A tournament, but the Bluejays, who are going for their third consecutive title, fifth in the last six years and eighth since 2004, are only 11.5 points behind Hoisington for the top spot. The big problem for Norton is that it only has one finalist, 106-pounder Ryan Johnson, while Hoisington and Rossville have three finalists apiece.
Johnson is one of four finalists from the Mid-Continent League. The others are Ellis’ Bryce Younger (113), Smith Center’s David Hileman (126) and Phillipsburg’s Lucas Jacobs (220). Jacobs is the Panthers only wrestler in the state tournament, making Phillipsburg one of four schools with only one wrestler at the state tournament who is in a final. The others are Hoxie’s Tristan Porsch (132), Greeley County’s Caleb Austin (138) and Troy’s Tristan Speer (195). Speer will be defending his 195-pound title tonight against Oberlin’s Rex Diederich.
Russell’s bid for its first state champion since 1969 will have to wait another year. Dalton Brand lost a 6-4 heartbreaker in the 182-pound semifinal to Rossville’s Isaac Luellen. Sadly, Luellen will not have the best competition for the title bout.
Norton’s Gavin Lively was disqualified from the quarterfinals after he was called for an illegal slam against Kody Collins of Doniphan West. Collins could not continue after the injury period ended, and since Livley’s slam was determined to have caused Collins’ injury, Collins was declared the victor.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve witnessed this.
At the 1999 Louisiana Division I state tournament, Kris Louvierre from Lafayette was called for a slam in the 125-pound championship bout. Louvierre was ahead on points, but since his opponent from Brother Martin, Richard Dixon, could not continue, the Crusader was awarded the state championship. The six points Brother Martin earned (four from the win, two more for the DQ) was enough to push the Crusaders five points past Jesuit for Brother Martin’s first state championship since 1987. It would be the first of five in a row for my alma mater.
Tomorrow will be a day to catch up on paperwork before sub-state basketball starts Monday. Russell’s girls are slated to host Norton at 6 p.m., and the boys go to Scott City Tuesday at 6. This will be a hectic week, because I have an appointment Wednesday morning at 8 with Crista Geyer in Hays, and then there will be sub-state games Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Butt the March break is in sight.
Almost halfway home
We are into the semifinals at the Class 3-2-1A state wrestling tournament, which means the first day is almost over. I only have two more matches to worry about, and then I can get back to Russell after I stop for some things before leaving Hays.
Tomorrow figures to be torture, both in the arena and on the road. It should not be a problem getting to Hays, but getting back might be impossible. I hope not, but I’m expectingt the worst.
Just think–after tomorrow night, I don’t have to worry about this for another year.
One round down, many to go
The first round of the 2015 Kansas State High School Activities Association Class 3-2-1A state wrestling tournament is on the books. One hundred twelve bouts were wrestled (14 weight classes, 8 bouts per weight class), and for 112 young men, their dreams of a state championship are over.
The championship quarterfinals are set for 2 p.m. The 56 winners of these matches will assure themselves of taking home a medal. The losers will have to win their first two bouts tomorrow to get onto the podium.
Norton is off to a good start in quest of its fifth state championship in the past six years. The Bluejays went 8-2 in the first round and lead the team standings with 28 points. Hoisington is second at 22.5, followed by Rossville with 19, Marion with 17 and Silver Lake with 14.
The Bluejays just received a large ovation as their eight wrestlers for the quarterfinals emerged onto the mats to warm up. We’re down to under 12 minutes to go before wrestling resumes.
113 pounders through one round
Results from the 113-pound first round at the 3-2-1A state wrestling tournament:
Austin Constable, Minneapolis d. John Kuhn, Trego 7-2
Michael Marsh, Silver Lake won by major decision over Dallas Parker, West Elk 15-5
Bryce Younger, Ellis pinned Caden Emmot, Beloit 1:07
Jarrett Johnson, Marion d. Justin Skerce, Council Grove 4-3
Bryce Gfeller, Rossville pinned Colton Byram, Jayhawk Linn 3:24
Tanner Cassity, Hoisington pinned Alex Depperschmidt, Sublette 2:55
Gavin Burgess, Fredonia d. Seth Harrell, Sabetha 5-4
Skylar Johnson, Norton pinned Oscar Jaime, Lyons :50
Little guys done
The 106-pound weight class is finished with its first round. Here are the results:
Zane Stnaton, Caney Valley pinned Zeb Turner, SE Saline 2:30
Estin Slack, Oakley d. Holden Butler, Council Grove 4-2 OT
Blayne Harris, Beloit pinned Jonathan Bownes, Jayhawk Linn :13
Zachary Tucker, Scott City won by major decision over Dylan Leckner, Wellsville 10-2
Jordan Priddy, Silver Lake d. Kel Grafel, Oberlin 4-2
Ashteen Dodson, Douglass pinned Cordon Rowley, Lyons 4:45
Ryan Johnson, Norton pinned Karl Scholz, Atchison County 1:10
Maximilian Gerlach, Marion d. Jacen Spargg, Halstead 5-3
Countdown to…something
I was out of the house at 5:40 this morning. I figured the longer I dawled around the basement, the better the chance was I would fall asleep and then something would go terribly wrong. But nope, I was out of the house, despite having to take a little longer than usual to get ready. My contacts were irritating me, so I took them out for 20 minutes while I got in the shower. If they keep bothering me, I guess I’ll have to change them out tonight or tomorrow morning.
I got to Gross Memorial Coliseum at 6:10. Had to stop on Vine Street to fuel the car. I tried to lay down, but after a few minutes, I decided I might as well get inside and get set up on press row. I’ve got a good seat, between KQMA radio of Phillipsburg and KQNK radio of Norton. I can be the referee if Jesse Rhea (Phillipsburg) and Fig Millan (Norton) want to go at it.
Weigh-ins are scheduled to start at 7. This is the only tournament for Class 3-2-1A schools in which they must weigh in at the tournament site, unless they wrestle out of state. In Kansas, schools have the option to weigh-in the morning of competition at their own school before departing. The exception is the state tournament, which makes it fair for everyone. Also, many schools come in the night before, so it isn’t practical to do the home weigh-in.
In Classes 5A and 6A, there is no home weigh-in option for the regional. Everyone must do it at the site. Since there are only eight schools per regional, it’s pretty easy.
The states bordering Kansas–Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma–do not have the home weigh-in option, nor do most states, Louisiana included. In those states, you MUST weigh in at the site, starting no more than two hours before competition. I’ll never forget the bigger tournaments in Louisiana where hundreds of boys were in underwear waiting to be weighed in. There are 224 competitors to weigh in for each of the four state tournaments (448 total at Park City since 6A and 5A are together).
This is my 10th state tournament in Kansas. Here’s what I can remember going back:
2006–Norton runs away with their third consecutive state championship, a present for retiring principal Lary Stull. Clay Madden wins his fourth consecutive state championship at 119 pounds. Smith Center’s Travis Warner becomes the Redmen’s first state champion since 1987, and Smith Center finishes second in the team standings.
2007–The big news on the mat was Smith Center and Beloit tied for the team championship in a most controversial fashion. In the 145-pound title match, Smith Center’s Justin York led Beloit’s Brad Esterl 5-4 late in the third period when he was called for stalling by referee Jeremy Streumph, despite the fact York appeared to be engaged with Esterl and was doing nothing that remotely resembled stalling. The call gave Esterl the point he needed to tie, and he would win 7-5 in overtime. Neither team had another wrestler in the finals, so it was a 116.5-116.5 deadlock, with Norton third by 1.5 points.
Off the mat, I was presented the 2006-07 KSHSAA Oscar Stauffer Award as outstanding sportswriter. I was totally floored when I found out two and a half weeks before the tournament. I had been in Kansas less than 18 months, but here I was receiving an award most can only dream of winning. My parents couldn’t make it because a snowstorm made travel treacherous, but they watched the ceremony on television.
Jack drove me home due to the snowpacked roads. My dad drove me to Hays the next day to retrieve my Pontiac.
2008–Smith Center won a close race for the team championship, edging Phillipsburg by 1.5 points. The Redmen’s Colt Rogers won his second state championship in as many years. It snowed again on Saturday, and Jack and I had to take old US 40 home because the Kansas Highway Patrol closed I-70. Brilliant. Turns out I-70 was clear.
2009–Smith Center runs away with the team championship. The Redmen have three state champions in Colt Rogers (125), Marshall McCall (145) and Travis Rempe (160). Plainville’s Dan Weigel wins the 119-pound crown after medaling each of his first three years.
2010–Norton returns to the top, with Smith Center second.
2011–Norton wins it again.
2012–The tournament is moved up one day, going on Thursday and Friday so Fort Hays State can host an NCAA Division II regional Friday and Saturday. Scott City knocks Norton off its perch–temporarily. I wish the tournament could be held Thursday and Friday every year. Would be nice to have a Saturday with nothing to do before sub-state basketball starts up.
2013–The year from hell. If I could zap this from my memory bank, I would. I will never recall the 2013 tournament fondly. In fact, it may have been the worst state event I’ve covered in Kansas.
I went to Kansas City for the week, figuring I would return Thursday. Instead, it snowed hard in western Kansas Wednesday, and then eastern Kansas Thursday. I could not get out of Kasnas City until 7 a.m. Friday morning.
The good news: the tournament wasn’t starting until 4 p.m. due to the snow. The bad news: the roads were beyond awful. The drive from Abilene to Salina was hellish. I could not go faster than 30 miles per hour, and there were a few times I wsa scared I would slide off the road. I-70 cleared up for a while, but got terrible at the Russell County line again. I somehow made it to the Coliseum by 12:30.
The day inside the arena was horrendous. I wanted to strangle a reporter for telling me not to use my flash. That’s not his job.
The first day didn’t get done until almost midnight. The second day was longer because the semifinals had to be moved from the end of day one to the beginning of day two. When I got home to Russell very late that night, I was so happy. Relieved.
2014–Another bad tournament. The first day had to end early due to Fort Hays having a basketball game. It snowed again on Saturday, so I stayed home until Jack and I went over for the finals.
What will 2015 bring? It can’t be any worse than the last two years, I can tell you that much. .
Two trying days
I really should be sleeping right now. Tomorrow, however, is one oft he two days of the year which are among the most stressful for me.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association Class 3-2-1A state wrestling tournament begins at 10 a.m. at Gross Memorial Coliseum at the western edge of the Fort Hays State University. This will be my 10th time covering this event, and I have to admit, my enthusiasm for this event has waned considerably from my early days in Kansas.
There’s too much going on and it’s too damn loud in that arena. By time the first day is over, my ears are ringing and all I want do is sleep, but i know I can’t sleep for long, because I have to do it all again the next day.
The good news? By 8 p.m. Saturday, it will be all over. I will not have to worry about wrestling again until December, and I wont’ have to set foot inside Gross Coliseum until at least the end of October–if one of our local teams makes the Class 1A state volleyball tournaments–or longer.
Then again, the tournament may or may not end Saturday evening. The forecast for Saturday is grim. Snow is expected, and a lot of it. There is a chance, however, that I could have all I need done tomorrow and I may be able to pass on Saturday. However, if someone makes the finals, I may be stuck going back.
I have not had the best week.
Sunday, I slept nearly the entire day. That’s right, I slept 22 hours out of 24. I was awake only long enough to eat lunch wiht my parents upstairs. I just could not get myself going at all.
Monday was just as bad. I couldn’t get going until 10, and then I had to hurry to get Osborne done. Plus I had a hell of a lot to write for the other papers.
Tuesday dragged on. I couldn’t get done until 3:30, so I had to scramble to get out and drive to Minneapolis for Russell’s basketball games. I made it in time to watch Russell lose twice.
Wednesday was about the best day of the week. And I didn’t go anywhere.
Today was the fear and loathing of what’s to come tomorrow. I am not looking forward to it. I’m going to have to leave my house before 6 a.m. to make sure I can get a parking place that isn’t too far away. I alos have to get there early enough to get set up on press row so I’m not stuck somewhere far away. Not a fun time.
Home ahead of schedule
I have returned to Russell a little earlier than expected. With the forecast looking iffy tonight and tomorrow, I figured it was time to get out of Norton. Not because I was upset with anyone, but to just get home safely, and save a night’s hotel bill.
I left Norton just before 11, and the drive south on 283 and east on I-70 was uneventful. I arrived at Russell High a few minutes ago, and we are now in a break before the consolation semifinals, the most important round of the tournament. The winners of these matches go to the state tournament, the losers go home.
The other good thing about getting home ahead of the snow: my mother is cooking a pork loin roast tomorrow for lunch. Beats the alternative.
Foots Prints 