Details, details, details. Emporia High wrestling coach Greg Buckbee and his staff have been focusing on them — an opportunity that Buckbee’s had for the first time in his five years as the Spartans’ coach.
The chance to focus on the little things may be a big reason that the Spartans — the top-ranked wrestling squad in the Class 5A state preseason rankings — could make this season one to remember in EHS’s tradition-rich wrestling history.
“This year, it’s nice, because all the years past, I’ve been trying to put my system in, my things in, and work it into this transition,” Buckbee said. “And this is the first year I feel like we’ve got all that in, and we worked on all the little things: the fine, minute details that are gonna be the difference in a state championship and second place, or placing at state and not placing at state.
“And that’s been the biggest thing, is just the details — that this year, we have the time to do them.”
A lot of wrestling talent is back to put those details into execution. The Spartans have two wrestlers ranked first in the preseason state polls: Sal Tovar, a senior, at 185 pounds and junior Mark Kolmer at 189. Tovar is a three-time Centennial League champion and three-time state placer; Kolmer has won two league titles and placed at state twice.
Senior Justin Rose, a three-time league champion and three-time state placer, is ranked second in Kansas at 125 pounds. Senior Octavio Dikin is ranked fourth statewide at 140, and junior Lorenzo Serna is ranked fifth at 285. Senior Zeb Peak has qualified for state twice and is ranked sixth in Kansas at 145 pounds.
At 119 pounds, there’s senior Jared Dakin, who’s a two-time Centennial champ and has qualified for state twice, and sophomore Chase Sanchez returns at 130 pounds after winning a league title as a freshman. At 152 pounds, there’s junior Logan Gaskill, who has qualified for state twice.
Senior Jordan Barr will be the Spartans’ grappler at 215 pounds, and junior Nico Rodriguez will wrestle at 171 pounds. Senior Taylor Lee will wrestle at 160, and two freshmen, Drew Detwiler and Bryce Dakin, will wrestle at 112 and 103 pounds, respectively.
“In recent times, this is one of the better teams we’ve had,” Buckbee said. “It is, for me being here the last (four) years, this is the best team I’ve had at Emporia.”
The coach feels like the Spartans are ready for Thursday’s opening meet against Blue Valley North and Shawnee Heights.
“This’ll be the first time — hopefully, I’m gonna knock on wood here — this is the first time where we’re gonna open up with our full varsity, ready to go,” he said. “In the four years that I’ve been (here) previous, we have never beat Shawnee Heights in this dual. We’re either missing a guy or two, or we get somebody hurt, somebody gets in trouble — I mean, it’s just little things that have kept us from winning this dual. And plus, they have outwrestled us at times in December.
“We have not been a strong December team. We gradually get better through the year, and by February, we’re OK. We don’t wanna spend all our time worrying about a dual in December, but it’s something these kids really wanna do. They want to seize the moment when they can.”