The cards held aloft by Emporia High’s wrestling fans said it all: “100 Wins.”
It was a milestone only a handful of Spartans had achieved — the school record is Dusty Spaulding’s 131 victories — and Greg Buckbee had yet to have a wrestler hit the century mark in his five years as EHS coach.
So Sal Tovar and Justin Rose, needless to say, have joined some exclusive company.
Tovar and Rose each earned their 100th victory and a championship at the Winter Wrestling Classic on Saturday as Emporia High easily won its home holiday meet. Five Spartans in all took titles, with Tavo Dikin, Mark Kolmer and Lorenzo Serna joining Tovar and Rose as champions.
Tovar, who took home his second straight Winter Classic outstanding wrestler award, got his career accomplishment out of the way quickly. Coming into Saturday sitting on 99 career wins, he pinned Harmon’s Simeon Doe in just 21 seconds to win his first-round match in the 135-pound weight class. Spartan fans raised the “100 Wins” cards in celebration.
“It’s what I’ve always wanted to do,” Tovar said right after his first-round win. “But for my goal, I want to get the highest record — that’s 131. So it’s something to shoot for.”
He used the rest of his day making headway toward that lofty goal, picking up three more wins on his way to the 135-pound title. Tovar pinned Eudora’s Dalton Hladky in the quarterfinal round and beat Seaman’s Cole Schreiner by a 9-1 major decision in the semis before facing Lansing’s Dillon Scanlon in the final. Tovar took down Scanlon by an 8-2 score for the title.
Spartan fans at the all-day Classic had to wait until the 125-pound finals for Rose’s 100th win. Arriving at the tourney with 96 wins on his record, Rose pinned each of his first three opponents — Washburn Rural’s Alex Leeds in 34 seconds, Maize’s Trever Cox at the 4:44 mark and North Kansas City’s Jacob Ballard in 3:11 — to reach the championship match against Basehor-Linwood sophomore Symon Seaton.
“I heard he was really good on his feet,” Rose said. “So I just went out there and (took) him down and worked on top.”
After defeating Seaton 9-2, Rose had not only earned his 100th win, but the fourth Winter Classic championship of his career. Naturally, like for Tovar, the “100 Wins” cards were held up for Rose, too.
Seeing the two senior standouts reach that plateau made Saturday a special day for their coach.
“It’s just hard to do,” Buckbee said. “You’ve gotta be pretty dominating as a freshman, sophomore, junior and senior, and you’ve gotta go injury-free, and it’s very difficult to do.”
Emporia ended the Winter Classic with 280 team points, easily beating second-place Maize by 104. Spartan wrestlers finished in the top three in all but two weight classes.
At 140 pounds, Dikin took just 15 first-round seconds to pin Wichita West’s Eric Rice, then won his next two matches by technical fall and a 6-5 decision before beating Turner’s Jason Langford 7-2 for the title.
Kolmer dominated the 189-pound field on his way to the final, in which he defeated Lansing’s Nathan Wessel by a 9-6 count. Kolmer pinned his first two opponents, then defeated Eudora’s Caleb Clayton-Molloy by a 14-6 major decision in the semis. Serna, with a bye to the quarterfinals, needed just three victories for the 285-pound title. He scored pins in his first two matches and a 1-0 victory over Maize’s John Close to give him the heavyweight crown.
Three Spartans fell short in the championship match, earning second-place finishes: Bryce Dakin at 103 pounds, Chase Sanchez at 130 and Jordan Barr at 215. Two pins and a major decision got Dakin to the final, where he lost to Lansing’s Bo Pursel 10-0. Sanchez pinned three opponents, including two in the first two minutes, but lost to Maize’s Trent Cox 12-4 in the championship. Eudora’s Boomer Mays beat Barr 10-4 for the 215-pound championship after Barr earned a pin, an 11-2 major decision and a 13-7 decision on his way to the title match.
Winning their respective consolation brackets and earning third-place finishes for Emporia were Jared Dakin at 119 pounds, Zeb Peak at 145 pounds, Logan Gaskill at 152 and Taylor Lee at 160. Buckbee was impressed with the way the third-place finishers bounced back from their losses.
“The back side, a lot of times you’re wrestling for your team,” he said. “You wrestle for a championship for yourself, but you come back for the back side and wrestle for your team. And they did a great job of doing that.”
Drew Detwiler went 0-2 on the day at 112 pounds for Emporia, and Nico Rodriguez went 1-2 at 171 pounds.
The Spartans’ dominating win at the Classic gave them a nice note on which to head into holiday break.
“We usually don’t have the Classic on the finals week,” Buckbee said. “And that’s kind of rough. Those kids gotta prepare for finals, they’ve gotta take care of their weight, they’ve gotta prepare for the tournament, and that’s a lot to put on young high school guys. But they handled it pretty well.”
Winter Wrestling Classic
Saturday at EHS
Team scores
Emporia 280, Maize 176, Hutchinson 160.50, Lansing 150, Junction City 139, Turner 114.50, McPherson 105.50, Eudora 102, North Kansas City 89, Wichita Southeast 75.50, Basehor-Linwood 68.50, Seaman 63, Washburn Rural 60, Topeka 42, Free State 32, Harmon 15, Wichita West 15.
Individual results
103 pounds
1. Pursel, LAN
2. Dakin, EMP
3. Witten, MZE
4. Sullivan, HUT
5. Torrez, BL
6. Fitzgerald, NKC
112 pounds
1. Olsen, MZE
2. Stewart, HUT
3. Prescott, MCP
4. Davis, WSE
5/6. Simpson, BL, and Arzola, MZE (double forfeit)
119 pounds
1. Amaro, MZE
2. Ballard, NKC
3. Dakin, EMP
4. Ristau, JNC
5. Garrett, SEA
6. Lohman, TUR
125 pounds
1. Rose, EMP
2. Seaton, BL
3. Ballard, NKC
4. Trv. Cox, MZE
5. Baker, HAR
6. Carrol, TUR
130 pounds
1. Tre. Cox, MZE
2. Sanchez, EMP
3. John, TUR
4. Maldonado, JNC
5. Barker, WR
6. Wiley, EUD
135 pounds
1. Tovar, EMP
2. Scanlon, LAN
3. Schreiner, SEA
4. Hladky, EUD
5. Wortham, WR
6. Roman, HUT
140 pounds
1. Dikin, EMP
2. Langford, TUR
3. Greenwood, NKC
4. Boyd, HUT
5. Harrison, THS
6. Miller, JNC
145 pounds
1. Crank, HUT
2. Davis, MCP
3. Peak, EMP
4. Charland, JNC
5/6. Rupp, NKC, and Estrada, TUR (sixth match for both)
152 pounds
1. Fulbright, MZE
2. Demarest, LAN
3. Gaskill, EHS
4. Pressgrove, WR
5. Crumpton, JNC
6. Johnson, BL
160 pounds
1. Sanders, HUT
2. Royal, JNC
3. Lee, EMP
4. Chaparro, WSE
5. Barrow, MCP
6. Becker, EUD
171 pounds
1. Hinckley, LAN
2. Mosely, WSE
3. Ryan, JNC
4. Barry, MCP
5. Norris, HUT
6. Hunter, THS
189 pounds
1. Kolmer, EMP
2. Wessel, LAN
3. Sherry, HUT
4. Williams, THS
5. Clayton-Molby, EUD
6. Chestnut, FS
215 pounds
1. Mays, EUD
2. Barr, EMP
3. Knudson, JNC
4. Gutierrez, TUR
5/6. Kuszmaul, FS, and Singe, SEA (sixth match for both)
285 pounds
1. Serna, EMP
2. Close, MZE
3. Peterson, MCP
4. Hammer, LAN
5. Tuiloma, WR
6. Penca, TUR