BonnerSprings.com

The Basehor-Linwood and Bonner Springs High School wrestling squads started their respective seasons on Wednesday night, competing in a double dual along with Louisburg.

Both teams will open the tournament portion of their schedules on Saturday. Basehor-Linwood will travel to Effingham to compete in the Larry Tilton Memorial Tournament at Atchison County, while Bonner Springs will take a short drive north on K-7 to compete in a tournament at Leavenworth. Both meets are scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m.

At Atchison County, the Bobcats will hope to knock off the defending 3-2-1A State champs in ACCHS. Other teams scheduled to participate are: Eudora, Horton, Lawrence Free State, Onaga, Oskaloosa, Pleasant Ridge and Wellsville.

"It's definitely going to be tough," said B-L head coach Scott Neil. "It's a good, quality tournament to open with. There is a lot of tough wrestling. It's a good measuring stick as to what techniques you need to go over with the kids."

Neil is hopeful of placing at least third and having between seven and nine grapplers bringing home a medal.

"Effingham (ACCHS) didn't lose anything from last year and Eudora will be tough. We should finish no less than third. If we do, I'll be a little disappointed."

The Leavenworth tournament will feature a unique format as wrestlers are placed into one of two pools and compete in a round-robin against the wrestlers in their pool.

Other schools in the tournament are: Baldwin, Blue Valley North, Emporia, Excelsior Springs (Mo.), Grandview (Mo.), Manhattan, Olathe East, Olathe South, Shawnee Mission North and Topeka High.

"It's a tough tournament for a lot of kids," said Braves head coach Randy Lowe. "For the young kids, if you can get them in the "B" bracket, we've had success in the past. But in the "A" pool, your best kids get challenged. There may be 2 or 3 state placers in each weight class."

Members of the Basehor-Linwood squad are (weight listed is lowest weight wrestler will probably go): 103 pounds: Cody Bell, freshman; 112: Chin Kim, sophomore; 119: Tim Morgan, Steve Porth, Dustin McHenry, sophomores, Billy Crum, junior; 125: Joe Bell, Randy Hogue, sophomores, D.J. DeMotte, senior; 130: Nick Plesa, senior, Jeff Lackner, sophomore; 135: Marshall Norris, Brian Fish, sophomores; 140: Matt Walker, senior; 145: Matt Dukes, Colby Reynolds, juniors; 152: Brandon Buck, Jason Arnold, sophomores; 160: Jeff Rousselo, freshman, Jeremy Sheehan, sophomore; 171: Joe Johnson, senior, Kris Johnson, freshman; 189: Keith Hollingshead, sophomore; 215: Matt Gillett, junior; 275: Justin Ishmael, 275.

Members of the Bonner Springs squad are (weight listed is lowest weight wrestler will probably go): 103 pounds: Eric Ratliff, Myjestic Hickmon, freshmen; 112: Matt Middleton, Phillip Bailey, Eric Krause, freshmen; 119: Chad Vandenberg, sophomore; Jess Buck, Jeff Bennett, freshmen; 125: Kevin Kroh, junior; 130: Jimmy Vogel, senior; 135: Donnie Shepherd, Spencer Buck, sophomores, Peter Wiehe, Nathan Sparks, Nick Border, juniors; 140: Zach Powell, Dallan Whitford, juniors; 145: Mark Lewis, senior; 152: Brock Peterson, senior, Jesse Kirk, junior; 160: Cameron Gensler, junior, Chris Carpenter, sophomore, Danny Gardner, Curtis Fraundorfer, freshmen; 171: Nathan Parker, senior; 189: Josh Bosley, junior, Brian Bernard, Roy Mortell, freshmen; 215: Jeff Burns, sophomore; 275: David Bass, sophomore.

The Braves have been practicing without Jimmy Witzke, a 119-pound senior. Witzke, who placed third at the 5A State tournament at 119 last year and is currently ranked first at the same this year, has only attended two practices so far this year, according to Lowe.

No comments

Commenting is turned off for this story.