Topeka Area Wrestlers Accomplish Rare Feat

Drake Lovvorn and Kyle White have plenty in common.

Not only have the two wrestled pretty much their entire lives, but both also got their beginnings in the Jackson County Wrestling Club.

Last weekend, they accomplished a common feat, and a rare one at that. Both captured their fourth straight league wrestling title.

Lovvorn pulled the feat for Holton, winning the 160 title at the Big Seven League meet. White, meanwhile, earned his for Horton, capturing the 171 crown at the Delaware Valley League meet.

“I guess it’s a pretty neat deal,” Lovvorn said. “We’ve grown up wrestling together and have gone to nationals together. It’s something not too many people accomplish.”

Lovvorn had little trouble winning his fourth, pinning all his foes on Saturday, including a third-period fall of Santa Fe Trail’s Josh Holmes in the finals. He became the Wildcats’ first four-time league champion since Jesse Strawn and previously won titles at 152, 140 and 130 pounds.

Lovvorn improved to 31-1 on the season with his lone loss for the year coming to Class 4A No. 1 Jake Hattabaugh of Andale at the Clay Center Invitational. Lovvorn placed fourth at state last year and is ranked No. 3 this season.

He will be the top seed at this weekend’s regional at Holton, though it will be a challenging regional with No. 4 Rory Haug of St. James Academy and No. 5 Nick Pursel of Tonganoxie also in the field.

“I feel like I’m doing well right now,” said Lovvorn, who was fourth at state last year.

White, meanwhile, joined former teammate Isaac Cairo as four-time league champions as he blew through the 171 division. He is 23-1 on the season and ranked No. 5 in Class 3-2-1A.

Lovvorn and White weren’t the only four-time league champions crowned last weekend. Burlington’s Michael Vander Linden also captured his fourth straight Tri-Valley League title, becoming just the fifth wrestler in that league’s history to accomplish the feat when he won at 130 pounds.

“I think it’s a pretty high-level accomplishment, not only to be on varsity for four years, but to win league all four years as well,” Burlington coach Doug Vander Linden said.

Vander Linden is 34-2 and ranked No. 6 in Class 3-2-1A.


Area Results:

Atchison County
Wrestling — The Tigers won their first Delaware Valley League title, beating runner-up Pleasant Ridge by 76 points. Four Tigers won titles — Zakk Hollands (119), Taylor Schuetz (135), Michael Forbes (145) and Lane Chew (152). Justin Wagner (112), Justin Scherer (125), Kyle Chew (130) and Carson Albright (160) finished runner-up and Mitch Rork (189), Jared Hoffman (215) and Tyler Clem (285) were third

Baldwin
Wrestling — Baldwin had six champions at the Frontier League meet, helping the Bulldogs take second. Greg Schiffelbein pinned all six of his foes at 140 en route to his title, while Andrew Morgan (125), Cody Sellers (130), Colby Soden (135) and Colton Bonner (215) also finished 6-0 for their titles and Jesse Austin was 5-1 and first at 285. The Bulldogs also got seconds from Tucker Clark (112) and Bryce Shoemaker (119) and a third from Keenan Coffey (189).

Burlingame
Wrestling — Jorydan Doviak captured the Bearcats’ lone title at the Chase County Invitational, taking first at 171. The Bearcats had three third-place finishers — Chris Croucher (130), Jake Masters (152) and Wyatt Jones (215).

Burlington
Wrestling — Michael Vander Linden captured his fourth straight Tri-Valley League title, winning at 130 after previously winning at 103, 112 and 119. Vander Linden was one of four champions for the Wildcats with Colt Skillman (103) winning his third league crown and Billy Dickinson (152) and Tanner Taylor (215) also claiming titles. Burlington finished second to Caney Valley and had Brandon Caudell (160), Josh Hoch (171) and Gus Farthing (285) take second and Jake Elbrader (112), Dallas Birk (119) and Trevor Breshears (140) place third.

Chase County
Wrestling — The Bulldogs had a pair of champions at their home meet at Trey Francka (103) won at 103 and Glen Blue won at 112. Logan Anderson added a second at 189 and Levi Peterson was fourth at 285.

Council Grove
Wrestling — Ty Swartz captured the 189 title at the Chase County Invitatational, while Philip Lamberson added a second at 160 and Jacob Boettcher was third at 285.

Doniphan West
Wrestling — Gabby Speer and Derek Gibson were Delaware Valley League champions for the Mustangs with Speer winning at 130 and Gibson at 285. Austin Veach (215) finished second and Tanner Veach (135), Trevor Fee (145) and James Walls (160) were third.

Hiawatha
Wrestling — John Denner improved to 26-2 in capturing the heavyweight title at the Big Seven League meet. Mike Costa (135) added a second and Jake Johansen (215) and Nate Boyer (145) were third.

Holton
Wrestling — Drake Lovvorn captured his fourth straight Big Seven League title, winning at 160 to help the Wildcats hold off Santa Fe Trail by 9.5 points for the league title. Lovvorn was one of three champions for the Wildcats along with Hunter Price (103) and Lane Lassiter (130), while Holton also had five runner-up finishers — Justin Twombly (112), Garrett Lambrecht (119), Andrew Rieschick (145), Drake Ewing (171) and Adam McKenna (189) — and a third from Jacob Ewing (152).

Horton
Wrestling — Hunter Speer (112) and Kyle White (171) were the Chargers’ lone champions at the Delaware Valley League meet as they finished fourth. Kyle Rice (140), Michael Robinson (145) and Sonny Johnson (285) took second and Ben Fisher (130) was third.

Jefferson West
Wrestling — West had a league-high four champions at the Big Seven League meet, but took third behind Holton and Santa Fe Trail. Cass Steele won his third league title in four years, taking the 145 title with a 48-second pin in the finals. Colton Steele (119), Tyler Holloman (140) and Justin Scott (189) added league crowns, while Nate Holloman (103) and Cameron Langston (215) took second and Krista Revelle (125) was third.

Mission Valley
Wrestling — Joe Gleason (119) and Gage Mickey (215) each took fourth at the Chase County Invitational.

Onaga
Wrestling — Justin Merriman and Mychal Kolterman captured the Buffaloes’ only titles at the Mid-East League meet, with Merriman winning at 125 and Kolterman at 285. Zach Parr (112), Cody Schwant (145), Jesse Corell (171) and Matt Marten (215) each took second.

Oskaloosa
Wrestling — Lance Hickman was the Bears’ top placer at the Delaware Valley League meet, taking second at 189. Daniel Rhodes (171) and Cory Butner (125) were third and Alberto Rodriguez (215) and Billy Frakes (285) were fourth.

Perry-Lecompton
Wrestling — Trent Robb captured the Kaws’ only crown at the Big Seven League meet, winning at 152 with a pin in the finals. Luke Kellum (160) and Tyler Bedford (285) added thirds.

Pleasant Ridge
Wrestling — Jared Johnson (140) and Aaron Brown (189) claimed titles at the Delaware Valley League meet, helping the Rams to a runner-up finish. Blake Graham (119) and Andrew DeMaranville (152) added seconds, Clayton Gum (103) and Tony Weber (112) were third and Hunter James (103), Jason Simonis (160) and James Pantle (135) were fourth.

Rock Creek
Wrestling — The Mustangs matched league champion Rossville with four individual champions and took third at the Mid-East League meet. Mark Reiss (112), Trevor Sutton (171), Luke Goodenow (189) and Cody Liming (215) all won league, while Shane Schaake (130), Sam Wilson (135) and JT Weers (152) were runner-up.

Rossville
Wrestling — Led by four champions, the Bulldogs won the Mid-East League title for the second straight year. Tagen Lambotte (135), Kiefer Hurla (140), Sheldon Graves (145) and Mark Smith (152) all were league champions with Hurla and Graves winning for the third straight year. Cole Brecheisen (125), Joe Wehner (160), Scott Shinn (189) and Cody Cooper (285) each were second

Royal Valley
Wrestling — Garrett Matthews claimed his third straight Big Seven League title, winning at 112 with a 5-0 decision in the finals to capture one of two titles for the Panthers. Tanner Ogden (125) was the other Panther champion, while Ian Cook (130) and Michael Bailey (135) each were third.

Sabetha
Wrestling — Trevin Edelman was the lone Bluejay to make the finals at the Big Seven League meet, taking second at 285. Sabetha had three third-place finishers — Thaine Allen (112), Chad Aberle (140) and Harvey Webster (171).

Santa Fe Trail
Wrestling — Trail just missed out on capturing the Big Seven League title in its debut season, finishing 9.5 points behind Holton for the crown. The Chargers had a trio of champions in Kale Cauthon (135), Dustin Turner (171) and Ed Fitzgerald (215) and picked up runner-up finishes from Andy Dennison (125), Rylan Piper (130), Mitch Boudeman (140), Sean Call (152) and Josh Holmes (160). Tyler Mundy (103), Johnathan Newport (119) and Logan Whitesell (189) were third.

Silver Lake
Wrestling — The Eagles picked up three champions at the Mid-East League meet with Dylan Priddy (103), Josh Schroeder (119) and Jacob Schroeder (130) claiming titles to help Silver Lake finish runner-up to Rossville. Kevin Taylor (140) added a second.

St. Marys
Wrestling — Derek Tyler won his second straight Mid-East League title, winning at 160 to capture the Bears’ lone crown. Tristan Hurla was runner-up at 119.

Tonganoxie
Wrestling — The Chieftains were fourth at the Kaw Valley League tournament, getting eight top-four finishers. Clayton Himpel (112) and Nick Pursel (160) were league champions, while Justin Soetart (125) and Jonas Myers (215) were second and Dylan Yates (119) and Colton Brown (140) were third.

Wabaunsee
Wrestling — Evan Supernaw was the Chargers’ only placer at the Mid-East League meet, taking second at 103.

Wamego
Wrestling — The Red Raiders won the team title at the Chase County Invitational, edging Marion by 5.5 points. Taylor Shaffer (215) and Tyler Douglass (152) won titles for Wamego, while Jacob Christie (103), Ryan Wahl (145) and Brad Standlee (171) took second, Cody Wilson (160) was third and Kyle Wilson (125) was fourth.


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