Goddard, Campus wrestling try to maintain last season’s success

The euphoria of a state championship or a high finish usually comes with the harsh reality of graduation losses.

Some of the powerhouse programs at this weekend’s Derby Invitational wrestling tournament know this feeling all too well.

Each school deals with it in both similar and different ways.

Goddard won its third consecutive Class 5A championship last year, but also said goodbye to a talented senior class, including state champions Cale Davidson and Kameron Frame.

But the Lions still rule this year’s 5A rankings, with 10 wrestlers ranked out of 14 weight classes, led by seniors Garrett Lange (160) and Austin Andres (182), as well as junior Troy Fisher (170). Senior Logan Pirl (132), sophomore Jason Henschel (106) and freshman Nolan Craine (145) are second in their classes.

“We had seven or eight freshmen come in that are really doing a good job, and then our older kids that have stepped up,” coach Brett Means said. “We lost five really good kids last year, but it seems like the younger kids and some of the older kids have picked up the slack.

“My junior class has stepped up with Trenton (Willert, 220), Troy, Lucas Glover (113) and Cayden Atkins (195). Cayden’s doing a great job for us. He only weighs about 180 pounds, and he’s wrestling 195 and really filled the gap.

“Really, the key is all these young kids we’re getting fed from our youth club, Kansas Young Guns, they’re ready to go. It has helped us reload.”

Tournaments such as this one future will be more convincing than any of the rankings, Means said.

“The next three weeks we go to Basehor(-Linwood), Tulsa and Garden City,” he said. “After the next three weeks, we’ll know where we’re at.…”

Relying on youth can be ever-changing, Means said.

“You’re going to have good days, and you’re going to have bad days,” he said. “We just hope some of these young guys can step up. They haven’t done it yet, but we’ll know in a couple of months.”

One of the more thrilling moments at last year’s Class 6A state tournament was Campus’ runner-up finish, which wasn’t secured until Northwest’s Joey Gilbertson scored a 3-2 decision over Garden City’s Benny Hernandez. Garden City had been threatening but Gilbertson’s triumph – which had both Northwest and Campus fans cheering him on – enabled Campus to hold on to second by one point.

There has been an adjustment for the Colts as well, coach Jim Dryden said.

“It’s been different,” he said. “This is my fifth year as head coach, and the four years prior I had a family member or a relative wrestling for me. (This year) we’re trying to do the same things we’ve done from years past, because we know the system we have in place works.

“The biggest thing is getting some of our younger, newer kids to buy in to what we’re trying to do. Hopefully, by the time state rolls around everybody will be on the same page.

But unlike Goddard, Campus is restocking with youth but also other newcomers.

“We’re just starting to get our lineup put together, because we’ve had some injuries, and we’ve got some transfers coming in who are now eligible for second semester,” Dryden said. “Hopefully, once we get everything put together, we’ll be able to make a little run again.

“We did lose seven varsity wrestlers last year, so that makes it tough, because that’s half your lineup.

“Probably the biggest thing we’re fighting against right now is that some of our guys have that ‘I know we’re not as good as we were last year’ attitude, instead of taking the attitude of ‘Hey, we’ve got to work harder to get to where we were last year.’ Maybe we don’t have the talent that we had last year, but you can work as hard as they did.”

Leading the way for Campus is junior Brycen Schroeder at 170, who was a state runner-up at 152 a year ago, and senior Kai Rhea, who was third at 106 a year ago and is now at 113.

“We’ve had a pretty good group of kids in the room the last couple of years,” Dryden said. “When you lose seven seniors – and five of those were state medalists – that’s tough to do..”

Schroeder, who took an 11-3 mark and No. 2 ranking into the Derby tournament, said adjustments have become necessary.

“It’s been tough, but I think we’re getting there, and by the time we get to state, I think we’ll be ready to go,” he said. “We’re getting them there, and it’s going to be ‘go time’ by the time we get to state.”

This story was originally published January 5, 2018 at 10:40 PM with the headline "Goddard, Campus wrestling try to maintain last season’s success."