Tovar grabs 1st to lead EHS to 7th-place finish at Newton
By The Emporia Gazette (Contact)
Monday, January 15, 2007
Sal Tovar earned a first-place finish to lead eight Spartan wrestlers who made it to the medal round of the Newton Invitational Friday and Saturday, as Emporia High finished seventh out of 23 teams.
Tovar finished tops in the 119-pound weight class thanks to a 3-1 decision over Trenton Powell of Colby. He was the only Spartan to make it to the championship bout of his respective weight class.
Three other Spartans took home third-place showings, as Justin Dakin defeated Manhattan’s Jeff Vesta in overtime at 103 pounds, Keith Curtis pinned Matt James of Clay Center 1 minute, 46 seconds into their bout at 215 pounds, and Josh Rodriguez earned a 3-1 decision over Valley Center’s Blair Hedges in the heavyweight class.
Justin Rose (112 pounds) lost to Valley Center’s Chase Nitcher and Clay Center’s Jameon Rush (189 pounds) pinned Mark Kolmer at the 2:33 mark of their bout, as Rose and Kolmer finished fourth.
Tavo Dikin (125 pounds) finished fifth and Bryce Shaver (160 pounds) came in seventh to round out the Spartan placers.
Emporia finished with 134 team points, just 1 point back of sixth-place Gardner-Edgerton. Bishop Carroll took home the team title with 181 points, while Centennial League-rival Manhattan came in third with 155.5 points.