Mid-East Has Wrestling Power To Spare

From the Capital-Journal:

No. 1 Rossville might be the top Dawg in the Mid-East League, but there’s plenty of bite coming from the other league schools at this weekend’s Class 3-2-1A state meet in Hays.

Three of the other four 3A league schools are ranked in the top 10 — Silver Lake is fifth, St. Marys is seventh and Riley County is ninth. The fourth, Wabaunsee, was No. 10 last week.

Each school has a legitimate title contender as well.

St. Marys boasts the lone returning state champion. Senior 145-pounder Corey Tyler is back to defend his title and is 39-0 after setting a state record for victories with his 51-1 season a year ago. Wabaunsee’s Kolby Droegemeier (38-7) is ranked No. 2 at 145, but Tyler has dominated their matches this year and has a clearer path to a second straight title now that Hoisington’s Christopher Ball has moved up to 152.

Ball was runner-up at 152 last year to former Bear Greg Tooley but has spent most of this season at 145 and is 37-0. Tyler beat Ball’s brother Jonathan in a 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker decision in the finals last year.

St. Marys’ Matthew Cruickshank is No. 2 at 182 with a 33-7 record — six of those losses coming to No. 1 Isaac Luellen of Rossville.

Silver Lake’s Dalton Dultmeier and Wabaunsee’s Riley Tubbs each were state finalists last year and are looking to finish as champs this year after heartbreaking losses. Dultmeier lost 1-0 in the 120-pound title match to Atchison County’s Hunter Ostertag and is 38-5 at 138 this year, ranked third.

Tubbs, meanwhile, saw a lead on Smith Center’s David Hileman turn into disaster when he got caught and pinned in the third round of last year’s 126-pound final. Though Tubbs is 40-2 and ranked second with both losses coming to No. 1 Bryce Gfeller of Rossville, his trek back to the finals has a huge roadblock right away: a first-round clash with Hileman, who was upset in his regional semifinals.

Riley County freshman Luke Richard, meanwhile, joins Tyler as top-ranked at his weight. The 106-pound Falcon is 38-2 with both losses coming at the Basehor-Linwood Bobcat Invitational, each to top-ranked wrestlers — Class 4A No.1 Christian Davis of Santa Fe Trail, whom Richard beat at the Rossville Invitational, and 5A No. 1 Dawson Podlena of Seaman.

Riley County’s Mikey Waggoner is No. 2 at 160 pounds, and Silver Lake’s Josh Priddy (113) and Hunter Howerton (152) are each No. 3 at their respective weights, and Gable Howerton (145) is sixth.