The Garden City Telegram

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Cimarron wins team title at Hi-Plains wrestling tournament

Published 2/10/2012 in Sports

By KEVIN THOMPSON

sports@gctelegram.com

LAKIN — With the regional wrestling tournament set for Feb. 17-18, local schools were looking for a good warm-up meet in the Hi-Plains League meet.

Thursday's event offered enough competition for area coaches to see what their wrestlers have at the moment and a chance to project some good possibilities for next week in what they all call a tough regional.

Cimarron walked away with the team title with 128 points over runner-up Wichita County (101).

Cimarron won titles in five weight classes, while Wichita County had three. Elkhart and host Lakin had two titles each.

Bluejays coach Lance Walker was happy with the team title, especially since it's the first time he has had everyone who is going to wrestle in regionals in the lineup, and the three individual wins give his team momentum heading into next week's 3-2-1A regional, which will also be held in Lakin.

"It'll be tough next week. We'll have to wrestle really well, but that's the case every year," Walker said.

Sophomore Aidan Shaughnessy won the 152-pound title, Coulter Croft took the 170 title, and Zach Fields won at 225.

Those three, along with Tanner Smith at 160 and Jason Maddox at 285, will carry the bulk of the burden for the Jays heading into regionals, Walker said.

"The competition at this regional is always tough, and if you don't have your 'A' game, it could be a short weekend," he said. "But we're looking forward to it. It's what we've been working towards all year."

Croft, who was on the Telegram's all-area football team, is now 15-1 and picked up career wins 100 and 101 at this meet. More importantly, it gives him confidence going into next week's regional.

"The conditioning is here right now. We can all wrestle three full periods, which is going to be important because there's going to be a lot of good competition," Croft, a three-time state qualifier, said.

Having never placed at state, but getting close last year, Croft said his goal is to place this time, and he feels good about his wrestling well at the right time.

Coach Brent Porter likes the look of his Wichita County team.

Denton Tankersly, ranked fifth in the state, won the league title at 132 and is currently 22-5.

"He's a very tough kid, and I expect that he'll get through (to state)," Porter said.

His other title was at 182 in Brice Mason. Porter said he is young for an upper weight class, but this meet gives him an extra boost for next week in what will be a tough regional.

Lakin's first-year coach Jon Christiansen feels good about his two individual title winners in the league meet, which bodes well for them next week.

Junior Dalton Gonzales at 160 pinned all three of his opponents, the first two in under 30 seconds each.

"Dalton's been wrestling really well. We haven't wrestled a lot of the northern schools (who are usually tough at the regional meet), and 160 is a loaded bracket," he said. "He's wrestled well all year, but it's going to have to continue into the regional tournament because it's one of the toughest classes in the state at 3-2-1A. He showed some good things tonight."

Sophomore Montana Fuller won the title at 285, defeating Maddox of Cimarron for the second time in three meetings this year.

After missing the first part of the season with illness, Fuller has wrestled really well the second half of the season and is looking really strong heading into next week.

Sublette coach matt Fox knows his team is young, but that is also its strength. Andy Davis at 113 and Octavio Arredondo at 160 are just sophomores, but they have the drive Fox is hoping will lead them into a solid regional meet.

Sublette will be without experienced heavyweight Travis Webb, who is out with an injury, but Emilio Desaire, a lighter heavyweight, has stepped in and could give some people problems next week.

Porter intimated that everyone in the league will have to be at their best next week with the quality of competition coming in to regionals.

"It'll be a barn-burner," he said. "You'll see the top six teams in 3-2-1A. Most of the weights will have four of the top five in the state here."

See results in Scoreboard, Page B2.

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