METRO CLASSIC!

17th U.S. Army Metro Classic
7:00 pm March 11, 2009
Kansas City, Kansas Community College
7250 State Ave.
Kansas City, Kansas


Kansas Missouri

Wt. Name School Records Name School Record Place
103 Tyler Stokes Gardner Edgerton H.S. 36-2 1 vrs. Trevor Brown Park Hill South H.S. 41-12 5
112 Alan Calahan Baldwin High School 43-5 2 vrs. Cody Tyler Oak Park High School 43-3 1
119 James Wauer Washington High School 33-4 4 vrs. Andy Skaggs Clinton High School 47-1 1
125 Chaz Lawrence Olathe South High School 46-1 1 vrs. Luke Greco Blue Springs High School 47-4 1
130 Linwood Peoples Blue Valley Northwest HS 35-6 2 vrs. Zack Bintliff Oak Park High School 39-4 1
135 Matt Brock Tonganoxie High School 39-7 4 vrs. Tyler Thompson Blue Springs High School 41-6 2
140 Dustin Zahorsky Silver Lake High School 34-3 4 vrs. Ben Hunter Harrisonville High School 47-0 1
145 Nathan Sommer Prairie View High School 49-2 1 vrs. Ryan Wood Harrisonville High School 40-8 6
152 David Lalo Olathe East High School 39-6 3 vrs. Colin Wittmeyer Platte County High School 51-3 1
160 Grant Hinckley Lansing High School 42-4 1 vrs. Joe Green Oak Park High School 28-2 3
171 Joe Newberry Shawnee Heights H.S. 19-8 3 vrs. Joe Pace Platte County High School 35-11 5
171 Josh VanHolland Mill Valley High School 39-7 2 vrs. Dylan Meisenheimer Oak Grove High School 42-9 3
189 Jared Sanchez Shawnee Mission West 37-8 3 vrs. Riley Glassgow Oak Grove High School 34-6 3
215 Jacob Nowak St. Thomas Aquinas H.S. 46-1 3 vrs. Zack Williams Center High School 41-4 1
285 Jake Woten Olathe East High School 29-8 2 vrs. Aaron Sinclair Excelsior Springs H.S. 20-4 2


Coaches: Travis Keal-Mill Valley High School Coaches: Rick Frazier-Platte County High School
Steve Mesa-Olathe South High School Tim Rupp-Oak Park High School
Chad Parks-Shawnee Heights High School Kirk Gross-Oak Grove High School
Chip Ufford-Shawnee Mission East High School

Taking a closer look, this will be another tight one!

Nice to see Woten getting a chance to wrestle

Side note. If I am correct, Joe Pace Platte City, Missouri at 171 was a Kansas Kids State Champ. Dad is/was in the military at Ft. Leavenworth. Left Kansas on an assignment. Came back a few years ago and now live in Platte City (because of the outstanding wrestling program in PC.) At least a 1 X MO State Champ, plus three X qualifier.

i like kansas in a close one!

Meisenheimer is better, beat him two or three times this year. Pace is good, but placed 5th in a average bracket at state this year, sorry fellas but missouri wins this dual even without bailey and alan watters

Let the predictions begin!!!!

Alan Waters is a Jr. so don't know how that matters. Mac not wrestling is a factor. It will be close as always.

I have personally seen the following wrestlers in action and I predict for KS: Zahorsky over Hunter, Sommer over Wood, Nowak over Williams and I am rooting for Lalo over Wittemeyer.

Zahorsky and Hunter will be the match of the night, I agree with sommer over Wood and Nowak over williams but lalo over wittemeyer is a long shot.

I will not get into specifics but as I run through the dual, I believe Kansas will be favored in 4 matches, Missouri in 3 with 8 matches being very close. Initially I had Missouri 29-22 but have looked a bit closer and of course my Kansas bias sets in!

Who's officiating...that's who I'm going to watch!!

I see 4 Kansas wins. Missouri wins the dual hands down...

Just wondering how the team is selected. I see Kansas bumped up a 215 to heavy. He may be great and could completely deserve it. But, was wondering about the logic of giving up so much weight. Did the 285 from Bonner get any consideration as he placed 3rd and only lost to 2 kids from Kansas this year

i see a close match with everything coming down to the HWT

Agreed. Tanner McCleary of Bonner Springs had a monster year. Would be nice to see him in this event.

would be nice to see sharky here

There are at least six matches that could go either way. This dual should be a single digit spread.

Also agree. Why move Woten up! He had a bad end of the year and feel apart. Bonner Springs kid was strong all year.

Let me get this straight, I am looking to fill the 285# weight class for the Metro Classic. I know this is a tough job and it will be near impossible to make everyone happy. But wait! I have a true heavy weight from Bonner Springs who went 38-6 placing 3rd at State. No, I don’t think that’s good enough so I will move a 215#er( who went 29-9 and placed 6th at State) up to the Heavy weight class. I just hope I don’t have to look Tanner in the eye and explain to him how a kid that wasn’t even in his weight class is wrestling in that spot!!

woten didn't truly get 6th. he got kicked out (unfairly in most peoples opinions) and defaulted to 6th. he got 2nd last year. i'm not going to comment who the better chioce would be between him and the kid from bonner but hes a quality wrestler and is deserving of the spot. tanner probably is too and its to bad they can't both wrestle there.

As I asked the question about Tanner to begin with, I want to make sure everyone knows I was not saying anything negative about Woten. Since Richard the Great commented on a previous post that he had something to do with getting Woten disqualified, I figured it was unfair. But, the question is still not answered, what is the logic?? Was this done to make up for what happened at state. I know Tanner and have seen him wrestle and believe he is deserving. I do not know Woten, but believe what others say that he is deserving. But, Tanner is the 285. The point is what is the criteria, who makes the decision. As I would hate for them to ruin this kid's day and change thing, I hope the decision works out well. But, the decision appears political and lets hope it doesn't happen next year.

Yes 007 it is a shame that good, deserving kids have to be left off this team. I certainly do not want to question Jake Wotens’ credentials. It just seems logical that the choice would be between Woten and Nowak at 215#s. And yes that would mean a good deserving kid would still be left off the team, but at least they would be picked from the same weight class. I believe at the lower weight classes it would be easier to justify taking two great kids from the same weight class, and separating them in order to put the best team on the mat. But moving a 215#er up to heavyweight seems like a stretch in this situation. Especially with the year Tanner had at heavyweight. I know picking a team like this is impossible to do without leaving some good kids off and I do congratulate all who were selected!!

I want to start off saying that I don't know a thing about the kid from Bonner, but I do know about Woten, because he is my son. I think all the points that have been made on the HWT situation are valid, but here's my take on it. I think because it is seniors only that the selection process was probably each wrestler's body of work the entire 4 years they wrestled in high school. Again I don't know Tanner at all, but after doing some checking he wasn't even a state qualifier until this year. Now I don't know if he had just moved here, or hurt, or whatever. But Jake has been a quailfier for 3 years, has over a 100 wins in his career, and has wrestled HWT many times. He is naturally about 235-245 anyway but cuts to 215. State certainly didn't end up the way we wanted, and fair or unfair, we have dealt with it the past week and we are ready to move on. We were actually surprised to get the call Sunday, but there was no way we were going to turn down the oppurtunity to wrestle one last time. I do feel for Tanner's situation, but in an event like this there is always somebody thats get left out, that probably shouldn't have. I know this Kansas, Jake will give everything he has and do what it takes to win for our great state. Good luck to all the wrestlers! GO KANSAS!

Contrarian,

You are correct. Joe Pace's dad and mom were in the military. They were stationed on Fort Leavenworth and lived in Lansing. Joe wrestled with the Slammer Wrestling Club and was quite the monster. We called him "cross-face Joe" because he would make some kids nose bleed every practice (to include my youngest Nick).

The Pace's moved to Fort Hood, Texas. Joe made the papers several years back when both his mom and dad were deployed to Iraq. Joe lived with this grandparents and I believe Joe won the Texas state tourney as a freshman. The Pace's were reassigned to Fort Leavenworth and bought a house in Platte County were Joe has spent his high school years making Platte Country High one of the toughest wrestling schools in MO.

Will be fun watching all these kids get at it again at the Metro!

Mike Flynn

I definitely don't envy the job of the organizers of this because there are so many good wrestlers to choose from. In doing so, they've always made it a fantastic event, and the lineup this year looks great, too.
That said, I'll open this bag of worms as it seems it may apply to this thread: Why not just add one more match if there's such a debate? There already are two matches at 171, so it's not unprecedented. Of course, we could go through a lot of weight classes and say "why not this guy?"It's not the first time we've had this debate, nor will it be the last. I suppose that's a credit to the quality of wrestlers in this area.

The issue isnot to add another weight but why was a 215 selected to wrestle 285 when around the corner is a valid state 3rd placer winner. Its not what you did last year or 2 or 3 years ago, but what you did this year.

The organizers should post and explain their rationale for this year's hvy wt. selection.

Contrarian, where do you come up with the idea that it is what you did this year and not what you did 2 or 3 years ago??? Is that the actual criteria or is that just your opinion? I believe the “selectors” do look at a wrestlers total career, as WrestlingFan 14 pointed out! But I do not know what the actual criteria is, and I Believe that is exactly the point John Johnson was making by posting his original question about Tanner McCleary . The organizers are certainly not under any obligation to explain themselves on an internet talk forum. My only hope is that the selection process is as fair as possible and not influenced too much by coaches’ lobbying efforts, which I am sure has to happen a little bit. I will be cheering for every kid out there. Good luck to all of them!!

It seems that I am not the only one who wonders how the 215 pounder got seleceted over the 295 placer. If every one is so hot about this 216 pounder, then select him to wrestle the MO 215. And yes I do think the most current recors/accomplishment/deed/what ever should be woprth a lot of goody points. I use to be 170 lbs, dark curly hair, good lookin, debonair, smooth, had money in my pocket, and had a very nice ride. 35 years later I have a shed over my tool, thin white hair, yellow teeth, liver spots, my kids have my money, and my ride is is a rusty 1991 pickup. But lovin it all the way. And, I too will be at Classic rootin for all the wrestlers, Kansas, Missouri, and whom ever the Kansas heavy weight is.

Thanks for you comment!!

I believe the point has been made. There is no need to compare kids who have not wrestled. As I will be at practice w/ my son that night. I am looking forward to reading Randy's report.

I would recommend skipping one night of practice and let your son experience the atmosphere of the metro classic. If that doesn’t get him fired up to wrestle sub-district nothing will!!

i know the 215/HWT debate is over but i am curious...what are the guidelines for those who select the wrestlers? do they select those with the best season, best career, best chance to win?

its simple meet at a nuetral site and challenge. wrestle off, if both boys are serious as the adults are it should be a great match. the stands should be full too!

After reading the posts it is still unclear to me who selects this team. What criteria are used in the selection process? This is turning into a big event and these questions should be answered. It is a fact that deserving kids will be left out every year but if the selection criteria is public knowledge then at least it would be understood why they were left out. In a case like the heavyweights this year why isn't a wrestle off used?

Seeing Woten several times this year, I think he's a good choice at heavyweight. I don't know anything about Tanner, but I know Woten took second last year and a lot of people I talked to thought his semi-final match this year with Caylor really should have been the finals match.

Personally, I'd be pretty comfortable putting him on the mat with most heavy weights. He's pretty athletic at 215 and if 235-245 is his natural weight, I'd put him in the line-up. My reasoning would be that at the big weights you have Nowak, Woten and Tanner to choose from. Of those, I would say Nowak (3x placer-twice at HVY) and Woten (2x placer) have the best resumes. That's not to take anything away from Tanner. It sounds like he had an amazing season. I just think Woten had the better career and has the athleticism to overcome the difference in weight.

if the selection criteria is about rewarding the best senior season at each weight obviously the wrong selection was made. if the selection criteria was about rewarding the senior with the best career including his senior year the right selection was made. if the selection criteria is about who gives kansas the best chance to win, that would be debatable (however I believe in that case the right selection was made).

Great! We got that settled. Team Kansas is set and ready to wrestle!

I look forward to hearing the results of this event every year. I'm not as familiar with the Missouri guys in this event since I am way out west, but I've seen a lot of the Kansas guys on the list and wish I could make the trip to see this event. Good Luck Kansas!

Do they ever sell DVD's of this event?

Yes they do Coach! And I will have a narrative report, in the wee hours of Thursday morning!!

We are looking forward to your report Randy. Have missed you on the forum lately. Too bad the Cadet duals aren't still here. We sure had it good for awhile!

Posted on Missouri Website

Missouri Has a change in their line up.

215 Zack Williams will not be able to go Due to a skin infection..
215 replacement will be Austin Baska from Park Hill South

Curious if anyone else had heard this.

That's an upgrade for Missouri. Williams was ranked #5 in Class 2. Baska was ranked #2 in Class 4.

Thanks Chief

Are you going to be there tonight? I'd like to meet some of you guys so I can put a face with a name.

Wouldn't miss it. I'll be the short, heavy, bearded guy with a white hat. See you there.

Wouldn't miss it. I'll be the short, heavy, bearded guy with a white hat. Tell Dustin to go get em! See you there.

I'll be the tall, nervous guy with a SL hat.

WHAT??? No clipboard? I don't know if I will know you without the clipboard....

I figured that the program will be good enough. All I need is a pen!
It's a nice weight off not having to rank anyone...