From CJOnline
HAYS — For someone who had just captured his fourth straight state title, becoming just the 31st Kansan ever to accomplish the rare feat, Rossville’s Tagen Lambotte sure had a hard time celebrating.
Then again, with the lofty demands Lambotte puts upon on himself, the emotion wasn’t the least bit surprising.
Lambotte appreciated the fact he made history at Saturday’s Class 3-2-1A state tournament in Hays. He just didn’t like the way he went about it, taking a tense 4-3 victory over Centralia’s Andrew Beck in the 152-pound final.
“I’m not happy at all,” said Lambotte, who finished the season 41-1 and his career 164-5 with previous titles coming at 135 and two at 145. “I just didn’t execute.”
Lambotte was joined atop the medal stand by freshman Bryce Gfeller, who captured the 106 title with a 13-10 win over Atchison County’s Hunter Ostertag. The Bulldogs couldn’t quite make it 3-for-3 in the finals as 170-pounder Isaac Luellen finished second after getting pinned by Plainville’s Dylan Wiesner.
But the day was a banner one for the Bulldogs, who finished runner-up to Norton in the team standings for the highest state finish in the program’s history.
Lambotte dominated Beck 17-5 in last week’s regional finals but struggled to execute the moves with which he had run roughshod through most of his foes this season. The match was scoreless after the first period and remained that way when Beck was able to ride out Lambotte throughout the entire second period.
“I didn’t get off the bottom and that doesn’t allow me to do what I do best, and that’s be on my feet,” Lambotte said. “I was close on a couple throw behinds in the first period, but he backed out of bounds. It’s my job to finish and I didn’t do it. But I wasn’t worried because I knew we were going to our feet.”
Lambotte put the match in his faith to get takedowns, letting Beck to his feet to start the third period. Sure enough, he immediately did. After letting Beck back up, he got another takedown and only surrendered an escape in the final part of the match, never letting Beck get close for a takedown.
Despite the disappointing finish, Lambotte stayed true to form in his quest to always perform at his best when talking about his historic prep run.
“It’s a check mark on the bucket list,” he said. “Now I have to start working for the next one.”
Before Lambotte could put the wraps on title No. 4, Gfeller began his quest to potentially join his senior teammate as a four-timer.
It was a wild ride to the title, though. After building a commanding 13-3 midway through the second period with four takedowns and a near pin, Gfeller saw Ostertag charge back.
The Tiger freshman reversed from his back to end the second period, and then took Gfeller to his back with less than a minute to go in the match.
Gfeller was able to fight off the pin and survived with the wild 13-10 win.
“I was just thinking don’t get pinned, and I was trying to arch as hard as I could,” said Gfeller, who beat Ostertag in three of their four meetings this season. “My coach just kept yelling, ‘Keep fighting! Keep fighting!’”
Gfeller finished the season at 38-7 and, admittedly, in a much higher spot than he imagined possible at the start of the season.
“At the beginning of the season, I knew I could make it to state, but I didn’t know how far I’d get,” Gfeller said. “After Basehor, I went on a really hot streak, and from there I started thinking I have a chance.”
And now he’s in position to perhaps duplicate Lambotte.
“Tagen’s a great inspirational leader, and a lot of the kids on our team look up to him and want to do the same things he’s done,” Gfeller said. “State title’s definitely something I wanted to get done this year and I want to keep doing it.”
Luellen couldn’t make it three champions for the Bulldogs as Wiesner controlled the match. Luellen trailed 5-0 entering the third period when Wiesner caught him and pinned him with 1:36 to go.
Tagen Lambotte Wins Fourth State Championship
Isaac Luellen Finishes as Runner-Up to State Champ
Freshman Bryce Gfeller Wins State
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