HUTCHINSON — The opening that Emporia High sophomore Mark Kolmer so desperately needed was there, and for a moment, it seemed as if Kolmer had seized his opportunity at perhaps making history.
In the championship bout of the 189-pound weight class Saturday night at the Class 5A State wrestling tournament, Kolmer was trailing the undefeated and three-time defending State champion Romero Cotton of Hutchinson by a 5-1 margin. But in an instant, the match seemed to shift in Kolmer’s favor, only to have it ripped away from him.
After Cotton scored on an escape at the beginning of the second period to go ahead, 5-1, Kolmer struck, taking down Cotton near the edge of the ring to score what appeared to be a takedown, which would have drawn Kolmer closer at 5-3. The head referee even gave Kolmer the two points, then signaled that the two wrestlers were out of bounds and called them back to the center of the ring.
But the second official halted the match, and after a discussion with the lead referee, Kolmer’s takedown was taken away, as the second referee said the takedown happened out of the ring.
“Getting that takedown taken away in the second period was a huge momentum changer,” EHS coach Greg Buckbee said. “It kind of took the wind out of Mark, and you could see that. It just changed the whole match.”
Kolmer never threatened again. Using his lightning-quick speed, Cotton closed out the period with four straight takedowns to head into the third frame up 13-4. Cotton, who has signed to wrestle at the University of Nebraska, scored on three more takedowns in the final period, and the match ended with Cotton taking a 19-7 major decision to earn him his fourth consecutive State championship with a 41-0 record.
“He’s probably the quickest kid I’ve wrestled this year, by far,” Kolmer said. “I gave it my all and did the best I could do ... but I don’t really like to lose, so I’m pretty disappointed with that last match.”
Kolmer, making his first State finals appearance after finishing sixth at State a year ago, ended his tournament in second place, one of three EHS wrestlers to make it to the title bout of their respective weight classes only to fall to undefeated opponents.
Junior Sal Tovar lost the 125-pound title match to Bishop Carroll’s John Keller (36-0) by a 5-0 decision and senior Josh Rodriguez fell to Shawnee Heights’ Atticus Disney (34-0) by a 20-7 major decision in the 285-pound championship match.
All three Spartans who made it to the finals were facing some of the top wrestlers the state of Kansas has ever seen, and victories by any of the EHS wrestlers would have been monumental, Buckbee said.
“Any one of them would’ve been huge upsets. There’s not much you can say other than that,” Buckbee said. “Then again, I don’t think any of them were happy with just getting there. They would have been huge upsets, but our guys didn’t want second — they wanted first.”
For Tovar, he was facing Keller for the second time in a week, as the two squared off in the championship match of last Saturday’s Regional at Valley Center. Keller defeated Tovar by an 11-0 major decision then, and while the match was much closer the second time around, the end result left Tovar in second place.
Keller scored on a takedown and then scored a two-point near fall as time expired in the first period, then made it 5-0 on an escape to open the second frame. Keller spent the rest of the time fighting off every charge Tovar made at getting back into the match.
“ I knew what he was going to do, and I just couldn’t stop it,” Tovar said. “He was getting down low to take away all my shots. It was hard for me to do anything when he was that low.”
Rodriguez also had a level of familiarity with Disney, as the two clashed in the title match at the Centennial League championships on Feb. 9, with Disney winning by a 14-8 margin.
It wasn’t nearly that close on Saturday, though, as Disney got out to a 5-0 lead with an immediate takedown and near fall. Disney would go on to win, 20-7, for his third consecutive State title.
“He was a lot tougher this time than he was last time,” Rodriguez said. “I was just trying to do my best and hoping I could come out on top, but he was so tough.”
Emporia had two other placers for the tournament, as junior Tavo Dikin (135 pounds) finished fourth after dropping his third-place match to McPherson’s Tyler Davis by a 5-2 decision, while junior Justin Rose won a 5-2 decision over Arkansas City’s Kash Biddle in the third-place match at 119 pounds to place third.
Jared Dakin at 112 pounds and Zeb Peak at 140 pounds each lost in the second round of the consolation bracket on Saturday morning.
As a team, Emporia placed sixth with 101.5 points. Bishop Carroll won the team title going away with 184.5 points, while Arkansas City placed second (137.5) and Gardner-Edgerton and Liberal tied for third (107.5).
Emporia placed third at State a year ago, but the circumstances were different, Buckbee said.
“I think we competed better than last year, but it was a tougher tournament this year,” he said. “Class 5A was tougher this year than it was last year all the way up and down the line, but I think we wrestled better.”