Just Wichita kids: Inner-city athletes putting City League wrestling back on the map
.JPG "City League wrestlers (left to right): East’s Deriek Thomas, Heights’ Caylen Lowery, South’s Malachi Karibo, West’s Quentin Saunders, North’s Jackson Stroud and Southeast’s Ammean Soureshjani.")
The City League could reach the podium in five straight weight classes at this weekend’s Kansas Class 6A state high school wrestling tournament.
From 170 pounds to 285, athletes from USD 259 aren’t just competing, they are considered favorites. They include:
- Malachi Karibo: Wichita South, Sr., 170 pounds, 38-1 record
- Quentin Saunders: Wichita West, So., 182, 28-0
- Ammean Soureshjani: Wichita Southeast, Sr., 195, 35-5
- Jackson Stroud: Wichita North, Sr., 220, 30-1
- Caylen Lowery: Wichita Heights, Sr., 285, 35-5
Five weight classes, five different schools, five of the best to come through the City League in the past few years. If they all reach the podium, it is believed this would be the first time the Greater Wichita Athletic League (GWAL) has done it in five straight brackets.
“It sets a tone,” North senior Jackson Stroud said. “It lets people know what we’ve done in the past and hopefully sets up the future.”
But these five aren’t alone.
There are 24 wrestlers at this year’s state wrestling tournaments out of USD 259, a little above average over the past few years. It’s this year’s star power that stands out.
Karibo, South’s 170-pound senior, is a three-time City League champion. He has gone to state each of his four years and made it to the podium every time.
Last year, West 182-pounder Saunders won the Class 6A 170-pound state championship as a freshman. He still has lost only one match in his high school career outside of missing weight at the 2019 City League tournament.
Soureshjani has a family history in wrestling. His grandfather was an Olympian for Iran. Soureshjani finished as a two-time City League champion and a two-time state qualifier.
Stroud moved from Texas to Wichita ahead of his junior season. He has reached 100 career wins and become one of his school’s best wrestlers of the past decade. Now, he’s looking for his first 220-pound championship.
Heights heavyweight Lowery is signed to Butler County for football, but he jumped on the scene for his final wrestling season. He became a City League champion and is a two-time state qualifier.
Together, the five wrestlers have a combined 166-12 record this season. All won their first-round state matches at Hartman Arena.
“It’s all about work ethic,” two-time East qualifier Deriek Thomas said. “Who ever works the hardest is gonna get there. I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy, but if you put in the work, you’re gonna get what you deserve.”
Karibo and Saunders are perhaps the most recognized of the five, and for good reason. The duo grew up wrestling against one another at the Team of Hard Knox Wrestling Club in downtown Wichita.
Karibo said it’s a case of iron sharpening iron.
“We’ve been training for a long time now,” Karibo said. “All this at state, we’re used to it. We’ve been to the big tournaments since we were little.”
There hasn’t been a lot of iron in the City League over the past two years outside of this fearsome fivesome.
Since 2009, the City League has hit double-digit state placers every year except one: 2019. Last year, the City League had only seven wrestlers finish in the top six of any weight class at the 6A/5A tournament. Karibo and Saunders accounted for two of them.
Wichita Heights won the Class 6A state championship in 2011 behind wrestlers like Daniel DeShazer, Matt Reed and Hunter Jameson. The Falcons haven’t finished higher than 17th since 2013 and came in 33rd last year.
Last year, Lowery was Heights’ only state qualifier. This year, the Falcons are back up to five, like they were in 2018. That has a lot to do with Lowery and Reed, who came back to Heights after his college career at the University of Oklahoma.
“People really think of City League schools like we don’t have discipline and we don’t put in the hard work,” Lowery said. “I became a leader this year, and it has changed my experience.”
Some City League schools just aren’t wrestling schools. Although Northwest has been one of the more successful teams out of USD 259 in recent years, the Grizzlies don’t have a team championship. Southeast doesn’t either. They are the only two.
Soureshjani said he knows Southeast isn’t a wrestling school, but he is doing his part to change that.
“All the kids who didn’t make it to state this year are looking up to us,” Soureshjani said. “They’re gonna work harder next year and improve a lot. When someone makes it state out of Southeast, it’s a big deal.”
The private schools of the City League have dominated GWAL in recent years. Since 2014, Kapaun Mt. Carmel has won five of eight GWAL tournaments, and last year Bishop Carroll won the league during the regular season.
In 2020, Carroll and Kapaun combined to send 16 wrestlers to the Class 5A state tournament. The seven public schools sent 24 combined.
The public school state-qualifying wrestlers said it takes a lot of determination to be where they are. Not that it doesn’t for those at the private schools, but not every USD 259 athlete has the same opportunities as those at Carroll or Kapaun, a couple of the wrestlers said.
These five have shown what’s possible. Three of them — Karibo, Saunders and Stroud — reached the 6A semifinals Friday, and Soureshjani and Lowery were still alive to finish in the top six.
Each said finishing on the podium was his goal.
“You gotta have that sauce,” Saunders said. “Once you got the juice, everything starts coming easy.”
This story was originally published February 28, 2020 at 4:24 PM.