BonnerSprings.com

The format was a bit unusual, but the final results were not.

The Bonner Springs wrestling team placed second Saturday at the Wyandotte County championships, and Turner finished first.

It’s the second straight year the squads have finished 1-2 in the standings, although this year’s tournament took on a new look.

Rather than bracket competition, the tournament utilized a round-robin format with a modified scoring system depending on how many wrestlers were in each weight class.

“We did that to get the kids more matches,” BSHS coach Brandon Jobe said of the format change. “We round-robined every weight class and the kids got more matches than they would have in the bracket format. Most kids got three, four or five matches.

“Some weights only had four or five kids, and others had eight or nine. We had to run each weight different. We got a lot of wrestling done and a lot of matches, and a lot of our guys won a lot of matches.”

Turner won the tournament with 359.5 points, Bonner Springs was second with 299.5 and Piper was a distant third at the nine-team event with 217.

“Turner won a lot of crucial matches head-to-head. They’re just a little bit deeper than us this year,” Jobe said.

Although Turner had the most depth, Bonner Springs still produced four individual champions. Jonathan Blackwell finished first at 135 pounds, Aaron Puckett was first at 140 pounds and Mark Hobson won the 145-pound competition. In addition, 125-pounder Caleb Seaton was held out of the tournament to rest a nagging shoulder injury, but Corey Williams stepped in and pinned his way to a first-place finish.

“He’s one of our better freshmen,” Jobe said of Williams. “He’s probably 20-2 in JV meets this year, and he’s had a little bit of varsity time subbing in for Caleb.”

Puckett finished the day with a 5-0 record, and Williams, Blackwell and Hobson went 4-0.

In addition, 112-pounder Justus Seaton and 119-pounder Billy Fratzel both finished second in their weight classes with 3-1 records. Third-place finishes came from 103-pounder Josiah Seaton, 130-pounder Austin Cobb, 160-pounder Patrick Ballard, 171-pounder Jared Clements and 215-pounder Nick Clark.

The Wyandotte County Championships marked the final tuneup for the Kaw Valley League Championships. The league meet will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday at Turner.

BSHS finished fourth at the league duals earlier in the season, and Jobe said he expected to see his team improve against its league foes in Saturday’s bracket format.

“We were fourth at the league dual tournament, and we’re not the best dual team,” Jobe said. “I do believe we’re a better tournament team. I think we’ll improve on that finish. Where we fall in, it’s just kind of up to our guys and the kind of day we have. We can make a push for the top, but we’ll see how it works out. We’re wrestling good, staying tough and staying mentally focused right now.”

Comments