Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion High School Biggest Upset at State Ever

I vote for my buddy Garen Stacey, a 4 seed, beating defending champ Venegas from Olathe North in 2003.

Didn't Venegas have a major shoulder injury he was trying to wrestle with?

Your buddy still shows as winning the match!

My boy Nick Zahm over Neil Erisman was a pretty big upset I'd say.

Agreed Curtis. What was Zahm's recording going into the final? And, was Erisman undefeated going in?

The two matches that stick out in my mind it both kids from Oakley pulling off the upset. The first match happend in the first round of the 2002 state tournament. It was at 215 and it was a 1 VS. 4 match with (not sure if this name is right but its close) Luke Page and Neil Brown from oakley. Page was undefeated and him T.J Stabb were supposed to face off in the finals. Page was winning and was ridding Brown when Brown pulled off the best fat boy roll I have ever seen got Page on his back and pinned him. The other biggest upset was durring the 2001 state finals when Blake Pilkington took down Hadley with 1 second left and i might be wrong but im pretty sure that is the only time Hadley had been taken down the whole year and it came with one second left in a match he was winning, it was pretty crazy. Those are just my two favorite that always stick out in my mind.

Stevens from JC was wrestling a dude that was going for title number 3. Can't remember his name, but Stevens beat him in OT. It was sweet! This happened around the mid 90's i think.

Stevens defeated Mark Denning of Blue Valley in OT. Denning was undefeated and going for 3rd State title. The year was 1998 or 1999.

yeah, thanks Bracket-man. I'd say that qualified as a big upset. Hadn't it been a while since Denning had been beat? Something like he was a senior but hadn't lost since his freshman year?

If my memory serves me right, Stevens had more left in his gas tank in the ot. Note to those still wrestling - do LOTS of cardio! IT PAYS OFF BIG TIME!

The bigger issue with Mark Denning in 1999, was wrestling most of the year with an injury to his neck. This injury prevented Mark from wrestling in college. He was hit with a late stalling warning and penalty, which took the match into OT.

Mark had a career record of 133-11 at Blue Valley. He was 25-7 at 130 as a freshman. Won state as a sophomore at 140 with a record of 34-3. He also won state at 140 as a junior with a record of 38-0 and finished 2nd at 152 with a record of 36-1. Most of Mark' matches never lasted past the second period, because of his superior strength and technical ability. One of the most dominating wrestlers I have known over the years.

1994 6A 112lb State Championship match. Jesse West defeats Beau Vest.

Bighead - give us the details. How many titles had West won and how many had Vest won and what was the score? You know, all juicy details!

Bracketman - thanks for the details. Too bad about Mark's neck injury. I saw the same thing happen to one of my best wrestlers except it was a knee.

Mark Denning was an absolute beast! And so was Jesse West who wrestled for awhile with Iowa State!

... and along these lines, it seems as we increase the number of 4-timers that we have ... we seem to forget their were a number of 2-timers and 3-times that were absolute terrors!

Brent Rechtfertig, Mark Denning, Jason Blanding, Jotham Andrews and so many others were wrestlers of the past that I feel would fair very well with the wrestlers of today.

Ahmad Patillo, Justin Henry, Adam Venegas, Jeremiah Beltran, and so many others!!!

One of the biggest upsets to me occured in 2002 in the 6A 215 pound meet. Josh Carroll from Olathe North, a senior 2x champ going for his 3rd was beat in the finals by junior Zach Hemmerling from Hutch who had never placed at state before. Not only was this a big upset, Hemmerling's victory won Hutch the team state title by one point over Manhattan.

Yeah, good one twink. Any one know what either of those two are up to now-a-days?

Hemmerling i believe is playing football for Washburn U. Carrol was wrestling at Applachian State.

Cool beans. Thanks Klint.

that really didnt look like an upset..the score looked pretty much like Hemmerling handled Carrol..but i didnt see the match so oh well

Well 2 yrs ago there was a kid at 103 from emporia named Horn, i goin into stae he was like 20-11 or somthin, anywayz, we get 2 state and he beats like 3 guys in a row, that had previously beaten him. Crazy.
others that stik out.
Graham Beatin metzler in the semis.
Altman and perez this year, i could of gone either way, but a dang good match
on the back side this year, Freeman got beat by mike steele.
and one of my personal favorites, being he is from lawrence, C.J williams record goin in to stae 22- 14, beats number 4 ranked kid in state, then like #5, then loses rest but still places.

1994 Jesse West upset Beau Vest 112 6a finals West a freshman Vest undefeated all thru high school until that match had beaten West 3 times earlier that year all by tech falls- ( Vest did have mono bad and was semi unconiscious most of the match) Also 1995 Mike Snyder vs Beau Vest 119 6a finals Vest had beaten Snyder 2 thru high school and lost by 1 in the finals taking his second loss in high school career