Kansans Shawn Bunch (133 lbs, Edinboro, Leavenworth) and Joe Johnston (157 lbs, Iowa, SM East) each won their semi-finals and are national finalists. They will compete for the national title tomorrow night.
Bunch won a hard-fought 6-4 match in the semis. He snagged a lightning quick low single about :02 seconds into the match for a takedown and never looked back. He beat Minnesota's Mack Reiter, a freshman who was a Iowa 4x state champion. Bunch is quite an athletic wrestler!
Johnston is in what has been called the toughest bracket of the tourney at 157! He knocked of #1 seed Alex Tirapelle of Illinois in the quarterfinals with a last second reversal and one-point win. He then knocked off #5 Jake Percival of Ohio in the semi-finals in another hard-fought match! He has been a crowd favorite, his fast-paced aggressive style from neutral has been a highlight of the tournament. He came in as a #8 seed. All of his wins seem to bring loud applause from the entire Savvis Center!
Scott Coleman (285 lbs., Iowa State, Manhattan) also will be an All-American, wrestling for 7th/8th tomorrow.
Jacob Klein (165 lbs., Nebraska, Kapaun) lost one round from All-American status by a 2-0 score.
Hope I didn't leave any Kansans out...I am reporting this off the top of my head.
Kansans have been well represented in St. Louis this weekend!
Kit Harris
Baldwin City
