By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After guiding Washburn Rural to the first boys state wrestling championship in school history, Damon Parker announced Tuesday night on Twitter that he is stepping down as the Junior Blues' coach.
Parker will continue to coach Washburn Rural's girls team, which has captured back to back state championships since the Kansas State High School Activities Association made girls wrestling an official sport.
Washburn Rural's Damon Parker announced Tuesday night on Twitter that he is stepping down as the Junior Blues' boys head wrestling coach after leading Rural to the state title last month. Parker will continue to coach Rural's girls team. [File photo/TSN]
In announcing his decision on Twitter, Parker said:
"At this point, it is time for a new transition. The long hours of growing and maintaining this program's excellence have taken a toll on my health and the time has come to hand the program off to a coach who can dedicate the time and energy to keeping Rural wrestling running at an optimal level. Therefore, effective at the end of the 2020-21 school year, I am humbly resigning my position as boys head wrestling coach at Washburn Rural High School. This is not a spur of the moment decision; it has been many years in the making. However, I made a promise to myself and the Washburn Rural community that we would accomplish each of the tasks, and now that they all have been complete, it is time to move on."
Parker said that he identified seven tasks that he wanted the Rural program to achieve when he applied for the position, including increasing the roster size, winning a team title in a tournament by Year 2, boosting the numbers to more than 100 wrestlers in the youth wrestling program in Year 3, be in position to compete for the Centennial League championship by Year 5, win the league title by Year 8, win a regional crown by Year 9 and win a state team championship and have built a consistent title contender by Year 10.
The Junior Blue boys have won back-to-back Centennial League boys titles and went undefeated this past season, producing five finalists and three state champions.
"Serving this program, this school, these students and this community has been the greatest honor of my life, and I am eternally grateful that the administration of Washburn Rural took a chance in hiring me 10 years ago. I wish nothing by the best for the future of this program and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for this life-changing opportunity."
Senior Bishop Murray, junior Jacob Tangpicha and freshman Jonathan Morrison were Class 6A boys state champions for Rurals this past season while senior David Huckstep and junior Austin Fager were state runner-ups as Rural won the boys title by a 159.5-112 margin over Olathe North after finishing second two of the previous three seasons.
