Finally back from Utah; what a great trip! 7 kiddos from Kansas competed and we ended up with 6 All-Americans in Greco and 6 in Freestyle. In Greco:
Jace Koelzer 1st (3-0)
Sammy Cokeley 2nd (3-1)
Anthony Gould 2nd (2-1)
Cody Phippen 4th (4-2)
Daniel Butler 4th (2-2)
Jon Trowbridge 5th(5-2)
Keegan Slyter (1-2)
In Freestyle we went on a terror putting 5 guys in the finals:
Anthony Gould 1st (3-0)
Jace Koelzer 2nd (3-1)
Cody Phippen 2nd (5-1)
Jon Trowbridge 2nd (4-1)
Daniel Butler 2nd (3-1)
Sammy Cokeley 3rd (4-1)
Keegan Slyter (2-2)
Out of all of the years doing this, this team dominated the most. They were a great group of kids that supported one another and represented the state well.
Some of my great highlights by each kid:
Jace Koelzer-During the Greco Finals match he was down at one point and I was iffy on his chances of winning. The kid from Minnesota was tough. In true Jace form he continued to battle and got the win. He never stops wrestling and hates to give up any points. Tough loss in Freestyle finals, but still a great showing by someone missing the triple crown by 2 points.
Sammy Cokeley-In the Greco semi finals, he wrestled the eventual freestyle champ. On paper this kid was tough, on the mat he was even tougher. In true Sammy form his funk prevailed. He was close to losing the match by the 7 point tech fall. He steps over a gut wrench and secures the fall.
Daniel Butler-In his freestyle semi finals he wrestled the same foe that teched him in the greco semis. This kid was a man. Daniel was down at a couple of spots in the match, but continued to battle hard and get 2 takedowns within the last 30 seconds to secure the win. Athleticism and skill did not win this match it was heart and desire to win.
Anthony Gould-Anthony had lost in the finals in greco to the same kid he was wrestling in freestyle. During his greco match he had the kid on his back for over a minute in a headlock, but was unable to finish the match. We talked about how to finish in those positions, well in freestyle he did not disappoint. He was losing by 9 points and hit a hiptoss and was in about the same position he was in the previous day, except this time he secured the fall and won the national title.
Jon Trowbridge-Jon was 5 pounds under weight for this event. He was very outsized. During his greco match for 5th he was wrestling a kid that was literally a foot taller than him. The kid was beating us on position and twice was one point away from a tech fall. Jon battled back with a couple of nice hip tosses and picked up the win by criteria.
Cody Phippen-Cody too was under weight by about 4 pounds in this weight class. In greco, he lost to the eventual champ 2-0. He told me he wanted a rematch, bad. Well in the true 2nd place match for freestyle he got it. This kid had told Cody he cut from 96 to 84 to make the weight class. Well Cody came back with a couple of nice carries and picked up a great win over a very game kid.
Below is a link to the finals introductions for Schoolboy Freestyle:
http://youtu.be/3-8o_D3c0sU