J.C. Hosts State Wrestling
By Dustin Kimmel The Daily Union
More than 263 grapplers from all over Kansas flocked to Junction City High School Saturday for the 2005 Kansas State Greco Roman and Freestyle Wrestling Championships.
The annual meet sanctioned by USA Wrestling -- the organization that governs Greco Roman and Freestyle wrestling -- made its way to Junction City for the second straight year. Kids as young as 6-years-old competed in six age classifications -- bantam, midget, novice, school boy, cadet and junior.
The top three finishers in the cadet and junior divisions will represent Kansas in the national championship tournament July 24-30 in Fargo, N.D. Qualifying for the national tournament and earning two state titles from the Junction City Greco/Freestyle Wrestling Club was Nick Peterson, who won both the Greco Roman and Freestyle cadet 119 lbs. divisions.
Also earning state titles from the J.C. Greco/Freestyle Wrestling Club were Tyler Gjerstad, Shane Hancock, Dillon Charland, Xavier Deguzman and Jaylan Padilla.
The two forms of wrestling -- greco roman and freestyle -- are slightly different from the folk style used in high school competition.
"Greco is more upper body," said Brett Deam, J.C. Greco/Freestyle Wrestling Club coach and co-organizer of the tournament. "You've got to keep your hands above their waste. You can't grab there legs or hook their legs. So you start to see a lot more headlocks and throws that way. Freestyle you can grab their legs. Freestyle is a little quicker. It is more geared towards wrestling on your feet."
Deam said freestyle wrestling is faster-paced and that many of high school state champions use that style the rest of the year. Both freestyle and greco roman are Olympic wrestling styles, where as folk style is not.
The J.C. Greco/Freestyle Wrestling Club has produced state high school champions and national-level contenders. One of the most notable being Abilene's Ross Taplin, a three-time high school state champion.
While there is no team score or standings, Deam said one of the goals of the team is to build.
"You've got to get them to work with everybody in the group," Deam said. "We will do things to where our smallest 55-pounder wrestles our 275-pounder, just to get that camaraderie going as a group and a team. So when you see that individual on the mat, you're rooting them on.
"There is so much to feed-off from the younger guys to the bigger guys."