By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Saturday was a much different Centennial League boys wrestling tournament than in past seasons, with only five teams competing and other schools missing regulars due to COVID-19.
But the main objective was still to win, something Washburn Rural did in impressive fashion, with the Junior Blues having eight wrestlers crowned league champions as Rural won its second straight team championship by a 230-159 margin over Manhattan at Hayden.
"Like I just told our guys, all the heavy-hitters were still here,'' Washburn Rural coach Damon Parker said. "If you look at that trophy over there, the teams that have historically dominated this thing for the past 30 years were all in the building today and our kids did exactly what we asked of them.
"We told them all week we strive for perfection but we'll accept excellence, and they were excellent today.''
Highland Park, Topeka High and Topeka West have not wrestled this season while Seaman missed the tournament due to a COVID-19 quarantine, but Parker said Washburn Rural entered the tournament with the same mindset it always has.
"We want to be top dogs,'' Parker said. "That's kind of been the goal for the year is we're not looking at winning a state championship or going undefeated in duals, we're just trying to go undefeated on the day and we've done pretty well at that so far.
"Our kids have done a good job of keeping their eyes on the weekly goal and the daily goal at practice and it's paying off for them.''
The Junior Blues got individual championships from freshman 106-pounder Johnathan Morrison (21-1), junior 113-pounder Jacob Tangpricha (23-2), senior 120-pounder Bishop Murray (19-1), sophomore 126-pounder Henri McGivern (15-9), senior 138-pounder Bowan Murray (22-2), junior 152-pounder Nick Vincent (19-5), 170-pound junior Austin Fager (21-3) and senior 182-pounder Remington Stiles (19-6).
Fager and Bishop Murray both won their third league titles and Fager said Saturday's five-school meet was still very competitive.
"It was a good tournament throughout anyway,'' Fager said. "We had a bunch of ranked kids here and it was fun. It definitely wasn't big, but a title is a title at the end of the day.''
Obviously, a goal for Fager was to notch title No. 3 after winning as a freshman and sophomore. Now Fager can set his sights on winning a fourth straight championship next season.
"Going into that last match I was actually a little nervous because I just didn't want to give (the title) up,'' Fager said. "Hopefully I can go for four straight, but I like the three straight.''
Hayden got an individual championship from 220-pound senior Clayton Stephenson, who improved to 13-4 on the season.
Morrison was named the the league newcomer of the year without wrestling a match as the Junior Blue standout was the only competitor in the 106-pound class.
Manhattan senior Damien Ilalio (19-0), the 285-pound champion, was named the outstanding wrester of the tournament while Indian coach Bob Gonzales was named the coach of the year.
CENTENNIAL LEAGUE BOYS WRESTLING
Team scores
Washburn Rural 230, Manhattan 159, Emporia 94, Junction City 841/2, Hayden 37.
Individual results
106 — 1. Morrison, Washburn Rural.
113 —1. Tangpricha, Washburn Rural; 2. Borge, Manhattan; 3. Moore, Emporia; 4. Raulston, Junction City.
120 — 1. Bishop Murray, Washburn Rural; 2. Agnew, Manhattan; 3. Upham, Junction City.
126 — 1. McGivern, Washburn Rural; 2. Tucker, Emporia; 3. T. Schreiner, Junction City; 4. Banks, Manhattan.
132 — 1. Taylor, Manhattan; 2. Botts, Washburn Rural; 3. A. Schreiner, Junction City.
138 — 1. Bowan Murray, Washburn Rural; 2. Brunner, Manhattan; 3. Rodriguez, Emporia; 4. Thompson, Hayden.
145 — 1. Bammes, Manhattan; 2. Neumann, Junction City; 3. Lawler, Washburn Rural; 4. Morrissey, Hayden.
152 — 1. Vincent, Washburn Rural; 2. Seibert, Manhattan; 3. Rose, Hayden; 4. Marcum, Emporia.
160 — 1. Williams, Manhattan; 2. Robinson, Washburn Rural; 3. Redick, Emporia; 4. Boykin, Junction City.
170 — 1. Fager, Washburn Rural; 2. Garate, Emporia; 3. Vikander, Manhattan; Bogenhagen, Junction City.
182 — 1. Stiles, Washburn Rural; 2. Owens, Junction City; 3. Trujillo, Emporia; 4. DeJesus, Manhattan.
195 — 1. Zinkan, Junction City; 2. Calhoon, Washburn Rural; 3. Tiede, Manhattan; 4. White, Emporia.
220 — 1. Stephenson Hayden; 2. Franco, Washburn Rural; 3. Stopp, Emporia.
285 — 1. Ilalio, Manhattan; 2. Huckstep, Washburn Rural; 3. Flores-Delgado, Emporia; 4. Roman-Perez, Hayden.
Outstanding wrestler — Damian Ilalio, Manhattan.
Newcomer of the year — Johnathan Morrison, Washburn Rural.
Coach of the year — Bob Gonzales, Manhattan.
