By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A few weeks ago, a boys wrestling dual between Seaman and Shawnee Heights went down to the final match of the night before Viking standout senior 285-pounder Jaxon Thomas gave his team the win with a pin.
It was deja vu all over again Saturday at Seaman, with Thomas' final-match win giving the host Vikings their first Uniited Kansas Conference team title by a scant 184.5-179 margin over Shawnee Heights, which had won every UKC boys wrestling title since the league's inception.
Seaman's boys wrestling team poses for a team picture after winning the UKC team title by 5.5 points over Shawnee Heights Saturday at Seaman. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman senior 285-pounder Jaxson Thomas gives the Vikings their first UKC wrestling championhip with a pin in the final match of the tournament. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN
Seaman entered the 285-pound match trailing Shawnee Heights by a half point, but Thomas didn't know exactly what the team title situation was, just that the race was close. He got an idea of just how close when Viking coach Tony Pena said a few words to him right before he went out on the mat.
"I didn't know it was the full league tournament that was on the line,'' Thomas said. "I knew that we were really close. I didn't know who was up but I like the pressure of having that last match being on me.
"A couple of seconds before the match coach was like, 'This is on you, we're close. Finish the deal.' ''
Seaman standout 285-pound wrestler Jaxson Thomas is congratulated by Seaman coach Tony Pena, the UKC coach of the year, after Thomas gave the Vikings the team title with a pin. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
As in the dual match, Thomas was able to record a pin over Shawnee Heights junior standout Rykan Carver to give his team a win.
"I told him it was going to fall on him and we needed the fall,'' said Pena, who was named the UKC coach of the year. "He took care of business like normal.''
Pena said it was a great day for Seaman to be able to claim the league title in his first season as the Vikings' head coach and in the school's first year in the UKC.
"This is awesome,'' Pena said. "These boys have grown a lot. We only lost one senior last year so it's the same kids from last year, they're just excelling.''
Pena said he had studied how the league brackets might come out in the days leading into the meet and thought the title chase would go down to the wire.
"I'm a big numbers guy so I'd looked at it a lot this week, but we had a couple of our key ones out this week, so I'm glad where we ended up,'' Pena said.
Thomas was one of four individual champions for the Vikings, who also got wins from freshman Cole Rosenberger at 113 pounds, sophomore Samson Tootle at 165 and sophomore Deyton Mentzer at 190.
Thomas improved to 40-4 on the season while Rosenberger is 19-10, Tootle 4-3 and Mentzer 22-9.
The Vikings also got second-place finishes from freshman Brayden Rice (106) and junior Colin Little (132).
Shawnee Heights senior 215-pounder Sean Wunder rallies from a 14-2 deficit to win a UKC title with a pin Saturday at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights put itself in position to challenge for another league team championship with a strong performance in the finals, with the T-Birds getting league titles from freshman 106-pounder Tristan Buce, junior 132-pounder Andrew Bonebrake, freshman 138-pounder Gavin Hartman and senior 215-pounder Sean Wunder.
Buce improved to 19-14 on the season while Bonebake is 31-8, Hartman 23-18 and Wunder 37-2.
Shawnee Heights got runner-up league finishes from junior Allen Baughman (175) and Carver.
"I didn't even know if we'd be fully up there (in the title hunt),'' Shawnee Heights coach Chad Parks said. "I thought we could be, but we graduated nine starters last year and are a super young team. As the day went on the guys just kept battling and picking up wins here and there and we took a couple of losses here and there that could have changed the score, too, but I'm real proud of how we wrestled.''
Topeka West got second-place UKC finishes from junior Malachi Kuebler (126) and senior Mason Vickers (144).
Seaman will do battle again in a Class 5A regional tournament on Feb. 17-18 at Blue Valley Southwest while Topeka West will compete in the Andover regional.
UNITED KANSAS CONFERENCE BOYS WRESTLING
Team scores
Topeka-Seaman 184.5, Shawnee Heights 179, Lansing 161, Piper 119, Basehor-Linwood 111, Leavenworth 84, De Soto 80, Topeka West 52, KC-Turner 41.
Individual results
106 -- 1. Tristan Buce, Shawnee Heights;2. Brayden Rice, Seaman; 3. Mitchell Horrigan, Leavenworth.
113 -- 1. Cole Rosenberger, Seaman; 2. Jacob Garner, Lansing; 3. Jacob Garner, Leavenworth.
120 -- 1. Evan Vielhauer, Basehor-Linwood; 2. Payton Mills, Piper; 3. Jayden Foster, Seaman.
126 -- 1. Brody Ballard, Basehor-Linwood; 2. Malachi Kuebler, Topeka West; 3. JaVon Simmons, Piper.
132 -- 1. Andrew Bonebrake, Shawnee Heights; 2. Colin Little, Seaman; 3. Xander Finn, Leavenworth.
138 -- 1. Gavin Hartman, Shawnee Heights; 2. Casey Bowlin, De Soto; 3. Ethan Kelley, Basehor-Linwood.
144 -- 1. Justin Shields, Lansing; 2. Mason Vickers, Topeka West; 3. Zach Jowers, Seaman.
150 -- 1. Ruben Escalante, Piper; 2. Shy`Ron McMurray, Leavenworth; 3. Nick Freeland, Shawnee Heights.
157 -- 1. Kaden Roebuck, Turner; 2. Tucker Hutchison, Basehor-Linwood; 3. Justice Rockhold, Lansing.
165 -- 1. Samson Tootle, Seaman; 2. Damian Alcaraz, Lansing; 3. Dylan Roy, De Soto.
175 -- 1. Tyler Henson, Lansing; 2. Allen Baughman, Shawnee Heights; 3. Sawyer Vas, Piper.
190 -- 1. Deyton Mentzer, Seaman; 2. Elijah Townsend, Lansing; 3. Caleb Seelbach, Shawnee Heights.
215 -- 1. Sean Wunder, Shawnee Heights; 2. Elijah Mathis, Lansing; 3. Sam Torline, De Soto.
285 -- 1. Jaxson Thomas, Seaman; 2. Rykan Carver, Shawnee Heights; 3. Connor Owens, Lansing.
