Three Indians Win Matches At State
Three St. Francis Indians, qualified for the 3,2,1A Kansas State Wrestling Tournament in Hays on February 22 and 23. All three Indians won matches at the tournament, but none of the competitors earned a medal at the event. Garin Cooper won 2 matches and lost 2 at 120 pounds. Tiernan Poling won two matches and lost two at 132 pounds. Shadryon Blanka won one match and lost two at 182. St. Francis tied for 41st place as a team scoring 12 points.
Eureka won the team championship scoring 113 team points. Colby placed second with 95, and Hoxie earned third with 86 points. The remaining teams finished in the following order: 4th - Norton Community 72, 5th - Smith Center 71.5, 6th - Riley County 70, 7th - Sabetha 69.5, 8th - Rossville 67.5, 9th (tie) - Hoisington 66, 9th (tie) - Plainville 66, 11th - Beloit 56, 12th - Minneapolis 54, 13th - Wellsville 43.5, 14th (tie) - Cimarron 43, 14th (tie) - Phillipsburg 43, 16th (tie) - Belleville-Republic County 42, 16th (tie) - Oberlin-Decatur Community 42, 18th - Wathena-Riverside 36.5, 19th - Silver Lake 32, 20th - Douglass 30, 21st (tie)- Effingham-ACCHS 28, 21st (tie) Mankato-Rock Hills 28, 23rd - Lakin 26.5, 24th (tie) - Brookville-Ell Saline 26, 24th (tie) - Fredonia 26, 24th (tie) - Mound City-Jayhawk Linn 26, 27th - Holcomb 25.5, 28th - Hill City 25, 29th (tie)- Gypsum-Southeast Of Saline 24, 29th (tie) - Oakley 24, 31st (tie) - Ellis 23, 31st (tie) - Goodland 23, 33rd - Kingman 20, 34th - WaKeeney-Trego Community 19, 35th - Whitewater-Remington 18, 36th - Osage City 17, 37th - Hillsboro 16, 38th (tie) - Stockton 14, 38th (tie) - White City 14, 40th - Cottonwood Falls-Chase County 13, 41st (tie) - Cherryvale 12, 41st (tie) - St. Francis 12, 43rd (tie) - Atwood-Rawlins County 9, 43rd (tie) - Marion 9, 45th (tie) - Bennington 8, 45th (tie) - Erie 8, 45th (tie) - Oskaloosa 8, 48th (tie) - Council Grove 7, 48th (tie) - Eskridge-Mission Valley 7, 48th - Lincoln 7, 51st (tie) - Ellsworth 6, 51st (tie) - Garden Plain 6, 51st (tie) - Highland-Doniphan West 6, 54th - St. Marys 5.5, 55th - Easton-Pleasant Ridge 5, 56th (tie) - Anthony/Harper-Chaparral 4, 56th (tie) - Cheney 4, 56th (tie) - Salina-St. Johns Millitary 4, 56th (tie) - Uniontown 4, 60th (tie) - Logan 3, 60th (tie) - Sterling 3, 60th (tie) - Sylvan-Lucas Unified 3, 63rd (tie) - Humboldt 2, 63rd (tie) - Leoti-Wichita County 2, 63rd (tie) - Lyons 2, 63rd (tie) - Stafford 2, 67th (tie) - Cherokee-Southeast 0, 67th (tie) - Halstead 0, and 67th (tie) - Quinter 0.
Individual results for the Indians are listed below.
120 - Garin Cooper (30-7) scored 5.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Garin Cooper 30-7 won by fall over Quinten Heady (Erie) 26-12 (Fall 1:40)
Quarterfinal - Austin Roth (Minneapolis) 29-9 won by decision over Garin Cooper 30-7 (Dec 7-1)
Cons. Round 2 - Garin Cooper 30-7 won by decision over Elijah Collins (Osage City) 21-12 (Dec 3-1)
Cons. Round 3 - Brodie Page (Effingham-ACCHS) 25-15 won by decision over Garin Cooper 30-7 (Dec 1-0)
132 - Tiernan Poling (35-7) scored 4.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Bryce Eck (Uniontown) 19-9 won by fall over Tiernan Poling 35-7 (Fall 4:19)
Cons. Round 1 - Tiernan Poling 35-7 won by fall over Trenton Howell (Stockton) 14-18 (Fall 2:46)
Cons. Round 2 - Tiernan Poling 35-7 won by decision over Chris Goans (Lyons) 23-5 (Dec 4-3)
Cons. Round 3 - Ethan Ewing (Wellsville) 36-8 won by fall over Tiernan Poling 35-7 (Fall 3:30)
182 - Shadyron Blanka (26-11) scored 3.0 team points.
Champ. Round 1 - Tyson Villalpando (Minneapolis) 33-1 won by fall over Shadyron Blanka 26-11 (Fall 0:36)
Cons. Round 1 - Shadyron Blanka 26-11 won by forfeit over Nathaniel Howerton (Highland-Doniphan West) 29-8 (For.)
Cons. Round 2 - Chase Owen (Cottonwood Falls-Chase County) 24-8 won by decision over Shadyron Blanka 26-11 (Dec 8-4)
Coach Dylan Loyd shared the following comments, "The 2018-2019 wrestling season came to an end this past weekend and what a season it was. We were able to compete this past weekend at the state tournament with three qualifiers, which is the most we have had since the 2011-2012 season. It was a tough weekend for us. I felt like we underperformed on Friday. We really just didn’t rise to the occasion like I would have liked to see. However, I felt like on Saturday our guys wrestled pretty well. They wrestled with a more urgency and it was the first time in a couple of weeks we saw them open up on their feet and not wrestle so tight. Unfortunately, we just didn’t have things fall our way which is part of the sport and part of competition. I truly feel like all three of these young men were good enough to place this weekend. Two of them were one match away and both of the guys who beat Shadyron placed. So, we know we are right there knocking on the door step. I think we can use this weekend has some extra motivation as we head into this offseason.
Individually, Garin Cooper wrestled a little tight this weekend. I’m sure some of it had to do with the first-time jitters but, he was right there in both of the matches he lost. I would have loved to of seen him place obviously but, this weekend could be good for him as he continues to develop. He knows now how close he is to competing for state medals. My hope is he goes into this offseason with the intention of getting better and I’d like to see him keep wrestling here. He’s still got a lot of room to develop and he could really make a push into the top 3 or 4 I believe next season depending on what he does this offseason. He had great year. He keeps getting better and you know he will be one that will work extremely hard.
Tiernan Poling wrapped up his wrestling career this weekend and it was a tough one. As a coach you always want to see your seniors go out with a state medal. Tiernan was right there and actually was winning 7-0 at the time he was pinned in his last match. After watching this bracket this weekend, I had no idea going into this tournament just how deep this weight class was. I knew going into Saturday that Tiernan was going to have his work cut out for him. He really didn’t wrestle like he was capable of on Friday and I know he was disappointed with how he performed. On Saturday, I truly felt like he wrestled as well as he had all season. He was aggressive, finally got to a place where he was opening up on his feet, and he did a lot of good things. His opponent was really good on top and I knew eventually he would have his shot there. Kid got a good cradle locked up and finished the job. It’s hard to see a kid fall short. Tiernan had a good season and career at that. We will miss having him here in our program, he was one of those kids you knew he was going to put the work in. He rubbed off on his younger teammates and truly taught them and showed them how things are done.
Shadyron Blanka finished off a good season and really took some important steps in his development. He lost to two good kids and just came up short. He really did improve this season and has come a long way. It was good for him to get this experience and wrestle in this environment. He’s wrestled in a lot of big tournaments but, wrestling at the high school state tournament is a different animal. For him to have a couple more shots at it is exciting and I know he will put in the work this offseason. This weight class was filled with a lot of seniors so Shadyron is next in line. He was good enough to place this year no doubt in my mind but, much like Garin I know Shadyron will put the work in this offseason and this will only motivate him to get better."
