Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion High School The Sunflower Classic 1981

In 1981 the Kansas Kids sponsored a Grand State like event the weekend after high school state. At the time there were 12 weight classes so 24 wrestlers qualified for the finals: 6A-9, 5A-9, 4A-2, 321A-4.
98lbs Joel Rios-Emporia over Kelby Harrison-Newton 9-4
105lbs Larry Taylor-Wichita over Harmon Daniels-Leavenworth 12-5
112lbs Vince Martinez-Newton over Jim Hahn-Emporia 2-0
119lbs Bobby DeLeon-Leoti over Ken Rogers-Wichita 12-10
126lbs Chirs Marisette-Leavenworth over Chris Richards Fall
132lbs Lance Milsap-Wichita No. over Cliff Noce-Emporia 9-6
138lbs David Ray-Goddard over Troy Sporer-Oakley 9-6
145lbs Greg Unruh-KMC over Steve Levin-Manhattan 5-2
155lbs Pat Spencer-KMC over Alex DeLeon-Leoti 8-7
167lbs Eric Koehler-Nemeha Valley over Melvin Douglas 12-11
185lbs John Payne-Great Bend over Jerry Hersefeld-Belleville
HWT Steve Nave-Coffeyville over Marc Simon-August 11-3

As reported by Wrestling USA

That Koehler/Douglas match must have been a nice one to see!

I was there, it was a barn burner

Would have liked to see the Sporer vs. Ray match too.

Troy was a great football player and his sole focus was to peak for wrestling's post season, so he wasn't always sharp early....but his post season records speaks for itself - 3x state champ and was ahead by 5 +/- points w/ 30 seconds left in the finals his freshman when he got out of position and gave up a defensive fall.

Ray would have had to put together a pretty good match to beat him. Anyone remember the details of that match?

I remember Hwt. Steve Nave-Coffeville, he was a beast. I remember him at several track meets winning both the Shot Putt and the 100 yard/meter dash. He might have even done this at the State Track meet. He was not your average HWT.

I talked to Troy just yesterday about that match and he told me that Ray threw him in a headlock at the start of the match and he fell behind 5-0 and just couldn't recover from that.