An overall outstanding effort! People have complained about what's wrong with Kansas Freestyle-all you need to do is look at our cadets and see what's right!
It starts with commitment- a couple of years ago Barry Disney, Charlie Knox, Todd Napier etc... put together the first ever Kansas Schoolboy Freestyle team-over the past two or so years that team has 'jelled' and with great coaches like Tom Peterman and Thompson and tireless efforts of coaches Hemreck and DeVoe and others these kids have gone to the next level
That original team included Nappier, Tanenbaum, Koehn (was hurt), Cotton, Disney, Andreus- All of these kids our 2006 All Americans. Vesta and Slyter were too young for the team at that time.
To advance Kansas wrestling, you must sow the seeds and develope the kids. Look at our next generation of up and coming schoolboys-thanks to the likes of Dad's and coaches such as Cokely, Slyter, Hemreck, Medina, Eck,etc...
Just as this year's Cadet All-Americans have developed together Kansas future looks quite brite and keep and eye on the next wave of DeShazer, Cokely, Tanenbaum, Smith, Hood, Eck,
Vesta, Henes etc.....

Slyter was on that team two years ago.

Exclusive club for Cotton


Hutch High junior is only third double-winner from Kansas at prestigious ASICS Nationals in N.D.

By Jonathan Sanfilippo

The Hutchinson News[an error occurred while processing this directive]


jsanfilippo@hutchnews.com

During the last few years, Romero Cotton had established himself as one of the best young wrestlers in Kansas.


Now, he's proving his talents - and toughness - against the rest of the nation.

Cotton won 171-pound championships in both the Greco-Roman and freestyle events at last week's ASICS/Vaughan Cadet Nationals in Fargo, N.D.

"It's the national tournament," said Cotton, who will be a junior at Hutchinson High this fall. "So if you win that, you get recognized around the nation. Instead of being known statewide, you go nationwide if you place up there."

Cotton became just the third Kansan ever to win Greco-Roman and freestyle titles at nationals in the same year. He's the first to accomplish that feat since Erik Akin, a former Bishop Miege and Iowa State wrestler, did it in 1986.

But Cotton's national triumphs did not come easy. He defeated Nate Schiedel of New York with a 4-0, 1-1, 5-2 decision in the Greco-Roman finals on July 24.

Cotton's freestyle finals match was even more competitive. He scored two points by finishing a leg attack in the closing seconds of the third period to come away with a 1-0, 0-1, 2-1 victory against Hunter Collins of California on Friday.

"I couldn't take him down the whole tournament, so it was real frustrating," Cotton said. "At the end, I had to go for it, and it happened."

Cotton's success comes after countless hours of practice. He began wrestling about eight years ago in youth programs, then went on to excel at Hutch High, where he won the 145-pound Class 6A state championship as a freshman in 2005 and the 160-pound state crown as a sophomore this past winter.

Cotton has been wrestling throughout the summer. He trained with a club in Derby and has participated in camps and tournaments throughout the country.

"It's very rewarding, especially when you know how much time and effort he puts into it," said Mike Garcia, who coaches Cotton at Hutch High and for team Kansas at the Cadet Nationals. "He's a dedicated wrestler. To see him have success is nice."

Even after all his high school and national success, Cotton plans to continue working and improving. There are still other goals he wants to accomplish.

"My goal is to wrestle in college," Cotton said. "I want to go to college."


08/02/2006; 02:34:02 AM

The article mentions Cotton and Aiken as double winners from KS. Who was the third to do this?

According to info at http://www.usawks.com

Gonz Medina and Eric Akin doubled as a cadets in 1986. Akin was named OW in each division.
Temoer Terry doubled as a cadet in 1991
Romero Cotton doubled as a cadet in 2006

There was no indication on the same site that anyone from Kansas has doubled as a junior.

Thanks Mr. Doe!

No one from Kansas has ever doubled as a Junior. We were well aware of that going into Fargo which is one thing that makes Nate's loss difficult for our family. It was something Eric had made us aware of, and was cheering us along and helping via telephone conversations every day. Each of our wrestlers should set for themselves high goals, go for them and do their best. Romero accomplished his goal this year, great big kudos to him. I am proud of him and know how proud his parents must be. Hopefully in the next years we will have several wrestlers, and several are possible, to become Kansas first ever Juniors to double.