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2 Chieftains medal at Basehor

By Benton Smith - | Jan 18, 2011

At a loaded Bobcat Classic tournament that featured 11 ranked programs from Kansas and Missouri this weekend, the Tonganoxie High wrestling team had two medalists and finished 19th out of 34 teams.

Chieftains freshman Clayton Himpel (112 pounds) held his own Friday and Saturday at Basehor-Linwood, making it all the way to the championship round before taking his first loss and finishing second with a 3-1 record.

THS junior Nick Pursel (160) also medaled with a 2-3 record, good enough for sixth place.

Tonganoxie wrestling coach Jeremy Goebel said the Bobcat Classic was more difficult than a typical regular-season weekend.

“It’s a good tournament to be a part of and have some great competition,” he said.

The coach was especially proud of Himpel for going out and competing, ultimately making his way to the championship match.

“For Clayton to be able to get in the finals, that’s a great stepping stone,” Goebel said, “especially at a tournament of that caliber.”

THS was 11th in points entering Saturday, but it was unable to maintain its position with other schools advancing more wrestlers to the final day of competition. Still, seven different Chieftains picked up two or more wins at Basehor — “All of our kids, we wrestled really well,” Goebel said.

Caleb Himpel (130) and Matt Soetaert (145) both finished with a 3-2 mark at the tournament. Dylan Yates (119), Julius Coats (189) and Ryan Lynch (215), meanwhile, finished 2-2.

Goebel said every weight class at the Bobcat Classic was very competitive and had some top-notch wrestlers from Kansas and elsewhere. He said Soetaert and Caleb Himpel should benefit from their successful outings.

“Matt and Caleb have been on kind of a hot streak,” the coach pointed out. “They’ve won a lot of matches that are gonna help them down the road.”

Tonganoxie was without senior Justin Soetaert, who was at state debate, and junior Jonas Myers, who sprained his ankle, at Basehor, but Goebel complimented their replacements, Anthony Baker (125) and Julius Coats (189): “The ones that stepped into their positions wrestled really well.”

After seeing a few days of practice and a home dual wiped off the schedule due to winter weather this past week, Tonganoxie’s coach was happy to see his team show up at Basehor with a ready-and-willing attitude.

“We didn’t get a whole lot of mat time (before the tournament),” Goebel said, “but I was extremely proud of how we just went in there and wrestled.”

Coming up at 9:30 a.m. Saturday, THS competes at the Holton Invitational.

2011 Bobcat Classic

Friday, Saturday at Basehor

Team scores: 1. Oak Park, 211.5; 2. Goddard, 185.5; 3. Blue Springs, 181.5; 4. Andale, 161.5; 5. Mountain Range, 125.5; 6. Lansing, 124; 7. St. James Academy, 122; 8. Glenwood, 104; 9. Junction City, 101.5; 10. Bonner Springs, 96.5; 11. Shawnee Mission East, 89; 12. St. Thomas Aquinas, 89; 13. Rossville, 82.5; 14. Pittsburg, 80.5; 15. Baldwin, 79; 16. Topeka-Seaman, 78; 17. Fort Scott, 76; 18. Turner, 74; 19. Tonganoxie, 72; 20. Eudora, 67.5; 21. Paola, 67; 22. Santa Fe Trail, 62; 23. Columbus, 58; 24. Thomas More Prep, 49.5; 25. Olathe South, 39; 26. Blue Valley North, 38.5; 27. Piper, 35; 28. Basehor-Linwood 31; 29. Chapman, 31; 30. Lawrence-Free State, 29.5; 31. Blue Valley, 28; 32. Perry-LeCompton, 19; 33. Olathe North, 12; 34. J. C. Harmon 0.

THS individual results

(Weight class — wrestler, record, place)

103 — Dominick Estrada, 0-2

112 — Clayton Himpel, 3-1, 2nd

119 — Dylan Yates, 2-2

125 — Anthony Baker, 0-2

130 — Caleb Himpel, 3-2

135 — Britton Price, 1-2

140 — Adam Thomas, 0-2

145 — Matt Soetaert, 3-2

152 — Luke Carey, 0-2

160 — Nick Pursel, 2-3, 6th

171 — Thomas Miller, 0-2

189 — Julius Coats, 2-2

215 — Ryan Lynch, 2-2

Hvt. — Hank Somers, 0-2