Perry, Kan. -
The Lansing wrestling team made a big statement in their opening tournament on Saturday, coming home from the Kaw Valley League dual tournament with a 5-0 team record and a first place finish.
“That’s what we were hoping for,” Lansing head coach Ron Averill said. “Going into the day there was a lot of anticipation. The real encouraging thing is that I felt like we got better as the day went on. I think that was pretty obvious with the way we competed through the championship dual. It was pretty impressive to watch how they performed.”
Eight of Lansing’s 13 varsity wrestlers — the Lions left the 112-pound slot open — went a perfect 5-0 on the day. At 103-pounds, Bo Pursel went 5-0, including a pair of pins in his final two bouts. Spencer Blew, wrestling at 130, also went undefeated. Blew pinned all five of his opponents, including taking just nine seconds to pin his Santa Fe Trail opponent in the Lions’ final dual. Dillon Scanlon used four pins to help him to a 5-0 performance in the 135-pound class.
Tyler Terron swept the 145 class and earned three pins in his five wins on the day. Cullen Demarest went 5-0 with four pins at 152 and 160-pound Tyler Baughman had three pins and a technical fall en route to a 5-0 record on Saturday. Grant Hinckley notched a 5-0 finish complete with three pins at 171 and at 189 Nathan Wessel pinned two opponents and earned one technical fall in his undefeated day.
After losing his first match, 285-pound Zach Hammer finished out the day with two pins in four wins. Wesley Appleget, wrestling at 140, also went 4-1. Appleget pinned one opponent at the tournament. Brian Snodgrass went 3-2 with a couple pins at 215 and 125-pound Garret Hinckley pinned his Mill Valley opponent for his only win of the day. Justin Lozenski went 1-4 on the day as well, notching an 11-2 win over his Mill Valley opponent.
Averill said he was happy with all his boys on the day.
“Our three seniors, Grant Hinckley was undefeated, Brian Snodgrass went 3-2 and Wes Appleget was 4-1. They did a good job,” Averill said. “We had a couple freshmen on the varsity, Bo Pursel and Justin Lozenski. It was pretty exciting for them to get out and wrestling their first high school meet. I’m just proud of the whole team.”
In addition to the team picking up dual wins over Turner, Piper, Basehor-Linwood, Mill Valley and Santa Fe Trail, Averill said he was also pleased to see several of his athletes take wins over ranked opponents.
“We had several big matches through the day,” Averill said. “We had a lot of wrestlers beating state-ranked opponents. Dillon Scanlon beat a state-ranked opponent from Mill Valley, Tyler Baughman beat two state-ranked wrestlers and Nathan Wessel beat a state-ranked guy.”
Starting the season with the KVL dual tourney, Averill said, is important to developing the team as a whole.
“The neat thing about a dual tournament is that it gives you a real sense of team,” Averill said. “We got to have our JV there too and our varsity did a good job of being a prime example of what we want for our squad.”
The Lions will hit the mats again on Friday and Saturday for the Eudora Tournament, competing against more than 20 other schools in the meet.
