EHS wrestlers defeat 4 teams at home duals
By Michael Ashford
Originally published 02:24 p.m., January 21, 2008
Updated 02:24 p.m., January 21, 2008
Emporia High wrestling coach Greg Buckbee has seen his team on the winning end of a lot of lopsided duals in his time as the Spartans head coach.
But he’d never seen anything like what happened Saturday when EHS took on Ruskin (Mo.) in the first dual of the Emporia Winter Duals meet at EHS.
With Ruskin fielding a team of just six wrestlers, the Emporia High wrestlers recorded five pins and won all six matches to shut out Ruskin, 74-0. Ruskin only scored two points total against the Spartans — with both coming on escapes.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever blanked a team,” Buckbee said. “I went up to the Ruskin coach afterward, and he told me, ‘In 20 years of coaching, that’s the first time I’ve ever been blanked.’ I said to him, ‘In about 20 years of coaching, that’s the first time I’ve ever blanked somebody.’
“He told me, ‘I’d rather be on your end.’”
The only match against Ruskin that did not end in a pin was the 285-pound matchup of Emporia’s Lorenzo Serna and Ruskin’s Anthony Duncan. Serna defeated Duncan, 1-0.
In the other five matches, Mark Kolmer beat Isiah King (189 pounds), Josh Rodriguez defeated Donzell Young (215), Jared Dakin beat Jonathon Madden (112), Sal Tovar beat James Dillon (125) and Taylor Lee defeated Andrew Hubbard (145), with all five matches ending in pins.
Emporia High went on to finish the day with a 4-1 record, losing only the final dual of the day to Derby, 36-24. The Spartans defeated Ruskin, Seaman (55-18), Wichita Heights (42-28) and Junction City (44-21).
“We’re wrestling with a lot more consistency,” Buckbee said. “I was just really pleased with how our team performed.”
Several Spartans ended the day with undefeated records.
Rodriguez finished his day 5-0, winning three matches at 215 pounds and another two at 285. Serna finished 3-0 at 285 pounds, while Lee, at 145 pounds, ended his day at 4-0.
The meet also saw the return of Kolmer to the wrestling mat. Kolmer had sat out the first part of the season to recover from the grind of the football season, and his return saw him finish with a 4-1 record, his lone loss coming to Blake Long of Derby.
“It’s really hard to come out and wrestle and perform at your top level when you’ve wrestled no matches and somebody else has wrestled 20,” Buckbee said. “I think it’s a different story if Mark had been wrestling all season. He wrestled very well.”
Tovar (125) and Justin Rose (119) each were named to the All-Tournament team after each finished 4-0 in their respective divisions.
Buckbee said he saw his team start to hit its stride with its performance Saturday.
“All day long, we were very intense, and we wrestled well,” Buckbee said. “We’ve got two more weeks of competition, and I think we’ll see some more growth. Saturday was fun. It was a good day, and we’re making strides.”
The Spartans next travel to the Garden City tournament this Friday and Saturday.
