Olathe South’s Lawrence remains alive for first Kansas 6A state wrestling title

Source: The Star

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Photos by CHRIS OBERHOLTZ | The Kansas City Star

Trevor Boyer of Mill Valley celebrated after defeating Adrian Salas of Liberal in overtime Friday in the 112-pound semifinals of the Kansas 5A state wrestling tournament.

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WICHITA | Chaz Lawrence’s nose was bleeding, but that was not nearly enough to erase the megawatt smile from his face.

Lawrence, an Olathe South senior, started bleeding a few moments after his convincing 20-3 technical fall victory Friday over Ross Whitmore of Shawnee Mission Northwest in the Class 6A 125-pound semifinals of the Kansas 6A-5A state wrestling tournaments at the Kansas Coliseum.

But by then, he didn’t care. Just one year after he failed to place at state at all, Lawrence — who improved to 45-1 — was going to get his chance to win that elusive state title.

“That’s how I wanted to get into the finals,” said Lawrence, who attributed the nosebleed to his allergies. “I wanted to feel like I earned it.”

But Lawrence was hardly the only local senior to advance to the championship round, which starts at 4:30 p.m. today. Blue Valley Northwest senior 160-pounder Anson Worrell advanced with a 6-2 semifinal victory over Junction City junior Evon Royal, while Worrell’s teammate, Linwood Peoples, beat Joey Dozier of Garden City 10-6 in the 140-pound semifinals.

But for all the local seniors who kept their dream of winning a state title alive, none of them could match the sheer happiness of Turner 215-pounder Luciano Gutierrez in Class 5A.

After his 3-2 semifinal victory over Great Bend senior Howard Johnson, Gutierrez — who never even qualified for state before this season — was swarmed by friends and collapsed to his knees in prayer.

“There’s no way I could have seen this coming a year ago,” said Gutierrez, who had never beaten Johnson before. “It was just hard work that paid off.”

•ANOTHER CHANCE: The dream remains alive in Class 6A for Olathe North junior Lucas Vincent (285 pounds), Blue Valley junior Parker Madl (140) and Blue Valley North sophomore Zack Tanenbaum (119).

All three finished second at last year’s 6A state tournament but made it back to the championship match of their weight classes this season with strong efforts Friday. Vincent was particularly impressive, pinning all three of his opponents.

However, Olathe East senior Jake Woten wasn’t so fortunate. Woten, who also finished second in his weight class last year, failed in his final bid for a title when he lost a rematch against Wichita Northwest junior Kyle Caylor 3-1 in the semifinals. Caylor beat Woten by the same score in the state championship match last year.

•LIONS ROAR IN 5A: Lansing proved there is certainly strength in numbers.

By the end of the day, the Lions — who qualified all 14 starters for the 5A tournament — were in second place with a team score of 90 points.

Freshman 103-pounder Bo Pursel, sophomore 130-pounder Spencer Blew and senior 171-pounder Grant Hinckley all advanced to today’s championship finals. However, they were just three of 11 Lansing wrestlers who still have a chance to place today.

That’s why Lansing coach Ron Averill remains optimistic about his team’s chances to win the team state title, despite trailing first-place Emporia by 23.5 points.

“We can make that up, but it’s really going to depend on what our guys do on the back side,” Averill said.

•MILL VALLEY FINALISTS: Mill Valley has never had a wrestler win a state championship, but two Jaguars will be trying to change that today in Class 5A.

Junior Trevor Boyer advanced to the finals of the 112-pound bracket, while senior Josh VanHolland advanced to the 171-pound finals.

•NOWAK FALLS: St. Thomas Aquinas senior Jacob Nowak, who entered state with a 42-0 record, made it all the way to the 5A 215-pound semifinals before he lost 3-1 to Wichita Bishop Carroll senior Jake Cole.

submitted by TEREZ A. PAYLOR - 2009-02-27 23:24:01