Teams of the Week – Dec. 28
Assault on top-rated wrestlers continues at Reno
Smith, Yohn fall; Easton boat-races field for fifth team title
By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. High School Editor
It’s been quite a precarious road for the nation’s top-ranked wrestlers this season. And that’s a good thing. Depth and parity are testaments to the State of American High School Wrestling message.
But holiday tournaments have seen the fall of Chicago (Ill.) St. Rita High standout Albert White, two close calls for Christiansburg (Va.) High’s Cody Gardner against Blair Academy shadow Jared Platt, and, in the Reno (Nev.) Tournment of Champions, Dec. 21-22, upset losses for two more upper-weight icons.
Top-ranked 171-pounder Kirk Smith of Boise (Idaho) Centennial High became the latest victim of Gilroy (Calif.) High junior Hunter Collins’ year-long run of great victories, Collins winning 5-2 in the finals to avenge a Junior National finals loss. And at 189, Junior National runner-up Sonny Yohn of Alamosa (Colo.) High, the weight’s defending champion, was pummeled, 15-6, in the semifinals by California state place-winner Ryan Smith of Temecula Valley High. Minnesota recruit Yohn did come back to beat Smith in the third-place match.
It was a rough tournament for top seeds, with only eight of 14 winning titles and three failing to place.
Easton (Pa.) High, which finished second to Alamosa in last year’s tournament, had no trouble winning this this time around, scoring 202.5 points. Two District 1 eastern Pennsylvania rivals, Pennsburg Upper Perkiomen High (156.5) and Holland Council Rock South High (152), sandwiched Poway (Calif.) High (154) in a tight battle for second place. For Upper Perkiomen, wrestling in its third national-caliber tournament in 13 days, it was an upbeat conclusion after not meeting its expectations at the Walsh Ironman and the Beast of the East.
Poway’s performance, by the way, showed how deep the Titans’ lineup is; deeper, by some measures, than Easton’s. Poway finished third despite having just two place-winners and they finished only sixth and seventh. Easton, meanwhile, had six place-winners and Upper Perkiomen five.
But seven Poway wrestlers came within one match of placing in the top eight and four more within two matches. All 14 Titans won at least one match in the tournament, with only 135 producing fewer than three victories.
So, in three important measures, Poway actually outperformed Easton: number of wrestlers one match away from placing (9-8); number of wrestlers within two matches of placing (13-12); and number of wrestlers with at least one match victory (14-13).
We haven’t ranked Poway above Easton and wouldn’t based on the team score outcome, but the tournament showed that a neutral-site dual meet between the two would likely be a tossup and that Poway’s spot in W.I.N.’s Top 25 is secure.
Some quick hits from the event by weight:
103: Top-seeded Mark Rappo of Council Rock South didn’t have a match closer than six points as he lived up to the hype. He beat fellow sophomore Nick Burnham of Olympia (Wash.) A.G. West Black Hills High, 12-4, in the finals. Burnham, fifth in state last year, pinned four of his five pre-final opponents.
112: California state runner-up and Cadet National place-winner Thomas Williams of West Covina South Hills High, the same school that produced the Yankees’ Jason Giambi and late pitcher Cory Lidle, had only one close call, a 1-0 decision over fellow Californian Diego Quintero of Selma High. Easton’s Kegan Handlovic scored impressive wins on the other side of the bracket, but was no match for Williams, who prevailed 12-4 in the finals.
119: Round two to Ohio State recruit Nikko Triggas of Moraga (Calif.) Campolindo High, now a three-time Reno champion, after beating Easton’s Jordan Oliver, 7-4, in a battle of returning titlists. Triggas avenged an Ironman finals loss against Upper Perkiomen’s Chris Sheetz in the semifinals, 9-4.
125: After a 4-3 squeaker over Council Rock South’s Rob Vollrath in the first round, ninth-seeded sophomore R.J. Pena of Salem (Ore.) Sprague High pinned three of his final five opponents. His victories that went the distance were just as impressive: 6-4 over top-seeded Boris Novachkov of Fremont (Calif.) High in the quarterfinals and 11-3 over National Prep champion Riley Adamson, now at South Jordan (Utah) Bingham High, who finished third.
130: One of the tournament’s toughest weight classes went to one of Oklahoma’s most rapidly-rising juniors, Matt Bryan of Broken Arrow High. He beat two-time Wyoming champion Eric Harris of Green River High, who finished third, 5-2 in the quarterfinals and won the title, 4-0, over Upper Perkiomen’s Shane Smith, who had to beat Salt Lake City (Utah) High’s Jaes Jones, Poway’s Joe Boone and Heber City (Utah) Wasatch High’s Casey Smith in sucession to reach the finals.
135: Camp Hill (Pa.) Cedar Cliff High’s Bryan Ortenzio made a strong case for OW honors with back-to-back wins over three-time Alaska champion Hollan Gravley of Palmer Colony High, 7-6, in the quarterfinals, and Pennsylvania champion Scott Clymer of New Tripoli Northwestern Lehigh High, 4-3 in the semifinals. But two-time Utah champion Josh Chamberlain of Springville High snuffed out Ortenzio in the final, 6-0.
140: Even with his subpar — for him — performances at the Ironman and the Beast, it’s hard to imagine Upper Perkiomen’s Zack Kemmerer not being the top seed in any tournament. Maybe that took the pressure off as the second-seeded Kemmerer rolled to the title with two pins and three major decisions. The top seed was lucky in only one respect for Arlington (Va.) Bishop O’Connell High’s Eric Kurtzke: he finished seventh.
145: Calvin Miller of Natomas (Calif.) High got a lot of mileage out of the No. 11 seed, scoring victories of 11-9 over three-time Georgia champion Carrington Banks of McDonough Union Grove High and 9-6 over Jesse Snider of Parker (Colo.) High to reach the finals. Top-seeded Jake Salazar of Wasatch ended Miller’s run, outlasting him, 6-5, in an overtime final thriller.
152: El Reno (Okla.) High’s Chris Hacker, another wrestler coming into his own, beat the No. 2-4 place-winners in his final three matches. Hacker pinned Easton’s Colin Dailey in the quarterfinals and recorded decisions of 5-2 over Council Rock South’s Dillon Evans and 6-3 over Cadet National champion Trey Edmunds of Reno Damonte Ranch High in the final two rounds.
160: Though it wasn’t a great weight class, Las Lomas High junior Jason Welch continued the legend of California’s junior class, winning the OW by coming within a point of going 6-for-6 in technical falls. Only Alamosa junior Cody Yohn managed to go six minutes with Welch – and just barely at that, losing, 15-1. Yohn had a big win of his own as well, 5-4 over three-time Arizona champion Kyle DeBerry of Tucson Sunnyside High in the semifinals.
171: A fine Final Four at this weight saw Boise State recruit Smith handle Shingle Springs (Calif.) Ponderosa High’s Justin Danz, 5-3, in one semifinal and Collins score his fourth pin of the tournament, over two-time Utah champion Mitch Sanderson of Pleasant Grove High. With his other victory a major decision, Collins put together an OW run as well. Danz beat Sanderson for third place.
189: Smith couldn’t keep it up after his win over Yohn. Instead, senior state champion Cayle Byers of Eagle River (Alaska) Chugiak High stole the show, beating Smith, 8-3, in the semifinals and Austin Carter of Council Rock South, 11-9, in overtime for the title.
215: Five minutes, 42 seconds. That’s all Wyoming state champion Skip Crooks of Green River High spent on the mat, pinning all six opponents en route to the title. His final five pins came in under one minute each, including his 29-second finals special over California champion Ryan Flores of Clovis Buchanan High.
Hwt: Heavily recruited as a football tight end, two-time Nevada champion Lyle Gardner of Fallon Churchill County High gave the host state a winner with four falls, an injury default and a major decision.
Smith, Yohn fall; Easton boat-races field for fifth team title
By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. High School Editor
It’s been quite a precarious road for the nation’s top-ranked wrestlers this season. And that’s a good thing. Depth and parity are testaments to the State of American High School Wrestling message.
But holiday tournaments have seen the fall of Chicago (Ill.) St. Rita High standout Albert White, two close calls for Christiansburg (Va.) High’s Cody Gardner against Blair Academy shadow Jared Platt, and, in the Reno (Nev.) Tournment of Champions, Dec. 21-22, upset losses for two more upper-weight icons.
Top-ranked 171-pounder Kirk Smith of Boise (Idaho) Centennial High became the latest victim of Gilroy (Calif.) High junior Hunter Collins’ year-long run of great victories, Collins winning 5-2 in the finals to avenge a Junior National finals loss. And at 189, Junior National runner-up Sonny Yohn of Alamosa (Colo.) High, the weight’s defending champion, was pummeled, 15-6, in the semifinals by California state place-winner Ryan Smith of Temecula Valley High. Minnesota recruit Yohn did come back to beat Smith in the third-place match.
It was a rough tournament for top seeds, with only eight of 14 winning titles and three failing to place.
Easton (Pa.) High, which finished second to Alamosa in last year’s tournament, had no trouble winning this this time around, scoring 202.5 points. Two District 1 eastern Pennsylvania rivals, Pennsburg Upper Perkiomen High (156.5) and Holland Council Rock South High (152), sandwiched Poway (Calif.) High (154) in a tight battle for second place. For Upper Perkiomen, wrestling in its third national-caliber tournament in 13 days, it was an upbeat conclusion after not meeting its expectations at the Walsh Ironman and the Beast of the East.
Poway’s performance, by the way, showed how deep the Titans’ lineup is; deeper, by some measures, than Easton’s. Poway finished third despite having just two place-winners and they finished only sixth and seventh. Easton, meanwhile, had six place-winners and Upper Perkiomen five.
But seven Poway wrestlers came within one match of placing in the top eight and four more within two matches. All 14 Titans won at least one match in the tournament, with only 135 producing fewer than three victories.
So, in three important measures, Poway actually outperformed Easton: number of wrestlers one match away from placing (9-8); number of wrestlers within two matches of placing (13-12); and number of wrestlers with at least one match victory (14-13).
We haven’t ranked Poway above Easton and wouldn’t based on the team score outcome, but the tournament showed that a neutral-site dual meet between the two would likely be a tossup and that Poway’s spot in W.I.N.’s Top 25 is secure.
Some quick hits from the event by weight:
103: Top-seeded Mark Rappo of Council Rock South didn’t have a match closer than six points as he lived up to the hype. He beat fellow sophomore Nick Burnham of Olympia (Wash.) A.G. West Black Hills High, 12-4, in the finals. Burnham, fifth in state last year, pinned four of his five pre-final opponents.
112: California state runner-up and Cadet National place-winner Thomas Williams of West Covina South Hills High, the same school that produced the Yankees’ Jason Giambi and late pitcher Cory Lidle, had only one close call, a 1-0 decision over fellow Californian Diego Quintero of Selma High. Easton’s Kegan Handlovic scored impressive wins on the other side of the bracket, but was no match for Williams, who prevailed 12-4 in the finals.
119: Round two to Ohio State recruit Nikko Triggas of Moraga (Calif.) Campolindo High, now a three-time Reno champion, after beating Easton’s Jordan Oliver, 7-4, in a battle of returning titlists. Triggas avenged an Ironman finals loss against Upper Perkiomen’s Chris Sheetz in the semifinals, 9-4.
125: After a 4-3 squeaker over Council Rock South’s Rob Vollrath in the first round, ninth-seeded sophomore R.J. Pena of Salem (Ore.) Sprague High pinned three of his final five opponents. His victories that went the distance were just as impressive: 6-4 over top-seeded Boris Novachkov of Fremont (Calif.) High in the quarterfinals and 11-3 over National Prep champion Riley Adamson, now at South Jordan (Utah) Bingham High, who finished third.
130: One of the tournament’s toughest weight classes went to one of Oklahoma’s most rapidly-rising juniors, Matt Bryan of Broken Arrow High. He beat two-time Wyoming champion Eric Harris of Green River High, who finished third, 5-2 in the quarterfinals and won the title, 4-0, over Upper Perkiomen’s Shane Smith, who had to beat Salt Lake City (Utah) High’s Jaes Jones, Poway’s Joe Boone and Heber City (Utah) Wasatch High’s Casey Smith in sucession to reach the finals.
135: Camp Hill (Pa.) Cedar Cliff High’s Bryan Ortenzio made a strong case for OW honors with back-to-back wins over three-time Alaska champion Hollan Gravley of Palmer Colony High, 7-6, in the quarterfinals, and Pennsylvania champion Scott Clymer of New Tripoli Northwestern Lehigh High, 4-3 in the semifinals. But two-time Utah champion Josh Chamberlain of Springville High snuffed out Ortenzio in the final, 6-0.
140: Even with his subpar — for him — performances at the Ironman and the Beast, it’s hard to imagine Upper Perkiomen’s Zack Kemmerer not being the top seed in any tournament. Maybe that took the pressure off as the second-seeded Kemmerer rolled to the title with two pins and three major decisions. The top seed was lucky in only one respect for Arlington (Va.) Bishop O’Connell High’s Eric Kurtzke: he finished seventh.
145: Calvin Miller of Natomas (Calif.) High got a lot of mileage out of the No. 11 seed, scoring victories of 11-9 over three-time Georgia champion Carrington Banks of McDonough Union Grove High and 9-6 over Jesse Snider of Parker (Colo.) High to reach the finals. Top-seeded Jake Salazar of Wasatch ended Miller’s run, outlasting him, 6-5, in an overtime final thriller.
152: El Reno (Okla.) High’s Chris Hacker, another wrestler coming into his own, beat the No. 2-4 place-winners in his final three matches. Hacker pinned Easton’s Colin Dailey in the quarterfinals and recorded decisions of 5-2 over Council Rock South’s Dillon Evans and 6-3 over Cadet National champion Trey Edmunds of Reno Damonte Ranch High in the final two rounds.
160: Though it wasn’t a great weight class, Las Lomas High junior Jason Welch continued the legend of California’s junior class, winning the OW by coming within a point of going 6-for-6 in technical falls. Only Alamosa junior Cody Yohn managed to go six minutes with Welch – and just barely at that, losing, 15-1. Yohn had a big win of his own as well, 5-4 over three-time Arizona champion Kyle DeBerry of Tucson Sunnyside High in the semifinals.
171: A fine Final Four at this weight saw Boise State recruit Smith handle Shingle Springs (Calif.) Ponderosa High’s Justin Danz, 5-3, in one semifinal and Collins score his fourth pin of the tournament, over two-time Utah champion Mitch Sanderson of Pleasant Grove High. With his other victory a major decision, Collins put together an OW run as well. Danz beat Sanderson for third place.
189: Smith couldn’t keep it up after his win over Yohn. Instead, senior state champion Cayle Byers of Eagle River (Alaska) Chugiak High stole the show, beating Smith, 8-3, in the semifinals and Austin Carter of Council Rock South, 11-9, in overtime for the title.
215: Five minutes, 42 seconds. That’s all Wyoming state champion Skip Crooks of Green River High spent on the mat, pinning all six opponents en route to the title. His final five pins came in under one minute each, including his 29-second finals special over California champion Ryan Flores of Clovis Buchanan High.
Hwt: Heavily recruited as a football tight end, two-time Nevada champion Lyle Gardner of Fallon Churchill County High gave the host state a winner with four falls, an injury default and a major decision.