By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
PARK CITY -- When Washburn Rural senior wrestler Aidan Boline got the news that his Class 6A 160-pound championship match would be the first final of the day he knew that was his chance to put the Junior Blues in the driver's seat for a second straight 6A state team championship.
Boline, who capped a 34-6 season, did just that, taking a 5-0 decision over Olathe East senior Nick Carlson.
Two matches later Rural senior Austin Fager followed Boline to the mat and dominated his 182-pound title match, pinning Campus senior Aidan Williams in just 1 minute, 13 seconds, and the title belonged to the Junior Blues ... again.
Washburn Rural senior Austin Fager flips Junior Blues coach Josh Hogan to the mat in celebration after winning the 182-pound Class 6A state championship to clinch Rural's second straight state team title. [Photo by Jeff Jacobsen/Action Images Photography]
Washburn Rural senior Aidan Boline won the Class 6A 160-pound state championship Saturday at Hartman Arena, helping the Junior Blues repeat as state team champs. [Photo by Jeff Jacobsen/Action Images Photography]
"As soon I got here coach (Chase) Prester showed me the KSHSAA Twitter that 160 was up first and I couldn't have been more excited,'' Boline said. "I was ready to become a state champ as soon as possible. "I had an odd feeling going to sleep last night that I was going to be the draw. I felt it in my gut and then I get here and it comes true, so I knew that I was just ready do go.''
Washburn Rural started the final round with a slim 4.5-point lead but Boline knew that he and Fager could seal the deal.
"Coach (Damon) Parker is here today and he's the math wiz behind of it so while he's been here he's been counting up points mathematically deciding what we needed and before I went out he told me that I just had to go out there and win and Fager had to go out there and win and we mathematically sealed it,'' Boline said. "I couldn't have asked for a better ending.''
Fager, who finished his season 43-2, agreed.
"We knew we could seal the deal with our two wins and get another team title,'' said Fager, who had been a state runner-up as a junior. "So as soon as we heard that, we were sitting right next to each other, and we fist-bumped each other and said, 'Let's do this. Let's get this show on the road.' ''
Boline opened up a 2-0 lead with 1:05 leff in the first period and make it 5-0 with 48 seconds remaining in the second period. Boline was in control the rest of the way, with Carlson ending his season 40-8.
Fager's match was never really in doubt, with the Rural star quickly going up 2-0 and ending things just over a minute into the match as Williams ended his season 27-11.
Washburn Rural's third finalist, 106-pounder Easton Broxterman, came up short in his bid to in a state title as a freshman, with Junction City sophomore Ezekiel Witt winning on a pin with a minute left in the match to cap a 40-1 season.
Broxterman finished his first high school season with a 39-6 record.
Washburn Rural had a total of six medalists, getting third-place finishes from senior 126-pounder Jacob Tangpricha and 113-pound sophomore Jonathan Morrison and a fifth-place finish from junior Henri McGivern.
Two-time state champion Tangpricha (35-7) and former state champion Morrison (39-7) both bounced back from semifinal losses on Friday post a pair of wins on Saturday, with Tangpricha taking third with a 1-0 decision over Lawrence senior Kevin Honas while Morrison pinned Blue Valley West freshman Logan Meinheit at the 1:39 mark of the first period.
McGivern (21-9) won its fifth-place match with a pin, also in 1:39, over Blue Valley West senior Luke Olsen.
The Junior Blues ended up winning the championship by a 151-142.5 margin over Derby while giving Josh Hogan a state title in his first season as Rural's head coach.
"We just proved ourselves as a program,'' Fager said. "That's what we just did. Here yesterday and today we proved ourselves as a program and our coach proved he that he can come out here and coach us and losing guys doesn't mean anything. We can still come out here and win.''
T-BIRDS GARNER FOUR 5A STATE MEDALS
Shawnee Heights ended its 5A state tournament bid with four medalists.
The T-Birds got fourth-place finishes from senior 120-pounder Brock Ferguson (44-6), 195-pound junior Sean Wunder (40-10) and 220-pound senior Garrett Peery (44-7) and a fifth-place showing from 160-pound senior Caden Walker (31-4).
Ferguson and Peery both lost overtime decisions in their third-place matches, with Ferguson losing 2-1 and Peery 5-4.
Wunder dropped a 12-7 decision in his third-place match while Walker took a 9-2 decision to finish fifth.
Shawnee Heights finished seventh as a team.
