Rossville's Smith among winners at Silver Lake
Posted: February 4, 2012 - 7:09pm
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BRENT MAYCOCK/THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Rossville's Mark Smith (34-5) defeated Seaman's Dylan Kadous for the 152-pound championship at the Silver Lake Invitational.
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By Brent Maycock
THE CAPITAL-JOURNAL
SILVER LAKE — With 39 matches under his belt this season, it hardly seems right to say that Rossville’s Mark Smith may have been rusty for his 152-pound title match Saturday at the Silver Lake Invitational.
But that very well could have been the case.
“I really hadn’t been on the mat much today,” said Smith, who had two matches to reach the finals against Seaman’s Dylan Kadous. “I wasn’t ready for a really tough match, but I also knew he wasn’t going to be an easy kid to beat.”
Smith may not have been fully prepared for the battle Kadous gave him, but he survived it. A takedown with 13 seconds left in the third period broke a 1-1 deadlock and Smith held on for the 3-1 victory.
“I went out and did what I had to do to get it done,” said Smith, who improved to 34-5 with the title. “It was a bunch of bumping around. I really didn’t know what he was going to try. I was trying to work in my offense and make sure he couldn’t get his in. In doing that, we both really kind of canceled each other out and couldn’t accomplish much."
As a two-time state placer in Class 3-1A, including fourth at 152 last year, Smith’s glossy mark this year shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. But getting there hasn’t been quite the same this season.
Last year, Smith had Sheldon Graves (state champion at 145), Kiefer Hurla (third at 140) and Tagen Lambotte (state champ at 135) pushing him every day in practice. Graves and Hurla graduated, and Lambotte has been nursing a shoulder injury for most of the last month, leaving Smith with limited workout partners to keep him sharp.
“We’ve had our challenges — I don’t know the last time we’ve had a full roster — and that definitely has an impact at practice time because we don’t have everybody in there pushing each other. It’s only a select few, and we try to get as much done as possible.
“I don’t feel like it’s truly affected me, but I notice a difference not having the same practice partners pushing me every day like I used to have. It’s made a difference.”
Lambotte did wrestle Saturday, making the finals at 145 before defaulting with his shoulder injury to Louisburg’s Austin Caskey.
The Silver Lake title was the first for Smith. Likewise, Chase County’s Trey Francka returned to the top of the podium after a one-year absence. A champion at 103 in 2010, Francka was denied a second straight Silver Lake crown last year with a 10-2 loss to Salina South’s Javier Vieyra in last year’s finals.
The Bulldog junior wasn’t going to be denied this year. He needed a short time to get his first takedown against St. James Academy's Reese Cokeley in the finals and built a 4-1 lead by the end of the first period.
Cokeley managed only one more point the rest of the match and Francka wound up with a dominating 17-2 technical fall win that helped him earn oustanding wrestler honors at the meet.
“I thought it was going to be a pretty good match,” said Francka, who improved to 29-1 on the season. “He’s got a big brother, Ryne, who was a four-time state champion, so I thought it would be tougher. I just used my legs a lot to scissor him, work him over and do whatever I could to get back points.”
Seaman put four wrestlers in the finals but couldn’t secure a champion until Dylan Hall won the last match of the day. Last year, the heavyweight delivered a pin in the third-place match that gave the Vikings the team title at the meet.
Hall delivered another pin this year, sticking St. James’ Darin Feist with 27 seconds left in the first period. It just salvaged an otherwise tough finals for Seaman, which wound up fourth with 134 points.
“I knew we hadn’t come away with the outcomes we wanted and I wanted to finish the tournament off well for us,” Hall said. “I love watching my teammates wrestle and win. Seeing them lose just got me more fired up.”
Bryant Guillen and Nathan Stanley also made the finals for the Vikings. Guillen dropped a 10-4 decision to Clay Center’s Gavin Grater in the 160 final, and Stanley fell 4-2 in overtime at 195 to Leavenworth's Jacob Roberson.
Wamego’s Kyle Wilson was the only other area winner, easily handling Baldwin's Andrew Morgan 7-0 in the 132 final.
St. James, which placed five in the finals and had one champion (Zak Hensley at 113), won the meet with 1681/2 points.
TEAM SCORES
St. James Academy 1681/2, Salina South 1481/2, Prairie View 137, Seaman 134, Clay Center 1021/2, Leavenworth 931/2, Baldwin 841/2, Silver Lake 84, Louisburg 79, Wamego 79, Rossville 73, Doniphan West 63, St. Marys 39, Chase County 36, Osawatomie 35, Iola 21.
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES
106 — Francka, Chase Co. won by tech. fall over Cokeley, SJ, 17-2. 113 — Hensley, SJ dec. Vieyra, SS, 3-1. 120 — Konitzer, PV dec. Kolterman, CC, 4-2 OT. 126 — Hood, Lou dec. Shoemaker, Bal, 6-2. 132 — Wilson, Wam dec. Morgan, Bal, 7-0. 138 — Holland, PV dec. McNabb, SS, 5-2. 145 — Caskey, Lou won by inj. def. over Lambotte, Ross. 152 — Smith, Ross dec. Kadous, Sea, 3-1. 160 — Grater, CC dec. Guillen, Sea, 10-4. 170 — Shirk, SS dec. Salsbury, SJ, 7-4. 182 — Munsch, SS maj. dec. Muehlberger, SJ, 17-4. 195 — Roberson, Lea dec. Stanley, Sea, 4-2 OT. 220 — Butler, Lea dec. Bonner, Bal, 1-0. 285 — Hall, Sea pinned Feist, SJ, 1:33.
