Sun, Feb. 20, 2011

Sooners strike gold in Wichita

Imagine if five Wichita-area basketball players were at Oklahoma and the Sooners were ranked No. 8 in the country. We'd be going crazy here, for a number of reasons.
First, it would be cool, there's no denying that. Second, it would be driving us crazy that five guys had gotten away to Oklahoma, of all places, and were being so successful. There would be a clamor to keep performers like that at home.
But it's not basketball we're talking about. It's wrestling, and because there are limited opportunities in Kansas for prospective college wrestlers, five from our area are at OU. Three will wrestle for the Sooners today against Oklahoma State in the final dual of the season and the last dual for Oklahoma coach Jack Spates, who is responsible for opening up, as he calls it, "Kansas South" at OU.
Goddard's Tyler Caldwell is the second-ranked 167-pounder in the nation with a 27-4 record. Chase Nelson, from Heights, is 19-7 and ranked No. 12 in the 157-pound weight class. Bishop Carroll's Jordan Keller is OU's regular 133-pounder, and is 16-7. Two others — Heights' Kendric Maple and Carroll's Kyle Detmer — are redshirting this season. Last season, Maple was OU's winningest wrestler and won two matches in the NCAA championships.
"Kansas wrestling has been very good to us, and Wichita in particular,'' said Spates, the national coach of the year in 2006 who is stepping down after 18 seasons at Oklahoma. "We're tough as nails and these guys are playing a big part.''
Spates didn't intentionally go about luring Wichita wrestlers to OU, it just happened. He's a champion for high school wrestling in Kansas, saying it has passed Oklahoma in quality and quantity. Think about that statement for a second. Oklahoma has two of the country's most traditionally successful college wrestling programs, yet Spates believes Kansas is at least comparable in high school wrestling.
"Kansas wrestling just keeps getting better and better,'' Spates said. "Those high school coaches there are doing a fabulous job. And the great thing about these Kansas kids is that they're not only great on the mat, but great off the mat, too. They're polite, respectful and absolute warriors on the mat.''
And the pipeline continues; Heights standout Daniel DeShazer, a two-time state champion, will be a freshman at OU in the fall.
Keller is a transfer from Cleveland State, where he spent 18 months before deciding it wasn't for him. His twin brother, John, also left Cleveland State and is attending Wichita State. But Jordan didn't want to give up wrestling, so he contacted some old friends who were at OU and found a spot.
"I've known these guys down here forever,'' Keller said. "I've known (Caldwell) since I was 6 and Chase since high school.''
Caldwell has built on his impressive freshman season, when he finished fifth nationally. A four-time state champion at Goddard, where he was 150-4, Caldwell has been the Sooners' most dynamic wrestler.
"I've coached better wrestlers,'' Spates said. "But I don't know if I've coached any tougher. John Kading, a four-time All-American, has always been the standard but he has nothing on Tyler Caldwell. That's a guy that just hates to lose and he won't give you anything.''
Caldwell admits it's the four losses he has this season that stand out from the 27 wins. He's looking forward to a re-match with Nebraska's Jordan Burroughs, the top-ranked 165-pound wrestler in the country, who beat Caldwell 7-3 earlier this season.
"Losing eats me up,'' Caldwell said. "It really bothers me. I don't want to accept failure and that's what helps drive me. I've been that way my whole life and I don't see it ever changing. Maybe I'll get a little better at handling it, I don't know.''
Nelson, a national junior college champion at Labette Community College in Parsons, also felt the pull of OU because it's where so many of his friends were.
"My buddy, Kendric Maple, was here and I know Jordan and the other guys,'' Nelson said. "They all tried to convince me that if I wanted to be the best, this would be the best place to go.''
It's a band of Wichita-area brothers and they'll all be back at OU next season. Plus DeShazer and who knows who else?
"I know a lot of schools try to recruit Kansas,'' Spates said. "There are some very good Division II programs there.''
But no Division I competition to keep the best of the state's high school wrestlers from jumping states.
Makes you wonder what a wrestling program might look like at Kansas, Kansas State or even Wichita State. It's undeniable that the sport of wrestling has advanced greatly in the past decade or so and the wrestling roster at Oklahoma is proof.
"To use an appropriate analogy,'' Spates said of his Kansas haul of wrestlers, "I feel like I'm in Tombstone and I just found gold.''


http://www.kansas.com/2011/02/20/1728410/sooners-strike-gold-in-wichita.html