For the Emporia High wrestling team to accomplish its goal of going undefeated this season, the Spartans had to take care of their December nemesis on Thursday night at home
The Spartans did just that, beating Shawnee Heights in a December dual for the first time in coach Greg Buckbee’s career.
“It’s nice, but it’s December, and it’s nice to win,” Buckbee said. “It kind of gets that monkey off the back, but again February is the most important. That’s what we’re working for.”
If Thursday was any sign of things to come, Buckbee should be optimistic looking forward. The Spartans certainly lived up to their billing as the top-ranked team in the state in 5A. Emporia started the night with a 57-14 victory over Blue Valley North, a 6A school, and finished with a 54-15 victory against Shawnee Heights.
While the Spartans have handled Heights later in the season the past few years at the league meet, they have struggled early on against the Thunderbirds.
“They just somehow win,” senior Sal Tovar said. “We don’t wrestle great. It’s the first tournament. We get nervous, but this year it’s in our hometown and we’re a strong team and we encourage each other and I think that’s been the difference.”
It also helped that Emporia’s best wrestlers won in dominating fashion. Tovar, the top-ranked wrestler at 135 pounds, won both of his matches with pins. He pinned Grant Simmons of Blue Valley North with 36.1 seconds left in the first period and pinned Heights’ Jesse Poff 15 seconds into the second.
Junior Mark Kolmer, who’s the top-ranked wrestler at 189 pounds in the state, won his only match against Heights’ Brandon Flanagan, pinning Flanagan with 2.2 seconds left in the second period.
Two-time Centennial League champion Jared Dakin also pinned both of his opponents at 119 pounds. Dakin pinned BVN’s Brandon Douglas 1:18 into the first period and pinned Heights’ Cody Trevino with 31.6 seconds left in the third.
Sophomore Chase Sanchez won his first match 20-4 against BVN’s Daniel Baylogn and pinned Heights’ J.D. McKnight 24 seconds into the first period.
Senior Tavo Dikin won his first match in 57 seconds, pinning BVN’s Jacob Hoopes, and Dikin won his match against Cole Rickabaugh of Heights 6-2.
Senior Zeb Peak pinned his only opponent at 145 pounds, Heights’ Drake Hilderman, 55 seconds into the second period.
Senior 215-pounder Jordan Barr and junior heavyweight Lorenzo Serna wrestled the first two matches of the night, winning 8-6 and 3-0 respectively, and then had to wait until the end of the night to wrestle their final two matches. The long wait did not hurt either. Barr pinned Heights’ Isiah Bowers 35 seconds into the second period and Serna won 11-3 against Heights’ Derek Holly.
Senior Justin Rose at 125 pounds, junior Logan Gaskill at 152 and senior Taylor Lee at 160 pounds all split their two matches on the evening.
“It’s a good win, but it’s early and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Buckbee said. “They see that now and we’ll take this and build.”
The Spartans will get another quick test to see where they are at this season. On Saturday, they travel to Valley Center for a meet that includes four of the top 10 5A teams, the top-ranked 4A team, Clay Center, and the second-ranked 6A team.
“I think we’re looking pretty good for our first dual of the season,” Dakin said. “I think you can expect big things out of this team.”
The Emporia High junior varsity also competed against Blue Valley North and Shawnee Heights. The JV wrestlers won 45 of their 61 matches.