By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
PARK CITY -- Washburn Rural 113-pound sophomore wrestler Easton Broxterman looked competely at ease in Friday's Class 6A semifinal match at Hartman Arena.
Broxterman dominated his match against Free State senior Nolan Bradley from start to finish en route to a 10-0 major decision that put him in the state finals for the second straight season.
Washburn Rural sophomore 113-pounder Easton Broxterman earned a berth in the Class 6A wrestling finals for the second straight season with a 10-0 semifinal win Friday. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural freshman 120-pounder Landen Kocher-Munoz (right) shakes hands with Garden City sophomore Matthew Long after Kocher-Munoz's 8-6 overtime win in Friday's Class 6A semifinals. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The toughest part for Broxterman came in the next semifinal match, with the Rural star sweating out the bid of his friend and longtime training partner, Junior Blues freshman 120-pounder Landen Kocher-Munoz, to join him in Saturday's finals.
Kocher-Munoz trailed Garden City sophomore Matthew Long 4-2 and 6-4 late in regulation before rallying to force overtime and taking an 8-6 OT win to punch his ticket to the championship match.
"I get a lot more nervous when Landen is out there,'' Broxterman said. "I didn't think he was going to win for a second there. It scared the heck out of me. I thought I was going to have a heart attack.''
If Kocher-Munoz was feeling the pressure it didn't show, with the first-time state participant coming up with with big move after big move to get the semifinal win.
"Honestly I feel like I could have wrestled a lot better to start off the match,'' Kocher-Munoz said. "But it's not really about how you start, it's how you finish and I finished out on top so that's all that matters.
"I always think it's my match because I have the best practice partners in the world, the best team in the world and they push me each and every day and I was feeling comfortable in overtime. I felt comfortable I'd win that.''
Kocher-Munoz said that it always fires him up to see Broxterman win right before he goes out on the mat.
"He's been my practice partner since I was four years old, so it gets the blood flowing every time he goes out there and I back that up after him,'' Kocher-Munoz said.
Rural coach Josh Hogan coached Broxterman and Kocher-Munoze in kids wrestling long before he took over as the Junior Blues' coach last season and said nothing the duo accomplishes on the mat surprises him.
"Easton started wrestling with me when he was seven and Landen started when he was four, so they've been good kids long before they were taught how to wrestle,'' Hogan said. "They've been naturals, but they're really coming along here as they grow into their skills.
"They've repeated the same process thousands and thousands of times. That, more than anything, is what makes them comfortable out here.''
Broxterman started his state bid off Friday with a 15-0 technical fall and a 1 minute, 26-second quarterfinal pin before his win over Bradley.
"I felt pretty good,'' Broxterman said. "I've been wrestling real good for the last couple of months, so I knew I could win and hopefully repeat the same process tomorrow.''
Not surprisingly, Broxterman (48-3) will meet Junction City junior Ezekiel Witt (37-2) in a state final for the second straight season.
Witt beat Broxterman in last year's 106-pound championship match but Broxterman is coming off a 15-3 major decision over Witt in a regional final.
Kocher-Munoz opened his day with a pin and a 6-4 decision before the hard-earned win over Long, improving to 36-5 on the season.
Kocher-Munoz will meet Olathe East sophomore Aiden Stewart (30-9) in the 120 final.
Rural freshman Cooper Stivers also advanced to the semifinals at 132 pounds but dropped a 6-2 decision to Manhattan junior Jameal Agnew.
