USAW-Kansas is proud of every wrestler
with the courage to step on the mat.
Every wrestler who improves his or her skill is a winner,
but some have achieved more than most.
The following represent some of the high achievements
by Kansas wrestlers during the 2000/2001 season.
Three Kansas wrestlers won All American honors in the NAIA Championships. Winning an individual National Championship at 285 lbs was Wes Walker (Ulysses), wrestling for Missouri Valley College. Jeremy Biddle (Winfield), a national champion for Missouri Valley the prior year, added to his honors with a second place finish at 149 lbs. Wrestling for Lindenwood University, Jeff Carlson (Kinsley) rounded out the Kansas slate with a third place finish at 149 lbs.
Fort Hays State University, our state's only 4-year wrestling program, won the NCAA II Academic National Championship. Their GPA of 3.417 was the highest ever recorded in the eight years since the inception of this honor. Nine wrestlers received Academic All American honors: Mike Kennedy (Silver Lake), Matt Sleder (Goddard), Chad Parks (Pawhuska, OK - Transfer from Labette CC), Zane Engelbert (Norton), Dan Miller (Rossville), Cody Parks (Minneapolis), Erich Singer (Topeka), Chad Butler (Olathe), and Josh Haar (Silver Lake).
At the University Nationals, two wrestlers from the East Kansas Wrestling Club earned medals in freestyle competition. Zach Roberson, a sophomore at the Iowa State, placed 4th at 127.75 lbs. Jeremiah Beltran, a freshman at Ohio University, was 8th at 286 lbs. Jeremiah also placed second at the FILA Junior World Team Trials in freestyle.
Our post-collegiate wrestlers had a good year, led by Eric Akin’s (Overland Park) first place finish at the Senior National Championships, followed by his second place at the World Team Trials where Eric went 1-2 against Stephen Abas in the final best 2 of 3 series. At the Veterans National Championships, we had two second place finishers in Wayne Peterson (Beloit) at 152 lbs and Randy Hill (Shawnee Mission) at 187.25 lbs.
National High School Championships
To earn the right to compete in this tournament, you must be a graduating senior and a finalist in your state. This tournament is the premier folkstyle wrestling tournament in the nation, attracting 708 entries from 47 states. Kansas placed 5th in team standings, behind California, New Jersey, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. The tournament started with nine four-time state champions and 48 three-time champions. Of those nine four-time champions, only two survived to the medal round in this tournament! Kansas sent 33 state finalists to the tournament, seven of whom made it to the medal rounds:
|
Name |
Hometown |
Wt |
Place |
Joe Johnston
|
Leawood |
145 |
2nd |
|
Austin DeVoe |
Columbus |
112 |
3rd |
|
Jacob Klein |
Wichita |
152 |
3rd |
|
Bryan Miller |
Oberlin |
135 |
5th |
|
Shawn Bunch |
Leavenworth |
119 |
6th |
|
Matthew Murray |
Colby |
130 |
6th |
|
Tyson Biddle |
Winfield |
135 |
6th |
FILA Cadet National Championships
The FILA Cadet Championships, featuring the best 15-17 year old wrestlers in the nation, was held at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. Luke Metzler (Newton) placed fourth in Greco-Roman competition at 119 lbs, also winning the Most-Falls award. In the Freestyle tournament, Gabe Conaghan (Overland Park) placed 2nd at 167.5 lbs and Cody Garcia (Hutchinson) placed 6th at 110 lbs.
USA Wrestling Triple Crown
There were ten athletes who won the prestigious USA Wrestling Kids Triple Crown in 2001. To win, an athlete must win USA Wrestling national titles in folkstyle, Greco-Roman and freestyle the same year. Two of the ten Triple Crown winners came from Kansas.
|
Name |
Hometown |
Division |
Wt |
|
Elijah Madison |
Salina |
Novice |
140 |
|
Joe Zlatnik |
Rossville |
Schoolboy |
220 |
Nations Elite Trinity Award
Sixteen wrestlers won the Trinity Award by placing first at the Cliff Keen Classic, Tulsa Nationals and Reno World of Wrestling Tournaments. Three of those sixteen came from Kansas.
|
Name |
Hometown |
Division |
Wt |
|
Boaz Beard |
Valley Center |
10&U |
110 |
|
Duane Zlatnik |
Rossville |
10&U |
Hwt |
|
Neil Erisman |
Olathe |
12&U |
110 |
Junior Duals National Team
Team Kansas earned its highest place ever at the Junior Duals with a third place finish. The team defeated Team Ohio in pool competition, then suffered their only loss in a tough championship pool match against Team Oklahoma. Team Ohio was crowned national champion after defeating Team Oklahoma on criteria (the score was 25-25).
Junior/Cadet National Team
Nine Kansas wrestlers combined to win ten medals at the national championships. Cadets are wrestlers ages 15-16, while Juniors are wrestlers who attended high school during the 2000/01 school year. The team coaches were:
|
Bill Johnson, Juniors Director |
|
Richard Frakes, Cadets Director |
|
Bobby Bovaird |
|
Corey Burton |
|
Dennis Charbonneau |
|
Richard Fergola |
|
Kit Harris |
|
Ryan Karjala |
|
Kevin Klemm |
|
Harry LaMar |
|
Scott Reick |
Junior National Freestyle All-Americans:
|
Name |
Hometown |
Wt |
Place |
|
Austin Devoe |
Columbus |
114.5 |
7th |
|
Joe Johnston |
Leawood |
154 |
7th |
Junior National Greco-Roman All-Americans:
|
Name |
Hometown |
Wt |
Place |
|
Matt Murray |
Colby |
143 |
6th |
|
Shawn Bunch |
Leavenworth |
132 |
7th |
|
Justin Dyer |
Olathe |
191.5 |
7th |
|
Ian Bork |
Lawrence |
220 |
7th |
|
Luke Metzler |
Newton |
123 |
8th |
|
Joe Johnston |
Leawood |
154 |
8th |
Cadet National Freestyle All-Americans:
|
Name |
Hometown |
Wt |
Place |
|
Cody Garcia |
Hutchinson |
112 |
6th |
|
Aaron Bingham |
Burlingame |
88 |
8th |
Kids National Folkstyle Championships
|
Midget
(born 1991-1992) |
|||
|
Name |
Club |
Wt |
Place |
|
Daniel DeShazer |
Team of Hard Knox |
50 |
1st |
|
Taylor Moeder |
Colby Kids |
50 |
2nd |
|
Tyler Stanbro |
Tomahawk Creek |
50 |
2nd |
|
Kenneth Ornelas |
Legends of Gold |
50 |
5th |
|
Sharky Slyter |
Paola |
55 |
2nd |
|
Blaine Smith |
Salina |
55 |
6th |
|
Kyle Detmer |
Maize |
75 |
1st |
|
Brett Dunlap |
Hiawatha |
87 |
3rd |
|
Caleb Gifford |
Hugoton |
95 |
1st |
|
T.J. Lowe |
Piper |
95 |
4th |
|
Josh Zamecnik |
Kansas Pride |
95 |
5th |
|
Joel Marrs |
Clay County |
103 |
1st |
|
Caleb Spears |
Arcana |
112 |
4th |
|
Shane Creeson |
Stranger Creek |
120 |
6th |
|
Lorenzo A. Serna |
Emporia |
138 |
3rd |
|
Novice
(born 1989-1990) |
|||
|
Name |
Club |
Wt |
Place |
|
Trent Cox |
Haysville |
60 |
3rd |
|
Collin Hase |
Silver Lake |
60 |
4th |
|
Marvio Tischhauser |
Salina |
90 |
5th |
|
Blake Willmann |
Clay County |
90 |
6th |
|
Chance Martin |
Independence |
95 |
1st |
|
Scott Elliott |
Rose Hill |
95 |
6th |
|
Kevin Callahan |
Baldwin |
100 |
1st |
|
Boaz Beard |
Valley Center |
105 |
2nd |
|
Kevin Moravec |
Borderline Bandits |
112 |
2nd |
|
James Sparks |
Emporia |
120 |
1st |
|
Elijah Madison |
Kansas Pride |
130 |
1st |
|
Cole Mutz |
Republic Co |
130 |
5th |
|
Dallas Butts |
Ft Leavenworth |
130 |
6th |
|
Paul Kilgore |
Bluestem |
140 |
2nd |
|
Duane Zlatnik |
Rossville |
170 |
1st |
|
Randy McCune |
Rossville |
191 |
1st |
|
Justin Espeseth |
Chapman |
220 |
1st |
|
Schoolboy
(born 1987-1988) |
|||
|
Name |
Club |
Wt |
Place |
|
Donny Altman |
Derby |
70 |
4th |
|
Conner Crumbliss |
Ark City Takedown |
80 |
5th |
|
Tristen DeShazer |
Team of Hard Knox |
85 |
3rd |
|
Jeb Woodford |
Manhattan Kids |
90 |
6th |
|
Neil Erisman |
Peterman Pitbulls |
110 |
3rd |
|
Dylan Loyd |
St Francis |
110 |
5th |
|
Mike Miller |
Manhattan Kids |
120 |
6th |
|
Sean Pietrzyk |
Salina |
125 |
4th |
|
Cyle Carpenter |
Clay County |
130 |
2nd |
|
Jesse Strawn |
Jackson Co |
130 |
4th |
|
Max Connelly |
Trailhands |
130 |
6th |
|
Nate Boyer |
Clay County |
150 |
2nd |
|
Travis Eden |
Trailhands |
150 |
3rd |
|
Brad Scheuerman |
Great Bend |
150 |
4th |
|
Christopher Purcel |
Effingham |
150 |
5th |
|
Blake Malloy |
Topeka Thunderbird |
160 |
2nd |
|
Jeff Gehring |
Team Lightning |
171 |
5th |
|
Joe Zlatnik |
Rossville |
200 |
1st |
|
Kyle Manwaring |
Burlington |
200 |
6th |