Amen to that! ;-)

It was FANtastic! Always one of my favorite events of the year! Great report Will!!

I just now got home and my eyes are going completely buggy! So, I'll post my report tomorrow!!

As members of the Kansas Metro Wrestling Committee, we would like to thank the following individuals. The coaching staff that consisted of Travis Keal-Mill Valley, Steve Mesa-Olathe South, Chad Parks-Shawnee Heights, and Chip Ufford-Shawnee Mission East. These coaches did a wonderful job of preparing this years team for tonights event.

We also would like to thank the Kansas Wrestlers who worked as hard as any group we have seen in a Wrestling room. Our Wrestlers understood Wrestling is an individual sport but they also realized the goal of the KANSAS Team was to beat Missouri. This victory is a tribute to the Coaches and Wrestlers and their strong belief in hard work and attention to detail.

We would also like to thank the parents of the Wrestlers who allowed them to prepare and be successful in beating Missouri. Some people might have doubted the team, but the committee, the coaches, and the wrestlers proved they were ready to bring another victory to KANSAS. We also need to thank the huge number of KANSAS fans that attended and supported the team. Your support helped bring KANSAS another victory.

Thanks again to all involved,

Gary V. and Troy H.

Hi I justed wanted to thank everyone for all the support for Jake Woten. Not just tonight but also through out the week after state. Thanks to the organizers that selected Jake. Thanks for all the nice comments from people around town. Vince that was a really great post. My Jake really likes your Jake and I will miss watching them battle it out on Saturdays in the finals. It sure was nice to have them on the same team tonight. This is a great event! Jake was kind of down on wrestling after state, but that all changed tonight. He has been involved in many sporting events, but he told me that tonight was by far the best sporting event he had ever been involved in. He can't stop smiling! Jake is off to play football in college,and he will probably never wrestle again but because of The Metro Classic, when he thinks of wrestling years from now....he'll smile. I'll miss seeing all of your faces next winter, good luck to each and everyone of you.



Josh Woten

Josh,

I was so proud and happy for your son last night. I think that Jacob and Jake have been battling since the 7th grade. They have always had great competitive matches but have always maintained a mutual respect for each other. Because of these battles I felt very confident going into that decisive heavyweight match even though I knew that Jake was giving up a lot of weight and I knew he was facing a good heavyweight. Jake Woten comes to the big game to battle and he more than proved it last night. He gave it his all last night. That was really a clutch victory for himself and Team Kansas.

If it does prove to be his last competitive wrestling match it was a great way to end his wrestling career. Personally, I would love to see him back in wrestling. I could see him pursuing both football and wrestling in college depending on what division he ends up playing football at. I know some NAIA schools like Baker University encourage dual sport athletes like Jake to participate in more than one sport. So I could see Jake possibly going that route in the future. I think he could be a good college 285 wrestler and football player. He obviously loves wrestling. Jacob really enjoyed being Jake's teammate and drilling partner this past week too.

Thanks again Vince. Yeah I think he has been since 7th grade. While they were usually close, Jacob owned Jake. I don't know that the total number matches were, but I do know Jake never beat him. But you are right about the mutual respect. I would always ask Jake what certain kids were like etc. He always had nothing but good things to say about Jacob. Good luck to you guys, we will enjoy following Jacob in college!


Josh Woten

Great win Team Kansas!

Also, big thanks to the organizers, another great dual. This is by far one of the most exciting match-ups of the season every year. Thanks to those who put in a LOT of work to make it happen.

And Kansas fans definitely packed the house!

Source: KC Star

http://www.kansascity.com/187/story/1081297.html

Kansas wins Metro Classic Wrestling Dual
By JEFF GELSKI
Special to The Star

Garvey Scott
Harrisonville�s Ben Hunter (left) took on Silver Lake�s Dustin Zahorsky in a 140-pound match on Wednesday. More News

Woten won 3-2 against Excelsior Springs� Aaron Sinclair in the 285-pound class. His victory gave Kansas a 27-23 team victory over Missouri.

The event featured top high school seniors, nine of whom recently won state championships and others who also hope to wrestle in college.

Woten will play football at Butler County Community College in El Dorado, Kan.

�Talk about a way to go out,� Woten said. �The stands were wild. That was probably the greatest sports feeling I�ve ever had.�

Woten placed sixth in the 215-pound class at the Kansas 6A state meet this year.

Jacob Nowak of St. Thomas Aquinas, however, got the nod to wrestle at 215 pounds Wednesday.

Nowak won 7-1 against Oak Park�s Austin Baske, who subbed for injured Center senior Zack Williams, a Missouri state champion.

Nowak�s victory gave Kansas a 24-23 lead entering the final match.

Woten, wrestling at 210 pounds, took a 1-0 lead over the heavier Sinclair after two periods. Sinclair got an escape to tie the score early in the third period.

With a little more than a minute left, Woten brought the Kansas fans to their feet with a two-point takedown.

�I just heard it when I got that takedown,� Woten said. �I was just, �Yes.� �

Sinclair came up with a one-point escape in the final minute, but Woten hung on for the victory.

Two Kansas wrestlers upended Missouri state champions. At 119 pounds, Washington�s James Wauer took a 6-3 decision against Clinton�s Andy Skaggs, who went 47-1 and won a Missouri Class 2 state title.

At 152 pounds, Olathe East�s David Lalo won 9-6 against Platte County�s Colin Wittmeyer, a two-time Missouri Class 2 champ.

The 125-pound match featured two state champions in Olathe South�s Chaz Lawrence and Blue Springs� Luke Greco. A one-point escape early in the second period gave Greco a 1-0 victory.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

@ Go to KansasCity.com for a wrestling photo gallery.



Posted on Wed, Mar. 11, 2009 10:15 PM

All eight of the victories were critical for the Kansas victory last night. Wauer's and Lalo's wins against the Missouri state champions were very pivotal. I think though that the reporter missed another very important Kansas win over a Missouri state champion which was Linwood Peoples' victory over the Oak Park wrestler who I believe was also a state champion. I thought Linwood's victory was a very key win for Team Kansas.

www.missouriwrestling.com

In the class 4 message board.

Not a lot being said. It was a good dual, lots of good matches, Kansas won...nice job!

I just got finished watching the 285lb match. I was funny listening to the Missouri crowd yell and scream for a stalling call everytime their wrestler pushed Jake off the mat, and yet I counted at least 5 shots that Jake took the last one which was successful, and the Missouri wrestler took none.

Of course shot counts don't really signify that a wrestler isn't stalling, but if your only objective is to push your opponent around in hopes of getting a stalling call then you really aren't wrestling aggresively and so its a very good no call. I do think Jake probably should have attempted to circle around more when near the edge of the mat, but he did enough and thats what matters.

I couldn't agree more as I just watched the match, except I don't think the Missouri crowd calling stalling was funny, I think it was sad. The fact is Woten was getting pushed around, weight up against you will do that. If he hadn't attempted any shots, any takedowns, then maybe the stalling argument would hae been justified, however the only offensive attacks were generally by Jake, I was frankly impressed with the kids heart, being pushed around, giving up the weight, and certainly wore out, he was still attempting shots and takedowns. Frankly, the takedown, or near bounds almost takedown at around 53 or 54 seconds on the tape looked like another takedown that wasn't given, it was close but could have easily been called. I was really impressed though with Jake's heart in this one. Way to go Kansas!

Randy,

I always look forward to your report on this event. Have you posted it yet?

Thanks,

Vince

After a few days to think about it, I had to chime in on how great of an effort that our Kansas seniors gave. Every wrestler contributed!

Some random thoughts...

The bookend weights at 103 and 285:

A couple of redemption stories were really fun to see. Tyler Stokes making weight at 110 was a big help. He completely dominated his undersized, but game opponent. I also like his pre-match video that they showed giving a public "thank you" to the organizers and coaches for giving him the opportunity to represent Kansas in this event. Jake Woten was giving up around 40 pounds. As Jake took his shirt off, I saw the MO HWT give what was seemingly a sly grin as if to say, "This will be fast". Jake on the other hand had a plan of his own. I have watched Jake wrestle many times and you can always expect that when he sets that determined chin, it really doesn't matter who he's wrestling, they had better be ready to get after it. My initial thoughts were, DO NOT get under that big boy with an extended shot! I have not seen the playback yet, but Jake had to have taken at least FIVE low level shots. Each time he got so low that the weight difference was taken away from MO kid. Even when there were 17 seconds left and he basically could not have been warned twice, he STILL took a shot. All I can say is, that's the way to finish your High School career!

Callahan knew that he was in a tight spot with a heavier, nationally ranked opponent but we all know that he has only one gear and that's all out! Sure he could have kept the match closer but leaving it on the mat was exactly what I expected out of him. We all have seen that for years and this was no exception.

Wauer is another one of those wrestlers that you can always count on to compete. In this match he did much more than that! A State Champion from MO, had to be asking himself, "Who is this guy?" That was a BIG win for us and kind of set the tone for the entire dual.

Linwood Peoples. After all he's been through, here he was matched against a State Champion who had also placed 2nd at the UNI Dome Folkstyle Nationals, losing 6-5 in the final! Linwood making 137 was also a big help to Team Kansas. Those 6 losses on his record were deceiving. Five of them were to Parker Madl and were VERY close. You can say what you want about Linwood Peoples, but there were entire families that came to watch him wrestle this year. He's got mad skills and it was nice to have a wrestler of his caliber beating a wrestler like Zach Bintliff!

I wait anxiously for Randy's report, so I'll cut this a bit short. I'm sure he will have fun describing Lalo and Hinckley's matches as well as Sommer and Nowak setting us up for the win. One thing was for sure. It was a proud moment for the Kansas wrestling community. I also applaud all of those involved in this event. It could hardly have been improved upon!

GO KANSAS!

-Chief

I just wanted to congratulate James Wauer on an outstanding win. All of us involved with Piper Kids wrestling club are very proud of you. It is great to see good things happen to good kids, and none are more deserving then James. I have had the pleasure of watching James practice for the last 8 or 9 years now and it was very gratifying to watch him showcase the skills we saw in the practice room. Good luck to you James and thank you.

David Weller

The Metro Report is coming!

anyone catch wotens no look shot? (i think the match winner?) randy u teach your boys that! thats stones mr woten... pure stones. nice work team kansas.

I can�t help but notice � Missouri�s team was made up by multiple entrants from the power houses that are Oak Park, Platte County, Blue Springs, Oak Grove and Harrisonville. Of the fifteen bouts contested, Team Kansas was represented by fourteen different schools! It was until Jake Woten at 285-pounds before one Kansas school had their second contestant!

Couldn't agree with you more. My son commented to me about that no look shot too. My son was very impressed with the fake and the total commitment Woten made to it. It was as clutch of a move and match as I have ever seen in high school wrestling. Randy did a good job in his report drawing the comparison to the Levi Bowen heavyweight victory in the same event to secure the victory for the Kansas team in 2006.

You can't get a better dual than this one: big and loud partisan crowd for both sides of the state line, great matchups of state champions and high state placers from each state, back and forth victories for each team, upset wins over multiple state champions and everything coming down to that pivotal heavyweight match that is a mini David and Goliath matchup. Jake Woten's slingshot move worked for Kansas just as it did for David against Goliath.

Three out of the last four for our Kansas lads. I can't help but wonder what the infamous gutwrench1 must think about this turn of events!

Randy,

As usual you have another great report, I found myself reliving each match as I read your description of each match and could almost feel again the excitement of the actual matches. Great job! Thank you.