Five years of girls wrestling in the state of Kansas, four state championships for the Washburn Rural Junior Blues.

If someone asks head coach Damon Parker for his secret formula to create this high school wrestling dynasty, he’s quick to point out that there’s no secret. He’s willing and eager to share it.

“It’s the funniest thing, and someday everybody else will start to figure it out,” Parker said. “Once you stop making it about championships and you make it about relationships, you make it about loving each other, then the championships are just going to start happening. 

“When you're chasing trophies, good luck. It's really hard to do it that way.”

Parker and his coaching staff, which includes his wife Lindsay as well as Daniel Reling, Duane Zlatnik, Jessie Stonebraker and Sabastion Cuffel, have clearly figured out the first part because the championships started happening immediately and never really stopped happening.

Washburn Rural clinched back-to-back state titles with its victory at this year’s 6-5A girls wrestling state tournament Feb. 24 at Hartman Arena in Park City. The Junior Blues scored 118 points, giving them a 22-point advantage over state runner-up Garden City. The program has now won four of five state championships given out in the state’s highest classification.

Washburn Rural has not only won four state titles in this burgeoning sport, but the team clinched these last two championships with just one single state finalist and no individual state champions.

Parker, who also led the Washburn Rural boys to a state title in 2021 before deciding to focus solely on coaching the girls program starting the next year, said he views this program as his greatest achievement in coaching.

"Outside of my family, like my own actual family, this is the most important thing that I've ever done," Parker said. "This is breakthrough work when we're changing kids' lives and they're changing our lives.

"The trophy, set it on fire, whatever, I don't care."
 

But when Parker says "outside of my family," that's barely a discernable distinction. 

In addition to the Parkers, Stonebraker and Cuffel give the Junior Blues another married couple on the coaching staff.

Stonebraker and Cuffel even brought the team closer together when the wrestlers all visited them in the hospital after the birth of their child, Kano, last month before the Centennial League tournament. Kano, who has earmuffs shaped like wrestling headgear, reached the state podium in record time when junior Molly Spader posed for photos with the newborn. Considering Stonebraker has already spent a little bit of time in the coach's corner since giving birth, one might expect Kano's first words to end up being aimed at wrestlers. Probably yelling an instruction, such as "Circle!"

Parker said his team, which has one of the largest rosters for a high school girls wrestling program in country, has been able to amass these accomplishments by culivating relationships, between coaches and wrestlers, and also amongst the wrestlers themselves. 

“Whenever I'm talking to a kid that wants to come out for our team, I say, 'Okay, remove your family from the equation. How many people do you have in your life that would jump in front of a train for you?’” Parker said of his recruiting pitch. “The answer is usually zero. It's like, ‘Alright, you come see us and you got about 60 people that will do that.’ And that's how it works here, man.”

Parker said that this team does not have the best athletes or the most experience, but they do have one important thing in abundance.

“There is not another team out there that loves each other as much as this team does,” he said. “Love is the only force in the universe that we know how to perceive that transcends time and space, man. It's the only thing in the world that can make a mom pick a car up off of her kid.”

Parker points to senior TaAni Rhoten’s performance as his proof.

Rhoten started the tournament strong with two first-period pins, only to suffer the same fate in the semifinals. Bonner Springs senior Olivia Stean sent Rhoten to the backside of the bracket with a pin in the opening minute on Stean’s way to becoming the four-time state champion at 170.

Rhoten shook off the loss quickly as she entered her consolation semifinals match with Leavenworth’s Jacqueline Goodman. Rhoten had already lost twice to Goodman this season. She would not let that result happen a third time, instead earning an 11-6 decision over Goodman.

“My coach was prepping me for this match and he gave me this rundown, the game plan and everything,” Rhoten said. “He was like, ‘It’s easy to beat a wrestler once. It’s hard to beat them twice. … It’s darn near impossible to beat them a third time.’

“I just used that as my drive. Wrestling with her in the past, I learned from her what she likes to do and what not do, where I got caught.”
 

Rhoten knew that she did not want to get caught in one of Goodman’s roll moves that she’s fond of using. If she could avoid those and stay focused, Rhoten felt like she’d be right there at the end of the match.

“I didn't need anything big. I didn't need to go looking for this big move,” Rhoten said. “I just needed to rack up points, even if I didn't pin her. If I did end up on my back, find a way to fight off.”

Rhoten said she was so focused on avoiding that last scenario that she did not even realize that she had won the decision, and with points to spare.

“When Coach went over to the table, they put more points on the board,” Rhoten said. “I looked at my ankle and seen I was red. I won.

“I was just in disbelief and I started crying after that.”

Parker pointed to that performance by Rhoten as a display of the team’s ability to overcome the odds through the connection his wrestlers have with each other, in addition to the determination of the individual wrestlers.

“That girl had beat the brakes off Ani twice earlier this year,” Parker said. “Then she finds a way to win that match because she knew other people were counting on her. It’s a special thing.”

The moment was extra special because Washburn Rural stayed up late the night before and had done the math. Rhoten’s revenge victory allowed Rural to lock up the state title before the championship round for the second straight season.

“We called a team meeting up in that corner up there,” he said. “I told the kids that pretty much everything we do in our program has an intention behind it. We took them in that corner up there because the sound reverberates off those walls and it echoes across the whole building. 

“We wanted to let everybody in here know that we had just won a state championship.”
 

Washburn Rural wrestlers let the crowd know again when they let out another huge roar after Rhoten won her match. Parker lifted Rhoten off the ground and spun her around before the team helped carry her off the mat in celebration.

Although the team knew what was at stake in the match, Rhoten was left in the dark until after she had already won.

“I had no idea that I was the one who was going to secure it all,” Rhoten said. “Coach told me after and I just felt like a million bucks.”

That moment brought Rhoten, and many of her teammates, to tears once again.

“I was just so proud of everybody and all the hard work everyone put in,” Rhoten said. “I just couldn't get over the fact that that happened. I was in disbelief. If I could just relive that every day, I totally would.”

Rhoten would go on to win her third-place match via pin against Wichita North's Aariyah Jackson.

Senior Laiken Clark (135) also finished third for Washburn Rural. Clark earned a first-period pin over Spring Hill’s Elle Ruffin in her opening match, but was not quite ready for her quarterfinal match against Bishop Carroll’s Alexis Means. Clark suffered a 12-1 major decision loss in that one.

“I feel like I came into the quarterfinals match against Means just not in the right headspace, honestly,” Clark said. “I was really nervous going into that (third-place) match, but I knew as long as I didn’t get stuck, and I just wrestled how I knew I could wrestle, I would do fine.”

Clark responded with a pin and two decision victories to reach the third-place match, where she ran into Means once again. Clark said she did not let the points disparity in her loss discourage her, even when she found out she would be facing the same wrestler in her last state match.

“I knew I wanted that win more than she did and I knew I worked really hard for that win,” Clark said. “I've pushed myself beyond this season. I went into that match thinking this is my last match as a high school wrestler. This is gonna be my match.”

This time, Clark was able to take Means down with a second-period pin. Clark had this same experience with Means last year, except Clark got her revenge in the fifth-place match that time.
 

Junior Molly Spader is the one Junior Blue to reach the finals as she took second at 105 pounds this year. Spader followed up her 11-7 decision in the first round with two pins, the first early and the second in the final seconds of her semifinal match against Great Bend freshman Camdyn Post.

Her finals match with Derby senior Amara Ehsa was the first time Spader had to wrestle from behind at this year’s state tournament. After leading for a short minute in the second period, Spader trailed 6-2 after Ehsa started the third period with a quick reversal and nearfall to break the 2-all tie.

Spader earned her own reversal in the final minute, taking control of the action. She was still unable to notch any more points before the time expired, giving Ehsa the 6-4 decision and her third straight state championship.
 

Senior Fatima Escobar earned two first-period pins to reach the semifinals. Escobar ran into Leavenworth senior Avari Johnson, who would get the pin in that match on the way to her second straight state championship. Escobar recovered with another pin over Shawnee Heights’ McKenna Haltom in the consolation semifinals before ultimately taking fourth place.

Lacey Middleton opened state with a 6-0 decision loss against Hays’ Tionna Napue, only to reel off three pins, including the first two in 1:22 total match time, on her way to securing a sixth-place finish at 120.

Maddison Blanco took the same route, also earning three straight pins and finishing sixth at 130.

Clark’s freshman sister Kamiryn only scored four points, but those may have been the biggest four points of the tournament. 

Clark entered state as the 16-seed in the 100-pound weight class, going up against top-ranked Lainie Galvan of Basehor-Linwood. In the surprise of the tournament, the younger Clark trailed 13-0 before finally earning a reversal in the final minute of the second period. Clark quickly turned that opening into a pin, delivering the ultimate upset in her first state match.

“She was able to do kind of a little somersault over her and then run a half (nelson) and pinned her in the second period, which was surreal,” Laiken said. “That was really crazy to me.

“I think her match set the entire state weekend for us. Her match set the bar high for everyone.”

For the older Clark, who did not qualify for state as a freshman, she is extra proud of her younger sister for making her mark early on in her career.

“I think the way her freshman season went, she’s going to be an absolute stud by the time her senior season comes,” Laiken said. “She already won so many people's hearts over with her freshman (season).”

In a special moment for both sisters, the Clarks were surprised by a certain person in attendance. Their brother Kobe Clark, who is an active service member in the U.S. Army, returned home and reunited with the family at the state tournament.
 

Annie Gallegos (125) and Elia Smith (190) rounded out the scoring for the Washburn Rural, but were not able to place. Maddy Blow (115) also competed at state, but was not able to earn a victory in any either of her matches.

But even past the state qualifiers, Parker credits his entire 60-wrestler group for pushing this team to its fourth state title in five years. The team had three wrestlers in Madison Davison, Ashley Schwarz and Sophia Ross who missed this season due to injury after all earned fourth-place finishes last year.

The team prepares for overcoming those types of injuries by making sure that the entire team is always preparing for top competition, even the wrestlers who are not holding down this team’s top spot in a weight class.

“We don’t call it varsity and JV, we call it varsity and second varsity and third varsity,” Parker said back in January during an interview with Rick Peterson of Top Sports News. “We tell them we might have 60 kids on the team but only 14 of you can be first varsity wrestlers. We won't have any JV wrestlers on the team, we'll have varsity wrestlers that are wrestling at the JV level but there's an important distinction there I think because that way when kids do get slid into that top spot then they're ready to go.''

Washburn Rural also prioritizes bringing as many of those 60 wrestlers, not just the state qualifiers, with them to the state tournament. This is to cheer on the teammates competing on the mats, but also so those other wrestlers still get a taste of how the Junior Blues handle business when the lights are at their brightest.

"We're very intentional about having them get down here and not just the parents, but bring those freshmen that are JV kids or so that they can get a look at this," Parker said. "They know what the expectation is so when they come here, there is no surprise. Then we just pass that on to the next generation of kids that's coming through."

With the team relying on those second varsity wrestlers to step up, Parker said that made this state title even more rewarding than all the ones that came before.

"It's not like one of the most, it is the most,” Parker said. “When you've really got to earn it, it is so much more rewarding. It's so much more valuable and we had to earn everything this year.”