The 19th Annual Metro Classic
March 8th, 2011

Kansas City, Kansas Community College will host the 19th annual Metro Classic Wrestling Dual, pitting some of the finest wrestlers from both sides of the state line, in the high school wrestling version of the border shootout. The program will begin at 6:30 with wrestling commencing at approximately 7:00 p.m. The Jeff Wicina Memorial Scholarship will also be awarded prior to the meet. All proceeds from this meet will be evenly distributed to Fort Hays State University and Central Missouri State University's wrestling programs, to provide scholarships for worthy wrestlers from both states. 
 
The match itself will consist of fifteen exciting bouts, featuring 14 state champions and 30 state placers. This meet is highly competitive and is annually attended by some of the top college coaches in the country. Former participants are well represented on college wrestling rosters from California to the East Coast. This meet has produced two NCAA Champions and many All-Americans over the years and that trend seems well positioned to continue.
 
All the matches are marquee but some standout simply on the accomplishments of the antagonists. One feature bout will occur at 130 pounds, where Cody Brewer of Oak Park High School (MO) will carry his four state championships into a match with Kansan Zach Tanenbaum of Blue Valley North (KS) who has three state titles of his own and narrowly missed having four, as he was the runner up as a freshman. All told there are eleven state champions who have collectively won 29 individual state titles. St. James Academy will be represented by two wrestlers who have won seven titles between them. Ryne Cokeley is another four time state champ at 145, and his teammate Taylor Moeder has won three state championships and will wrestle 135. The first two bouts of the evening alone will represent 6 State titles with Missouri's Mitchell Bradley (Oak Grove) at 112 and Bricker Dixon (Park Hill) at 119 owning five first place medals between them. This meet will also feature seven wrestlers who were state runner-ups and they will be anxious to redeem themselves in this meet.
 
Many of these metro stars have already signed college scholarships. Brewer will be an Oklahoma Sooner, Cokeley a Wisconsin Badger, Moeder will be going to Old Dominion, Tanenbaum will be heading to Brown of the Ivy League, Spencer Blew will be wrestling for Air Force Academy, and Keenan Hagerty at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Boomer Mays of Eudora, Kansas 215 pounder has accepted a football scholarship at Northern Illinois and will play linebacker. Many participants of this meet will receive scholarship offers based on their performance in, what has become, a nationally recognized all-star wrestling match.
 
The meet will be live streamed on the Amateur Sports Network (www.aspn.ws). Information regarding that streamed event will be forthcoming and announced both at the meet and on the Kansas and Missouri Wrestling Websites. 

The 19th annual Metro Classic Duel between the toughest high school senior wrestlers from the Kansas and Missouri metro may be the best ever. I know those who have attended this meet in the past may or may not agree. How many times has this meet come down to the final match? How many times has the outcome been dictated by a huge upset sometime during the evening? How many times have you watched two college bound titans hammer it out for border bragging rights? How many times has the last match ended with you sitting in a puddle of your own sweat, hands shaking, heart pounding, realizing that you just saw one of the best high school sporting events ever; likely about 18 times if you have been to all of them. The 2011 duel may exceed all those that have come before.

Currently both Kansas and Missouri have about one dozen state champions from each of their metro drawing areas. We all know that after both states have their state tournaments more champions will be added to both talent pools. Throughout the evening, weight class after weight class, state champions will be going head to head. In some instances, state placers who were just one misstep from being a champion themselves will be trying to redeem themselves in this one final duel. I doubt that either state can claim to have ever had a better field than the 2011 Senior Kansas and Missouri wrestlers.

The meet is being held once again at the Kansas City, Kansas Community College coliseum March 8 starting at 6:30 p.m. Unfortunately, because of a scheduling conflict the meet will not be televised his year. Tickets are being sold at several outlets across town including Blue Chip Wrestling Sporting Goods, Nill Brothers Sporting Goods, Jay Greco’s Farmer’s Insurance, Varsity Sports, and Raytown-Lee’s Summit Community Credit Union. Pre-sale tickets at these outlets are selling for $8 each. Tickets can also be purchased on line at www.americanleatherworks.com and www.bluechipwrestling.com for $9 or at the gate for $10. All of the proceeds of this meet are donated to college wrestling programs in both states.