Manhattan coach Shawn Bammes didn’t feel like his team wrestled its best in either the Centennial League Tournament on Feb. 3 or the Class 6A regional last weekend at Wichita North.
In both tournaments, the Indians were the runners-up to fellow league foe Washburn Rural. But when it mattered the most, Manhattan saved its best for last.
The Indians claimed their first Class 6A state wrestling championship since 2017 on Saturday at Hartman Arena by winning the tournament with 185 points, 10 more than runner-up Mill Valley and 15 ahead of Washburn Rural.
“The kids put it all together this weekend,” Bammes said. “This group has had some goals and this was their goal. They put the work in throughout the season to get it done.”
Entering the finals, Manhattan led by 19.5 points over Washburn Rural and xxx over Mill Valley with the Jaguars having five in the finals and Rural having four finalists.
But the Indians all but locked up the team championship with senior Ezekiel Witt and sophomore Caeleb Hutchinson winning individual championships back-to-back at 113 and 120 pounds, respectively. Mill Valley finished with four champions -- Maddox Casella (126), Dillon Cooper (138), Colin McAlister (165) and Christopher Wash Jr. (215) -- and Rural got three -- Easton Broxterman (132), Kristjan Marshall (150) and Brody Byrne (157) -- but a split in head-to-head showdowns at 138 and 150 denied either from closing the gap enough to overtake the Indians.
As much as Witt and Hutchinson dropped the final hammer, it was a collective effort for Manhattan. All 13 Indians who qualified for state scored points, and nine placed in the top five in their respective weight classes.
Manhattan got two third-place finishers, Logan Lagerman at 144 and Landon Dobson at 190, two fourth-place finishers, Jamael Agnew at 138 and Ben Uher at 157, and three fifth-place finishers, Cameron Coonrod at 126, Raymond Gary-Hernandez at 215 and Clayton Frehn at 285.
“They call it a team championship for a reason,” Bammes said. “They all contributed to bringing this thing home for us.”
An impact transfer from Junction City, Ezekiel Witt capped an undefeated season by winning the Class 6A 113-pound state title, the second of his career.
Witt won his second individual championship, his first at Manhattan, by pinning Olathe Northwest’s Gabe Sherell 24 seconds into the second period. Witt transferred to Manhattan from Junction City where he spent his first three years winning a state championship at 106 as a sophomore in 2022 and finishing runner-up to Washburn Rural’s Easton Broxterman at 113 last year.
“Adding Zeke to our lineup has been big for us,” Bammes said. “Zeke’s just a great kid. He fits right in with everything we have going on and just makes our team even better.”
Witt said winning a second state championship for a different school was very unique.
“I’ve never heard of anyone else that’s done that before,” Witt said. “I’m very excited that I was able to do that. It’s just something.”
Witt, who ended his senior season 43-0, also had some big news to share with his teammates after the tournament wrapped up. On Thursday, Witt made a verbal commitment to continue his wrestling career at North Dakota State. Witt said there are more goals he wants to accomplish, knowing he was a two-time state champion in his high school career.
“Just (to) win a national championship, but also, I want to get better,” Witt said. “I want to make everyone else better. I just want to be the best wrestler I can possibly be.”
Manhattan's Caeleb Hutchinson (left) gets a bear hug from assistant coach Danny Grater after winning his second straight state championship, this year at 120 pounds. It also all but clinched a team title for the Indians, who won their first since 2017.
For Hutchinson, he won his second consecutive state championship by defeating Garden City’s Matthew Long, 4-3. The two also met in last week’s regional finals with Long dominating the match in an 8-2 victory.
But Hutchinson got his payback. Seeing Witt win his championship before he took the mat was some extra motivation to win back-to-back state titles.
“I can’t let him one-up me so I’ve got to come back and follow it up,” said Hutchinson, who finished his season with a 41-5 record.
Hutchinson has two more opportunities to win two more state championships in his career and said it’s going to take hard work and dedication to get the job done.
Manhattan graduates five of its state qualifiers, including state placers Witt, Agnew, Gary-Hernanez and Frehn. But a strong core returns to keep the Indians in position to make a run at back-to-back titles next year.