Great run Slammers. Thanks a million to all the coaches and helpers this year.
Let's get ready for freestyle...see you 4 April, Lansing 6:00 to 7:30.
Mike Flynn
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Sports
Slammers grab five medals at state tourney
By JASON NICHOLS, Times Sports Editor
TOPEKA — After holding off Smoky Valley’s Trevor Whitaker in a dramatic third period to claim a state championship, Jared Johnson didn’t sound like a typical champ. In fact, he sounded downright surprised to be standing at the top of the medal stand.
“I thought I’d win my first one and lose my second one, then go out the back door. Surprisingly, I got help going through all those hard practices and won,” said Johnson, one of five members of the Slammer Wrestling Club who took home medals Sunday at the USA Wrestling Kansas Kids State Tournament at the Kansas Expocentre in Topeka.
Johnson, an Easton native, was joined on the medal stand by teammates Elijah Hill, Spencer Blew, Tyler Baughman and Nick Flynn. A pair of wrestlers from the Fort Leavenworth Warriors club, Ryan Moran and Nathan Butler, also grabbed medals.
Slammers head coach Aaron Yoakam wasn’t surprised that Johnson brought a medal home from the state tournament. And he wasn’t surprised at Johnson’s expectations, either.
“He’s really modest,” Yoakam said. “He’s not a flashy wrestler. He’s a real workhorse, a technician.”
In the championship match of the 10-and-under, 100-pound weight class, Johnson took control with an escape and a takedown in the second period. Whitaker, however, pulled within a point with a reversal and had the bottom position to start the third period.
“I was just trying to hold him down, put my legs in and ride him on through,” Johnson said.
It wasn’t easy, however. Whitaker nearly escaped in the final 30 seconds, but Johnson caught his leg to maintain control. For the final 17 seconds, he held on for the title.
Yoakam said Johnson didn’t need any words of wisdom before the dramatic final period.
“With Jared, I just have to remind him of his stance. He works the rest,” the coach said.
Baughman also earned a trip to the finals, though he lost by fall in the second period and had to settle for runner-up honors. Though no one would have known from the look on Baughman’s face after the loss, just being at the state tournament was a victory.
The trophy was gravy.
The 12-and-under 130-pounder dominated during the early portion of the season, but was sidelined for three weeks after breaking his thumb. After returning to the lineup, he won his next tournament, but the following weekend in Salina, he dislocated his shoulder, tearing a muscle, and had to miss six more weeks.
A week after returning a second time, he got rolling again. Baughman won the Pleasant Ridge tournament, then the sub-district tourney, then districts. His three-week run didn’t end until the state finals.
“While it was a disappointing end, when you look back at his story this year, he was a Cinderella story,” Yoakam said. “Taking second in the state after missing nine weeks, my hat’s off to the kid.”
Baughman almost left as a state champ.
In the opening seconds of the final match, Baughman took Tucker Chadd of Maize straight to his back for a five-point move. And he nearly got the pin. But after surviving the early onslaught, Chadd caught Baughman with a move in the second period and got the fall.
Two years ago, Blew was on the top of the heap at the state meet when he walked off with a championship during the Slammers breakout year at the event.
Last year was a different story. Moving up an age group, Blew struggled and failed to reach the medal stand. Yoakam said the 12-and-under 100-pounder wasn’t going to let that happen again.
Blew reached the semifinals, where he dropped his first match. But on Sunday, he came back with two impressive wins to close out the folkstyle season in style with a third-place finish.
The third-place matchup between Blew and Emporia’s Chase Sanchez appeared to match foes of equal ability. But Blew took advantage of every opportunity to score and carried the match.
“The kid’s got great hips on him,” Yoakam said. “You can coach technique, but some kids are just true athletes. When he throws his legs in, he’s like a leech. You can’t get him off you. He just stays in great position.”
Hill, who earned a fifth-place medal, is just 8 years old. But Yoakam considers him a veteran. He’s been wrestling half his life.
“He’s a seasoned veteran at that age,” Yoakam said.
And Hill looked like one on Sunday.
After dropping a tight match late in the third period in the consolation semifinals, the 52-pounder regained his composure for the finale. Facing Great Bend’s Hunter Gregg, Hill picked up an early takedown and made it stand up for a 2-0 victory.
In the 16-and-under weight class, Flynn finished in fifth place, one spot better than he did a year ago, when he was injured during a training workout and had to default his last two matches.
Things couldn’t have been any more tense in Flynn’s final three matches at this year’s state tourney. And after two close losses, Flynn bucked the trend in the third and most exciting of the trio.
Against Tyson Young of Winfield, neither wrestler made a mistake in three periods. Regulation ended in a scoreless draw. Overtime appeared headed that way, as well, but Flynn came through with a takedown in the final 10 seconds for the victory.
Yoakam wasn’t the only one yelling instructions from the sidelines this weekend. Assistant coaches Mike Flynn, Dennis Wood, Tom Baughman, John Witt, John Johnson, Mark DeGraw and Guy Niemann are a crucial part of the Slammers, Yoakam said. Many of he coaches’ sons wrestle in the club, but Yoakam said they don’t work only with their children. Wood’s son, Jake, was injured more than a month ago, but stayed on to help out.
After next weekend’s Brute Nationals, the club shifts its focus to freestyle wrestling, run by Flynn, Niemann and Fort Leavenworth Warriors coaches Shawn Budke and Larry Judd.
