After taking second place at the Baldwin Invitational and getting roughed up by Oak Park in six of the final matches at Baldwin last weekend, Lansing came on strong last night at Tonganoxie. Lions beat Mill Valley 74-6, Bonner Springs 76-6, and Tongie 65-18.
I believe the last time the Lions went undefeated in duals was 1996-97.
Next for the Lions is the Kaw Valley League tournament which they have come close in the past, but have not won since 1996-97.
Leavenworth Times Article
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FLIP-FLOP — Times photo/Jason Nichols — Lansing junior Casey Caton (right) turns Mill Valley’s Nic Rogers — and himself — upside-down during a 152-pound match Thursday night. Caton went 3-0, as the top-ranked Lions swept the Kaw Valley League quad at Tonganoxie.
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Sports
Lions wrap up 16-0 run
By JASON NICHOLS, Times Sports Editor
TONGANOXIE — It was a big night for the Lansing wrestling team. The top-ranked Lions bounced back from a runner-up finish at the Baldwin Invitational with a vengeance, winning 29 of 34 matches, including 23 wins by fall. They also grabbed a convincing victory in the night’s marquee match-up and finished the season 16-0 in duals.
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GOING DOWN — Times photo/Jason Nichols — Lansing sophomore Nick Flynn throws Mill Valley’s Dedean McEllhiney during his technical fall victory at 130 pounds. Flynn was one of 10 Lions to go 3-0 on the night.
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But it was Tyler Strouhal who stole the show in the finale Thursday night at Tonganoxie, as Lansing cruised to a 74-6 win over Mill Valley, topped Bonner Springs 76-6 and rolled over Tongie 65-18.
The freshman and first-year wrestler has gotten spot varsity duty at both 215 and 275 pounds this season and recently won the 215-pound title at Pleasant Ridge’s JV tournament. Thursday, however, Strouhal showed he might be one of the Lions to watch next season.
“First, I started (wrestling) to get in shape for football next year, but I’m starting to like it more,” Strouhal said. “I’m going to do it throughout high school.”
A late addition to the varsity lineup in the opener against Mill Valley, Strouhal earned his keep by dominating his match against a bigger wrestler, Tyler Hancock. Strouhal pinned his way to victory in 1 minute, 44 seconds.
But that wasn’t enough. He wanted to test himself against Tonganoxie’s heavyweight, who easily had a 50-pound weight advantage on the 209-pound Strouhal.
“He was begging to go in against that Tongie kid, just to see what he could do,” Lansing coach Ron Averill said. “It was really a good situation for him all the way around.”
Tonganoxie senior Jeff Frank nearly ended the match with a pin in the first period, but Strouhal somehow slipped out for a reversal to cut the deficit to 6-3 heading into the second period. He struggled to find a way to take the bigger Frank down in the second period and fell behind 8-3.
“He wasn’t really a lot stronger than me, but he weighed a lot,” Strouhal said. “He was so big, it was kind of hard to get my arms around him.”
But in the third period, he found a way, taking Frank down and earned a three-point nearfall to tie the match. He might have earned a pin, but Frank’s shoulders were just outside the ring.
The Tonganoxie senior used his experience in the end, taking Strouhal down and wrapping him up for a pin with about 49 seconds remaining in the match.
“It was probably the most spirited match of the night, for the teams and the fans,” Averill said. “He wanted to step in and see what he could do, so we said, ‘OK, go ahead. Go for it.’ He had a super night. He really impressed our coaches and the other team’s coaches.”
The biggest match of the night came early, as second-ranked Matt Westin of Mill Valley and Lansing’s third-ranked Sean Flynn squared off in a 140-pound match.
Flynn had knocked off Westin 4-1 early in the season at the Eudora Tournament, but was still ranked behind the Jaguar. This one wasn’t nearly as close.
Leading 3-2 at the end of the first period, Flynn turned it on, scoring eight points in the second period to grab an 11-4 lead, before ending the match by a 13-5 major decision. It was a key win for Flynn, even more so because he suffered his first loss of the season at Baldwin on Saturday.
“I realized I probably needed to work a little harder in practice,” he said. “I had Westin in my first match, so I thought it would be a good match to get back on my feet. I thought I worked really well against him.”
Flynn was one of 10 Lansing wrestlers to finish the night 3-0. And four Lions pinned their way through the night.
Sophomore 103-pounder Dennis Wood won his first two matches by fall in the first period, then finished the night by sticking his opponent from Tonganoxie 17 seconds into the second period. Senior 171-pounder Dennis Kessler’s run was similar: He went into the second period just one.
Senior Lance Fink’s run was even better. He pinned all three of his opponents in the opening period, including an 18-second victory against Bonner Springs.
But Ryan Civils took the prize for quickest victories.
The senior 189-pounder won his first match in just seven seconds. Against Bonner, he needed 2:15. But in the finale against Tonganoxie, he won his match in just 10 seconds and even managed to get a gruesome bloody nose in that short time span.
“My nose ran straight into his knee when I took the shot. It just exploded,” Civils said.
Sophomore Nick Flynn finished 3-0 at 130 pounds, while Kyle Buehler won two matches by fall before taking a forfeit at 135, the same road junior 145-pounder Kyle Grape took. Senior 215-pounder Logan Ryan won one match by technical fall, another by fall and took at forfeit for a perfect day.
Junior 152-pounder Casey Caton was also unbeaten, winning one match by fall and another by forfeit. But the junior also grabbed the closest win of the night by the Lions, an 8-3 win over Bonner’s Mitch Lewis.
Scott Keller finished 2-1 for the Lions at 112 pounds, as did Chance Thackston at 119 and Strouhal at 275. Wesley Appleget went 1-2 at 125 pounds.
Sean Flynn was excited about the way the Lions bounced back from Saturday’s runner-up finish, even if it was to nationally-ranked Oak Park, Mo.
“We’re here again,” he said. “It felt really good to get back out here and show what we can do. A very good day.”
Now the focus shifts to the Kaw Valley League Tournament, scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. on Feb. 11 at Perry-Lecompton. Though they’ve been close several times, the Lions haven’t won a league title in wrestling since 1996.
Though his nose looked like Rocky Balboa’s from the movies, Civils said nothing was going to hold the Lions or himself back at the league meet.
“If anybody thinks this is going to slow me down, it’s not,” he said. “There’s not going to be any face mask, either. It’s just going to be out there, ready to get people at the Kaw Valley League Tournament.”
