Emporia High grapplers have strong 2nd day at Newton Tournament
By Michael Ashford
Monday, January 14, 2008
After the way the Emporia High wrestlers performed in the Friday portion of the Newton Tournament this past weekend, EHS coach Greg Buckbee had a hard time believing what he was seeing from his athletes on Saturday.
After the Spartans turned in what Buckbee called “a not-so-great day” on Friday, the EHS wrestlers came back with a fire on Saturday that Buckbee had not seen all season long.
“I definitely saw us turning the corner on Saturday,” Buckbee said. “We haven’t wrestled that way all year, and maybe that’s the turning point. We wrestled really, really well.”
After finishing Friday’s action in 14th place as a team, Emporia High fought and scrambled enough on Saturday to jump to seventh in the final team standings, ending with 139 1/2 points. Bishop Carroll won the team title with 245 1/2 points.
Though EHS did not send any wrestlers to the finals, the Spartans did finish with 10 placers, which Buckbee said was “one of the most we’ve ever placed at Newton in a long time.”
Justin Rose and Sal Tovar led the way for EHS, making their rally in the consolation bracket to pick up third-place finishes. Rose defeated Dane Rodriguez of Derby, 6-3, in the 119-pound division, while Tovar earned a 3-0 decision over Gardner-Edgerton’s Kyle Hess in the 125-pound class.
Four Spartans picked up fifth-place showings: Jared Dakin, Chase Sanchez, Tavo Dikin and Logan Gaskill.
Dakin took a 5-0 decision over Maize’s Jabez Zinabu at 112 pounds, Sanchez beat Brent Luedke of Colby, 8-6, in overtime at 130 pounds, Dikin took a 6-2 decision over Salina South’s Tyler Harradine and Gaskill defeated Clay Center’s Zach Anderson, 5-1, at 152 pounds.
Josh Rodriguez at 215 pounds and Lorenza Serna at 285 pounds each took sixth, Zeb Peak was seventh at 140 pounds and Ryan Bass finished eighth at 189 pounds.
Seeing 10 of his wrestlers place was a welcome sight for Buckbee, who said the Spartans responded well on the tournament’s second day after they “lacked a sense of urgency” on Friday.
“We battled and battled on Saturday, and we came back and beat a lot of kids that had beaten us on Friday,” Buckbee said. “Again, we’re just not putting a whole tournament together, and we’ve got to learn to do that.
“To me, I don’t see a big sense of urgency until we’re behind in a match, or I don’t see big sense of urgency until we lose a match in a tournament and then we’re fighting for our life to stay in the tournament. There’s got to be something there, and we’ve got some time to figure it out before League, Regionals and State.”
The next action for the EHS wrestlers is this Saturday when the Spartans play host to the Emporia Tournament. The tournament, which begins at 9 a.m., will feature duals with five other schools: Derby, Wichita Heights, Junction City, Seaman and Ruskin, Mo.
Newton Tournament
Team Scores
1. Bishop Carroll 245.5, 2. Clay Center 182, 3. Manhattan 177, 4. Colby 176.5, 5. Derby 158.5, 6. Gardner-Edgerton 152.5, 7. Emporia 139.5, 8. Hutchinson 138.5, 9. Norton 137.5, 10. Arkansas City 112.5, 11. Wichita Northwest 105.5, 12. Maize 100, 13. Wichita Heights 90, 14. Dodge City 86, 15. Newton 74, 16. Salina South 70, 17. Leavenworth 54, 18. Wichita South 38, 19. Mill Valley 33.5, 20. Campus 29, 21. McPherson 29, 22. Wichita East 12, 23. Buhler 10.
EHS results
Medal rounds
112 — 5. Jared Dakin Emp. dec. Jabez Zinabu Mai. 5-0. 119 — 3. Justin Rose Emp. dec. Dane Rodriguez Der. 6-3. 125 — 3. Sal Tovar Emp. dec. Kyle Hess GE 3-0. 130 — 5. Chase Sanchez Emp. dec. Brent Luedke Col. 8-6 OT. 135 — 5. Tavo Dikin Emp. dec. Tyler Harradine SS 6-2. 140 — 7. Zeb Peak Emp. pinned Jesse Woodruff Lea. 2:17. 152 — 5. Logan Gaskill Emp. dec. Zach Anderson CC 5-1. 189 — 7. Nathaniel Martens New. dec. Ryan Bass Emp. 8-4. 215 — 5. Jack Delashmit MV dec. Josh Rodriguez Emp. 5-2. 285 — 5. Taylor Brown Col. dec. Lorenzo Serna Emp. 4-3.