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Adcox snags lone victory at state

By Shawn Linenberger - | Feb 28, 2007

The revenge factor came into effect Saturday at the Class 4A state wrestling tournament in Salina.

Unfortunately for Tonganoxie junior Cameron Adcox, he was on the receiving end of payback time.

Adcox lost earlier in the season to Santa Fe Trail’s Charlie Shively, but a determined Adcox won the first rematch earlier this month with a pin in the Kaw Valley League meet’s 285-pound finals.

On Saturday at the Bicentennial Center, Shively returned the favor with a pin 23 seconds into the match.

The loss, which came in the consolation bracket, ended Adcox’s run at his first state meet.

He finished the two-day event with a 1-2 record and concluded his season at 16-8.

“I think this match he was looking for revenge, and I didn’t have that drive I did at league,” Adcox said. “And he beat me using it.”

The junior, who battled injury earlier in the season, came on strong as the season progressed and competed in a 16-wrestler state field consisting of all upperclassmen. This year’s meet included 10 seniors, so Adcox will be one of just six wrestlers at the 285-pound class with Class 4A state experience next season — all who will be competing in their final campaigns next year. The top two wrestlers in the division, Andover Central’s Atticus Disney and Andover’s Austen Hybsha, also were juniors this season. Disney won the championship, 1-0. Disney won last year’s title at 215, while Hybsha also was the runner-up last season at 285.

After Schively defeated Adcox, he fell to Royal Valley’s Jake Roepke, 3-1, in the consolation quarterfinals. Roepke, who will play football at Kansas State in the fall, lost to Poala’s Joe Payne in the consolation semifinals. Payne went on to finish third at state.

It’s Adcox’s hope that he can return to state as a senior next season and make a bigger run in the state championships.

“I feel I can work pretty hard this summer and I can come back and place next season and compete very well,” Adcox said. “And do better than I did this year.”

Overall, Tonganoxie finished the tournament with a 1-5 record.

Matt Brock, at 130, and Wyatt Coffin, at 160, both finished the tournament winless.

Brock lost a tough first-round match to Anderson County’s Izaak Winter. Brock and Winter squared off for a full three rounds, with Winter winning, 11-7.

In the consolation bracket, Brock faced Pratt’s Eric Kocher. Brock battled for three minutes, but a Kocher move put Brock on his back and earned the pin.

Brock finished his season at 38-7 in his first trip to state. The sophomore hopes to make a bigger impact in 2008.

“My first goal was to qualify but now my goal is to place,” Brock said. “I have two years, so we’ll see what I can do.”

Like both his teammates, Coffin also competed in his first state tournament.

Coffin drew Fort Scott’s Dakota Hall in the first round and lost by fall about a minute into the match.

In the consolation bracket, Coffin faced Douglass’ Clay Shaft. The Douglass junior defeated the Tonganoxie junior by technical fall, 19-2, knocking Coffin out of the bracket.

Hall went onto place fourth and finished the year at 39-3, while Shaft finished sixth and completed his year with a 32-11 record.

Coffin ended his junior campaign with a 21-22 record.

Like Adcox, the 2007-08 season will be his final in a THS singlet.

With that in mind, Coffin has an eye on the off-season.

“You’ve got to work hard because next year’s my last,” Coffin said. “It’s all or nothing next year.”

Tonganoxie finished the tournament with three points and tied Basehor-Linwood for 45th place at the tournament.

Clay Center, which won the Holton regional the previous weekend, won its second state title in the last three years Saturday in Salina. The Tigers scored 138.5 points. Rose Hill placed second with 100.

Andale and Kaw Valley League member Santa Fe Trail tied for third with 87.

Area school Baldwin finished seventh with 65.5, while KVL member Piper tied for 26th with 21. Piper freshman Derrick Weller nearly took home a state title, but Paola’s Sharky Slyter defeated him, 2-1, in the championship. Weller finished the season at 34-2.

Another area school, Eudora, placed 40th with six points.

Tonganoxie loses just two seniors, Jonathan Ferris and Derek Parrett, from this year’s squad. That should bode well for a team that will return all three state qualifiers. Sophomore Kevin Hamm also will look to make a return to state. He was Tonganoxie’s lone qualifier last year, but wasn’t able to return to Salina this season. He will have two more seasons to make runs at state.

“We’re young,” THS coach Jeremy Goebel said Saturday afternoon at the Bicentennial Center. “And some kids will have experience here, but we can’t be satisfied with just qualifying.”

Goebel hopes the program can continue to build and send more and more wrestlers to state in the coming years.

“In time, as a program builds, expectations rise,” Goebel said.

Lansing eighth in 5A

The Lansing Lions finished eighth in 5A Saturday at Kansas Coliseum in Wichita. The KVL team scored 80 points at the tournament. Overland Park’s St. Thomas Aquinas won the state title with 168. Wichita’s Bishop Carroll finished third with 130.5 and Arkansas City took fourth with 103.5. Another KVL squad, Bonner Springs, placed 23rd with 19.

LHS was led by Junior Dennis Wood, senior Kyle Buehler and junior Nick Flynn. All three placed second in their respective divisions — Wood at 103, Buehler at 140 and Flynn at 145.

In 6A, Manhattan won the team title with 175 points. Goddard placed second (155.5) and Garden City third (112).

So long, Wichita

The 6A and 5A meets, which have been held in Wichita since 1985, will not return to Kansas Coliseum, at least not next year. Officials reported that costs have forced the meets to be relocated.

The Kansas State Activities Association spent $24,000 to use the Wichita venue last year, while it cost $8,000 each to use Salina’s Bicentennial Center and Hays’ Gross Coliseum. The Bicentennial Center was the site for the 4A meet for the second consecutive year, as 4A formerly was held with 5A and 6A in Wichita.

Hays has been the site for 3-2-1A since 1979.

Sites, however, have not yet been determined for 2008.

Snowed in

Heavy rain and snow forced the closure of Interstate-70 at Hays on Saturday evening. That meant many people in town for the 3-2-1A state wrestling meet at Fort Hays State were stranded. Highway officials later extended the closure to Salina so visitors could stay in motel rooms there because Hays motels were completely booked.

Many people also stayed at Gross Coliseum, the site of the state meet, because of the lack of motel vacancies.

Beloit and Smith Center shared the team title in 3-2-1A with 116.5 each. Norton took third with 115.