We have 4 USAW National Finalists!!!

Cadet 94 - Cody Phippen
Cadet 138 - Connor Penka

Junior 126 - Sean DeShazer
Junior 195 - Preston Weigel

Eleven others are battling for placements on the back side.

Congratulations to our 17 AA's!!!

I'm hijacking to some degree but oh well.
Congrats Logan McDowell Abilene. 8th

Is Abilene the only group that didn't enter as Team Kansas?

Junior 113 - Logan McDowell - 8th place!

Looks like Cadet 88 had 11 guys in it. Tanner McGivney gets 7th place!

Tanner Mcgivney Abilene. 7th

Yeah I think so. We brought 11 as a team.

Preston Weigel - USAW National Champion!!!!

Cody Phippen - USAW National Champion!!!!

I got done with my clinic in time to watch the finals! Now I'm watching the true 2nd's ... Dustin Williams is 2nd!!

Great Job Cody Phippen and Preston Weigel! Both National Champs!!

Kansas is representing!!

What happened to senior nationals? 1st and 2nd at state...I don't see any NJ, Ny, or Penn, or Ohio kids at this tourney...Why are we not competing against the best anymore? I wish our seniors had a chance to compete like the past seniors at senior nationals. Have we gone to 2nd class???? Maple, caldwell? they would have swept these brackets.

Really? Did you even watch any of this tourney? Alot of the best kids in the nation were there, hard to call it 2nd class I think

Congrats to all KS wrestlers who made the trip. Winning isn't always everything sometimes the experience is the goal.

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THE TEAM KS ALL-AMERICANS!

There was alot of great wrestling this weekend by all of the Kansas wrestlers! Represented our state well!!

Cadet 94 Cody Phippen - CHAMPION
Cadet 113 Corbin Nirschl - 7th
Cadet 126 Mason Wallace - 7th
Cadet 132 Kameron Frame - 5th
Cadet 138 Connor Penka - 3rd
Cadet 145 Clay Lautt - 5th
Cadet 182 Isaac Luellen - 8th
Cadet 195 Bailey Kelly - 3rd

Junior 126 Sean Deshazer - 2nd
Junior 145 Greg Tooley - 7th
Junior 152 Tagen Lambotte - 6th
Junior 160 Dustin Williams - 2nd
Junior 170 Gavin Grater - 6th
Junior 195 Preston Weigel - CHAMPION
Junior 220 Sage Eckman - 4th

Isaac Luellen got 7th

Wow. Excellent Job. It would be great to see all of those names in the lineup for team Kansas this summer!

USA Wrestling offers a better opportunity. Va Beach is losing its allure. It required far more financial outlay and lots of missed school. Flo is taking kids away too. Now there are four highly attended events: Reno, Cedar Falls, Flo, and Va Beach. The Sr. Nationals are not what they once were.

There were lots of California kids in Cedar Falls as well as Iowa, Oklahoma, Missouri, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Illinois. In the world of Cadet and Junior wrestling, Illinois has been the state to beat these past few years.

I respectfully disagree with your "2nd Class" accusation. When there are four tournaments you are not going to get the ONE you are looking for. For 160 and below it happens in the fall and is called SUPER 32.

I still think virginia beach is better(we have had wrestlers at both tournaments)but both are very tough if you are all-american or especially national champ you would have been successful either way. Don't agree with the missing too much school theory our guy missed two days and that is planned way ahead so not a big deal. Congrats to all our kansas wrestlers they represented our state well.

This years VA Beach schedule has been drastically modified. The NHSCA breaks their tournament up into four classifications: Freshmen, Sophomores, Juniors, and Seniors. At the USA event there are only two: Cadets (8th, Fr, and So) and Juniors (any Fr, So, Jr, or Sr but mostly Jr and Sr wrestlers). This event is conducted on Friday and Saturday. The Va Beach requires a full day ahead of travel. In the past each age group started on a different day and wrestling was staggered. A Freshman would have had to miss an entire WEEK of school a Soph four days, and Jrs and Srs three days minimum. The reduced number of participants has scaled the schedule back. I have been attending the USA event since it was being held in Topeka, so at least 10 years. It has grown substantially during that time. The Jr division was only recently added but has been very popular, filling to capacity a few times. The offering of a free training camp at the OTC as well as separation criteria for Fargo has attracted some of the top notch wrestlers. My son also attended Va Beach his Jr & Sr years. I believe he was the FIRST Kansas underclassman to ever attend the NHSCA event. It was apparent to me after these experiences that you should attend your Jr year as most coaches were looking for juniors as they had filled their scholarship needs for the Sr class by the time this tournament took place. Just like any big time event, you can see some brackets are deeper than others. There is no clear cut winner in the spring. However, in the fall it is Super 32 and nothing else comes close, even in the spring.

Agreed on the super 32.

Thanks Will for organizing the trip for our wrestlers and coaches who were a part of Team Kansas. It is always a good experience for these athletes to attend this type of tournament, along with the aspects and friendships that develop from being a part of TEAM KANSAS.

Again, thanks for all your work!!


Leann Grater