Bryant finishes 6th at State wrestling

SALINA -- Fort Scott senior Drew Bryant finished sixth at the Kansas Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament in the 215-pound weight class here Saturday.

Bryant (29-15) made it to the semifinals on Friday before he was pinned by Matt Holt of Abilene, who entered the tournament with the No. 1 ranking from the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association in this weight class.

This dropped Bryant into the consolation semifinals. In that match on Saturday afternoon, Dylan Litherland of Eudora took a 4-3 decision to send Bryant to the fifth-place match.

In that match, Bryant faced No. 3-ranked Tanner Stanage of Prairie View (37-12), who pinned Bryant in the second period.

Bryant was the only Tiger to medal this year and finishing sixth means that he finished better than all but five of 57 wrestlers in this class in Class 4A (Seven Class 4A schools do not have wrestling).

Holt (30-5) went on to win the championship, taking a 2-1 decision from Hayden Chandler of DeSoto in the finals.

Sophomore Tyler Sharp (29-16) was the only other Tiger still alive on Saturday. He had dropped into the consolation bracket two rounds earlier than Bryant and had to win two matches before he had a chance to medal.

But Brad Hake of Concordia took a 5-3 decision over Sharp in the first match of the day and ended his chances of medaling.

Friday's results for Bryant, Sharp, Victor Hughes and John Metcalf were published in the Herald-Tribune on Saturday and can still be seen here.

NOTES -- Andale won the team title with ease, scoring 144.5 points. Last year's champion, Clay Center, finished second with 108 points and Abilene finished third with 102.5. This was Andale's second title, the first coming in 2006....

Columbus' Kyle Johnson finished second at 130 pounds as he was beaten, 5-4, by Colby's Konnor Kriss in the finals. It's the second consecutive year Johnson has finished second at 130. Kriss placed third at 119 last year.

Johnson was the only SEK wrestler in a final....

Pittsburg's Aaron Seybold won the championship at 135 pounds at the Class 5A Tournament in Park City. He took a 3-1 decision in the finals over Miles Johns of Newton and finished 40-5 on the season.

Pittsburg finished fifth in the Class 5A team standings with 91 points. Andover Central won the school's first wrestling State championship with Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights second and Wichita Kapaun Mount Carmel third. Two-time defending champion Emporia finished 17th....

Wichita Heights won the Class 6A title at Park City, putting an end to Goddard's reign. The Lions, who had won the last three Class 6A titles, finished second with Derby third....

Norton successfully defended its Class 3-2-1A title at Hays. Hoxie finished second with Rossville third....