South wrestlers accomplish feat they hadn’t achieved this century

Few if any of South’s wrestlers were alive the last time the Titans won a City League wrestling title.

They did it Saturday for the first time since 1999. South won the title over Carroll and Kapaun with a regular season and league meet score of 18, finishing 2.5 points above the Golden Eagles.

Five Titans won their indivdual weight classes at the league meet, and South coach Brian Westhoff was chosen City League Coach of the Year.

After the Titans were announced champions, they danced for videos, posed for photos and hoisted their coach on their shoulders.

Westhoff said the team deserved to be the team to reach the top.

“We’ve come together recently and become a tighter team, and I think that helped us finish strong,” he said.

Rocky Sisco got South on the board in the individual finals at 132 pounds. His victory over Carroll’s Jaleb Gann was clinical. Sisco was the attacker and cruised from an early lead.

One bout later, 138-pounder Asiel Flores made it back-to-back South champions with a rough win against Carroll’s Matthew Morrell.

And to cap three straight, Malachi Karibo went to work against Heights’ Aevodric Gilkey at 145 pounds.

South didn’t win again until the 220-pound class as Payton Collins came from behind over West’s Mario Perez.

His victory clinched the title, and senior heavyweight Kasdon Arehart won the final bout over Northwest’s football star Marcus Hicks.

Arehart has been with the program since he was a freshman. He said to be called “City League Champs” means a lot, especially for this year’s group.

“It means everything,” Arehart said. “It all finally paid off. We have the best coaches in the State, and they expect nothing less than hard work.”

South will be highly seeded for its Class 6A regional Feb. 16-17. The Titans will host 15 other schools, including powers such as Derby, Washburn Rural and Manhattan.

Although the City League championship was a goal, many Titans said there is more to come.

“This is a stepping stone to being one of the top three teams in regionals and one of the top three teams in the state,” Westhoff said.

This story was originally published February 10, 2018 at 8:54 PM with the headline "South wrestlers accomplish feat they hadn’t achieved this century."