Kansas Wrestling Forums General Discussion High School State Wrestling Media Coverage

This a chunk of an article taken from the Topeka-Capital Journal:

http://cjonline.com/stories/030109/pre_399795744.shtml

Highest finish

Pleasant Ridge senior Brian Heintzelman grabbed a third-place finish at 215.

It was the first time a Pleasant Ridge wrestler medaled at state.

"It meant everything," said Heintzelman, who pinned West Elk's Gus Allen at the 2:30 mark. "I've only been out for three years, and our coach has never had a kid medal before."

Heintzelman (32-8) had all of his matches at state decided by pinfall. He won his first two Friday before losing to Ellsworth's Steve Kyler in the semifinals. He then pinned both opponents he faced Saturday.

"I'm not one to wrestle three periods," said Heintzelman, who went 0-2 at state as a sophomore at heavyweight and just missed placing as a junior at 215. "I'm a true heavyweight at heart."



This article is wrong because Pleasant Ridge had a three time placer from 1998 to 2000 in Jeremy Irvine. He took 6th at 125 in 1999, 6th at 130 in 2000, and I'm not real sure what he took in 1998 but I know he made the semifinals. The coaches, the school, and the Topeka-Captial Jounal need to do a little better job of checking there facts.

Darren Webber, the current coach was a state champ for Pleasant Ridge in the 80's. They also had 2 others I know of that were either state champs or very high placers in Larry O-Donnell, and Darren's brother Dale in the 80's.

In the early 80's, Kenny O'Donnell was a 3 time placer and a state champion. There was also a young man named Day (Sorry, I don't remember his first name). One year in there they finished around the top 5 as a team.