State wrestling strip short for Tigers

Monday, February 25, 2008

SALINA -- Fort Scott High School's trip to the Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament here over the weekend turned out to be one of the shorter-lived ones in recent years.

It was a small contingent, just four competitors. But only one of them was able to advance to the second day of competition Saturday and none won a match on the mat.

"The State Tournament always provides an exciting and upset-ready atmosphere this year was no exception," Fort Scott head coach David Brown said. "We knew going into the State tournament we would have to wrestle our best matches to place."

The Friday performances of Justin Sharp, Denzell Davis, Michael Durossette and Blake Nelson were covered in Sunday's edition of the Herald-Tribune.

Of the four, only Nelson, a senior wrestling at 171 pounds, made it to Saturday's competition, the others eliminated in two matches. But Nelson (31-14) advanced due to an injury default.

"Chase Rust of Eudora had suffered a sprained ankle early in the week and was unable to compete," Brown noted when saying why Nelson was able to advance.

In consolation quarterfinals, Nelson was eliminated when he was pinned by Gabe Mason of El Dorado.

"Blake finished his career with a 30-win season and a career record of 87-31 which is marvelous," Brown said.

"I would have liked to see our kids catch a few more breaks. We had opportunities to advance in this tourney and just couldn't quite take advantage of them. Overall, we wrestled hard and with intensity. Every opponent we faced knew they had to be prepared for a long hard fight and that is something I am very proud of.

"Three of the four have future opportunities to make it to state. I am sure they intend on getting back and coming home with a medal."

Defending team champion Clay Center scored 151 points to win its fourth title in eight years and fifth in school history. Andale was runner up with 116 1/2 points and Colby was third with 112.

Chanute, coached by FSHS graduate Andy Albright, was the best Southeast Kansas League team here, finishing seventh with 55 points, one ahead of Labette County. Columbus finished in 12th place.

As far as SEK individuals go, Chanute's Kenneth Ornelas won the 103-pound class, Columbus' C.J. Napier won the 135-pound class and Labette County's Aaron Arb was champion at 145.

Also earning medals were Labette County's Taylor Dwyer, who was fourth at 112, Columbus' Kyle Johnson, fifth at 125, Chanute's Cameron Jesseph, second at 130 and Joey Hambleton of Labette County, fifth at 160.

Pittsburg finished in 12th place at the Class 5A State Tournament, held at Hutchinson. The Purple Dragons were led by runner-up finishes by Jordan Brown's runner-up finish at 160 pounds and Tyler Koehn at 171. Jake Zahm took third place at 130 and Mario Corado was fourth at 112 pounds.