Brock Johnson is at a point in his high school wrestling career where making a statement can be pretty tough to do.
 
After all, the Paola junior has already achieved just about everything he possible could on the mat.
 
State championship? Check. He now has three of them after capturing the 138-pound state title Saturday at Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina.
 
Undefeated season? Check. His victory over Winfield’s Talon Suttles in this year’s title match completed a 45-0 season for the Panther, his first perfect one after suffering a combined seven losses in his first two title runs.
 
Yet for everything he’s already accomplished, when Johnson took to the mat for the Class 4A championship round finale, he stepped on it with something to prove in his mind.
 
“Last year I had a really close one with (Suttles), double overtime I think,” Johnson said, referring to his 6-4 win over Suttles in the set of two 30-second double-overtime periods in last year’s state semifinals. “It was really close. This year, I just kind of wanted to make a statement that I’ve worked even harder and gotten even better.”
 
When Johnson puts his mind to something, it usually happens and if a statement was what he wanted to make, a statement he certainly made. After barely surviving his semifinal match with Suttles a year ago to keep his quest of becoming a four-time state champion alive, Johnson left no room for a potential upset in their rematch in this year’s finals.
 
To say Johnson was dominating is an understatement. While he didn’t pin Suttles, his performance was perhaps even more impressive as he took down Suttles early and turned him for back points on multiple occasions in the first and second periods, finishing off a 15-0 technical fall victory with 40 seconds left in the second period.
 
“I love them all,” Johnson said of his titles. “But this one was pretty nice.”
 

 
Not only did the victory clinch Johnson’s undefeated season and his third straight title after previously winning crowns at 106 and 126 pounds, it also secured a runner-up finish for Paola in the Class 4A team race. Nobody was catching state champion Rose Hill, which set a 4A state meet record with 215.5 points, but Johnson’s title, as well as one from Bryson Rockers at 126 pounds, helped the Panthers fight off Andale for the runner-up spot by five points (142.5-137.5).
 
“That meant a lot,” Johnson said. “We had a great weekend and a lot of guys really came through.”
 
Johnson’s technical win in the finals followed two straight 15-0 technical fall victories in the quarterfinals and semifinals as Johnson blew through his 138-pound bracket with ease, starting the tourney with a quick pin in the first round.
 
Then again, that domination pretty much mirrored the rest of his junior season. Of his 45 victories, only one of those was by a decision. That was a 7-1 win over Kamden Hooper of Odessa (Mo.) in the finals of the Bobcat Classic at Basehor-Linwood with Hooper going on to be a state runner-up at the Missouri State Championships.
 
His only other tight match came in the finals of the KC Stampede, a tourney that draws in powerhouse teams from across the nation. Johnson rolled to the finals with two pins, a technical fall and two major decisions and was leading 3-0 in his championship match with Maddox McArthur of Burford (Ga.) when McArthur had to default with an injury. He also finished as a state runner-up in Georgia.
 
“I didn’t really think about going undefeated at all,” said Johnson, who not only finished the season with 26 pins and a career-best 10 technical fall wins, but also wasn’t taken down by an opponent once. “I just go there and wrestle as hard as I can and I know if I do that, I can be very successful. That’s what I did and it worked out to be undefeated and I’m so grateful.”
 

 
While the goal may have never been to go undefeated, the goal all along has been to become a four-time state champion. Though the journey started well before he reached high school, it began in earnest when he knocked off Rose Hill’s Johnny Leck in the 106-pound finals as a freshman with a 4-2 victory.
 
Leck had been the defending state champion at that weight and went on to win state titles as a junior and senior, becoming a three-time state champion Saturday when he won the 144-pound title.
 
After surviving his scare with Suttles in the semifinals last year, Johnson breezed to a 12-2 major decision over Abilene freshman Murphy Randolph in the 126-pound championship match. 
 
With his third state title in hand, Johnson now is one win away from joining Preston Martin as the only Paola wrestlers to win four straight with Martin claiming his titles from 2017-20. He’s already recorded 127 career victories with 78 of those pins, going 42-2 as a freshman and 40-5 as a sophomore.
 
“It’s been a goal of mine since the eighth grade, top of my list,” Johnson said of becoming a four-timer. “We’ve had one other one in our school history so I want to be up there. I’m striving not really to beat him, but be up there with him.”
 

 
While Johnson continued his pursuit of four, long-time friend, practice partner and classmate Rockers was fulfilling one of his own. While Johnson has garnered much of the spotlight over the past three seasons, Rockers and Paola senior Kaiden Powell have shared much of that success as well.
 
Last year, Powell got his shining moment when he claimed the 120-pound title with a 2-1 win over Rose Hill’s Sebastian Bentley in the finals to cap a 36-6 season.
 
Ranked No. 1 at 113 pounds going into last year’s state tournament, Rockers seemed poised to join his teammates atop the podium. Getting a reversal with 15 seconds left in regulation of his title match with Colby’s Ryder Dempewolf, Rockers claimed a 5-4 lead.
 
Victory appeared imminent as those final seconds ticked off and appeared in hand even as Dempewolf made a quick move in the final second to escape. The scoreboard still read 5-4 with zeroes on it, but a challenge by the Colby coaches led to a conference from the officials working the match and they awarded Dempewolf the match-tying escape to force overtime.
 
Stunned by the decision, Rockers wasn’t able to regroup and Dempewolf needed only seconds into overtime to secure a takedown and get the 7-5 win to snatch away Rockers’ title.
 
It marked the second straight year of heartbreak for Rockers in the state finals. As a freshman in 2023, he was in control of his 113-pound championship match with rival Brock Sutton of Ottawa, with whom he had split against in two previous matches that season.
 
In their finals showdown, Rockers led 4-0 after the first period and seemingly in great position. But starting the second period in the down position, Rockers saw Sutton quickly lock up a cradle and stun him with a pin 19 seconds into the period.
 
“It’s been a long and hard road,” Rockers said of his near-misses. “But I’ve put in the work and I knew could get it done.”
 
Rockers admitted he had put too much pressure on himself in each of those two championship matches.
 
“I learned, don’t think about the match too much because it’s just another match,” he said. “it’s the state finals, but it’s just another match and you can’t be too scared to go out there and wrestle. You just have to wrestle your match and good things will happen when you do that.”
 

 
For the third straight year, Rockers came in as the favorite in his weight class, this year moving up to 126 pounds. And once again, he handily made his way to the state finals, sandwiching pin wins in the first round and semifinals around a major decision in the quarterfinals.
 
His opponent in the finals had a similar hunger as Rockers did with Sebastian Bentley of Rose Hill coming off his own runner-up finish at state the previous season. Bentley suffered some heartache of his own in his second-place finish, falling 2-1 to Rockers’ teammate, Powell, in the 120 finals.
 
Leaving nothing to chance this time around, Rockers took control of his match with Bentley early and stayed in control until the final buzzer, taking an 8-0 victory to finish the season 43-5.
 
“I was confident I could get it done,” he said. “;I was confident last year, too, but then I took a tough loss in the finals. But I got back and got it done this year.”
 
Both Johnson and Rockers credited being able to work out together and with Powell on a daily basis as big keys to their sustained success.
 
“Oh man, they’re always pushing me and I’m trying to do the same for them,” Rockers said. “They’re constantly pushing me to go harder and harder in conditioning and live. Basically, every standpoint of my wrestling has been improved because of my teammates.”
 
Johnson and Rockers will headline a strong returning cast for the Panthers from their runner-up team. Though Powell will graduate after following up his title season in 2024 with a third-place finish at 132 this year, as will fellow third-place finisher Hagen Blanck at 144, Paola returns seven of its 11 state qualifiers with Bodhi Shay also coming off a third-place finish at 150, winning four straight matches after losing in the quarterfinals.
 
With Rose Hill graduating seven state placers, the title will be up for grabs next year with Paola and Andale, which returns two state champions and five of its six qualifiers, right there in the mix.
 
“It was a great year and now it’s trying to get all my teammates involved and better and going after that team title next year,” Johnson said. “That’s the goal now.”
 

 
ECK OF A SHOWING: ANDALE’S FAMILY TIES ADD TRIO OF STATE CHAMPIONS
 
Like many wrestling programs, there’s a strong sense of family in the Andale wrestling room.
 
It starts in the club ranks with the Brawlers program and carries on up into the Indians’ high school program. Countless of hours of commitment not only from wrestlers, coaches and parents have bred multi-generations of success, both as a team (five 4A state championships) and as individuals (32 titles from 20 wrestlers).
 
“It’s just all one big community,” junior Ethan Eck said.
 
Within that all-encompassing community atmosphere, one family in particular has carved out its own legacy. Quietly in the sense that they never clamor for attention, but loudly in the results they’ve delivered over the years.
 
The extended Eck family – be it fathers, siblings or cousins – has combined for roughly a quarter of Andale’s all-time state wrestling placers and more than one-third of Andale’s individual state champions, including the headliner of the group, four-time state champion Owen Eck. Three more added their names to that championship list on Saturday in Salina as cousins Judd Eck, Ethan Eck and Isaiah Wilson all captured state championships at the Class 4A state meet. 
 
Andale sent six wrestlers to this year’s state meet, all with some sort of family ties to each other. All six placed with Luke Martin, Luke Seiler and Tristen Cox also earning top-four finishes to help the Indians to a third-place team finish.
 
“It’s crazy that all six of us are related to each other somehow,” said Wilson, whose mom, Andi Rau is an Eck sibling. “It’s a really cool thing. We all grew up with each other, and then in the wrestling room with the Brawlers. It’s really cool seeing everyone get to high school and get some stuff done.”
 

 
Wilson had already accomplished quite a bit during his career before finally joining Andale’s state champion club this year. He cracked the Andale lineup as a freshman at 145 pounds and enjoyed moderate success, going 22-17 and coming up one win shy of earning a state berth.
 
But something clicked his sophomore season. Wilson added weight and muscle, moving up to 175 pounds. He cut his losses nearly in half and nearly doubled his win total, finishing the season with a somewhat surprising run at state.
 
Wilson pinned top-ranked Tucker Jackson of Clay Center in the quarterfinals and then followed it up with a semifinal pin of Goodland’s Mason Hernandez to go from not being a state qualifier to a state finalist.
 
“To be honest, I didn’t go in there expecting to make it to finals,” Wilson said. “I was definitely nervous before the match. I wrestled my best, but I couldn’t get it done.”
 
While he may not have been fully prepared for his prime time appearance as a sophomore, he still showed well in a 3-0 loss to Winfield’s Kody Brenn in the finals and finished the season 43-10. 
 
Wilson fell victim of Clay Center’s Jackson in the 190-pound state semifinals last year with the Tiger getting his revenge with a 13-4 major decision victory on his way to capturing the state championship. Wilson bounced back to finish third, going 40-10 on the season.
 
“It definitely wasn’t the outcome I wanted,” Wison said. “I made the best of it and tried not to have any regrets.”
 

 
This season, Wilson returned at 190 pounds and fueled by his previous state shortcomings set his course for getting the elusive state championship. While he suffered five losses in the regular season, three came to Salina Central’s Cooper Reves, who captured the Class 5A state title at 190, and another came to Gardner Edgerton’s Ty Hammers, who was state runner-up at 190 in Class 6A.
 
The field in Class 4A was no match for him as he pinned his way to his first state championship, needing just 1:25 in the title match to stick Chanute’s Cade Small.
 
“My whole life I just really wanted to be a state champion, all through Brawlers and high school,” said Wilson, who finished the season 42-5. “I had my mind right for this one, going in thinking I had to anything I could to win. This is the one I wanted. Being able to get it done the last year, it completes my career in a way, getting my biggest goal scratched off.”
 
While Wilson spent the entire season holding down the No. 1 spot in the KWCA rankings at 190, Ethan Eck didn’t move into that position until mid-February. For the bulk of the season, the No. 1 spot was held by Fort Scott’s Brody Gomez.
 
It wasn’t that Eck hadn’t built the resume to merit the ranking. After falling to Bishop Carroll’s Elijah Means in the finals of the season-opening Pratt Invitational, Eck suffered only one other loss the rest of the regular season, with that coming to an opponent from Texas at the Mid-America Nationals tournament.
 
If that tournament wasn’t the tipping point in building Ethan’s confidence he could become a state champion after placing fifth in 2024, then titles at the Newton Tournament of Champions and Rocky Welton Invitational in Garden City certainly were. Eck edged Class 5A No. 1 Kade Smith of Hutchinson in the Newton finals and tech falled Class 6A No. 2 Vance Provost of Olathe North in the Rocky Welton finals.
 
“I was just getting a lot better and progressing as the season went along,” Eck said. “It just boosted my confidence a lot. I really didn’t think I’d be that good this year, but it proved I could and just helped my confidence for state.”
 

 
Eck admitted to keeping track of the rankings and keeping an eye on Gomez with the hopes of settling the No. 1 debate on the mat. He thought that opportunity would present itself at the Rose Hill Invitational in early February, but Gomez was upset in the semifinals by Andover freshman Dresden Beard, whom Eck then beat 14-6 in the title match.
 
“That spoiled it,” Eck said. “I was pretty disappointed because I wanted to how it would be like with him going into state.”
 
They may not have met at Rose Hill, but both Eck and Gomez stayed their collision course at the state meet with Eck pinning two of his opponents and getting a technical fall win in his other match and Gomez pinning his first two foes and taking a 7-0 win in the semifinals.
 
Riding a streak of 33 straight wins into the title showdown, Eck carried that momentum over into a convincing performance against Gomez. It was a close match for one period, but Eck began to wear on Gomez and secured back points on his way to taking an 11-3 victory to finish off a 43-2 junior season.
 
“It felt pretty amazing just to have that many consecutive wins,” Eck said. “And to have a senior season next year so I can win it two times.”
 

 
Judd Eck’s path to his championship was altogether different than Wilson’s or Ethan’s. The freshman endured nine losses in the regular season but that did little to alter his belief that he could become a state champion in his first year.
 
“Coaches expect good things out of you and make you work hard and your teammates push you to work harder and harder,” he said. “I beat an Arkansas state champion early in the year and that really helped my confidence a lot.”
 
When Judd looked at his state bracket, he saw potential showdowns with No. 1 Lucas Batz of Holton and No. 6 Tanner Sleichter looming as potential roadblocks. Neither match materialized, however.
 
Sleichter was knocked off in the quarterfinals by Rose Hill’s Tucker Saferite and Batz went down in the semifinals with a 5-3 loss to Augusta’s Brayden Luinstra. The two had met in the regional finals the week before with Eck taking a narrow 2-0 win.
 
Energized by seeing Ethan Eck and Wilson win their state titles before he took the mat, Judd used the adrenaline to take a 7-1 win over Luinstra in their finals rematch.
 
“It got me excited watching Ethan and Isaiah win,” he said. “It made me go out and win one. I think it worked out for me that it played out that way.”
 

 
Both Ethan and Judd Eck said they drew plenty of motivation watching Owen Eck finish off his four-peat last year, Ethan as a teammate and Judd watching as an interested cousin from the stands.
 
While Ethan won’t be able to join Owen as a four-timer, Judd has that opportunity.
 
“As soon as I saw him win as a freshman that’s something I wanted and thought was possible,” Judd said. “I just have to win one year at a time.”
 
Whether it’s Owen or the myriad of other family members who have set the standard, Ethan said there’s one mindset being a part of the clan.
 
“Having that last name, you have to push yourself to show what an Eck is,” he said. “There’s a lot to live up to. It’s good pressure, sometimes it’s tough, but you gotta do what you gotta do and that’s how we do it.”
 
Martin came close to giving Andale a fourth individual champion and a shot at finishing second as a team, making the finals at 106. After suffering a lop-sided loss to defending champion Samson Whitted of Rose Hill in the regional finals a week earlier, he upset a pair of regional champions to earn a rematch in the finals where he pushed the Rocket senior to the limits in a 4-1 loss.
 
Seiler lost to eventual champion Ryder Dempewolf of Colby 9-7 in the semifinals and wound up finishing fourth at 113 pounds, while Cox also added a fourth-place finish for the Indians at 144, becoming a two-time state placer.
 

 
DEMPEWOLF THE DRAMATIC: COLBY JUNIOR USES LATE HEROICS TO PULL OFF SECOND STRAIGHT 113 TITLE
 
As thrilling as the manner in which Ryder Dempewolf captured his first state championship a year ago was, truth be told, the Colby junior didn’t want to feel it again.
 
Not the title-winning part, mind you. That was still the goal.
 
But the heart-stopping way in which his 2024 113-pound title came.
 
“That was the best way ever to win it,” Dempewolf said of his 2024 championship thriller in which he escaped Paola’s Bryson Rockers in the final second to force overtime where he secured a quick title-clinching takedown. “I knew once I got the escape, I was hyped up ready to go. It just felt unreal.
 
“But honestly, I didn’t want to make it exciting this year. I just wanted to dominate and get done with it.”
 
So much for that. Though he didn’t quite take things to the extreme of a year ago, Dempewolf nevertheless needed late heroics to secure his title defense.
 
Giving up a reversal to Rose Hill senior Trenton Richwine with 50 seconds left in the match to fall behind by a point, Dempewolf got an immediate escape and then a takedown with 30 seconds left to pull out an 8-6 victory and another state title.
 
Though tougher than he had hoped, the satisfaction might have been just as great.
 
“Coming back trying to defend the title, everyone was coming at me,” he said. “That put some extra pressure on me and made me wrestle a little cautious compared to how I like to wrestle. But being able to take everyone’s best shot and still win feels pretty good.”
 
Dempewolf started out the state meet on the dominating path he’d hoped to follow, pinning Santa Fe Trail’s David Neal the first period to start the meet and following with a 16-5 major decision over Hugoton’s Isaiah Peachey in the quarterfinals.
 
But that’s where the best-laid plans ended. In the semifinals, he drew Andale’s Luke Seier who came into the match with 14 losses. Even though he knew to be wary of the Indian freshman, he still got more than he bargained for in the match.
 
“I thought he was really being slept on all year not being ranked at all,” he said. “I had a feeling he was going to be someone I needed to stay ready to go for. You can’t slack on anyone at the state tournament because anything can happen. I knew I needed to show up and show out.”
 

 
Dempewolf built an early lead but ran out of gas in the final period and saw Seiler close within two points with a late takedown. Dempewolf held on for the 9-7 victory.
 
“I just kind of died,” he said. “I didn’t get enough food and probably should have replenished some more.”
 
Dempewolf was plenty nourished for the finals, but again saw the match come down to him needing to make something happen late. Which is where Dempewolf feels like he shines anyway.
 
“I feel like my strongest area is when the two people wrestling are tired, I’m best in neutral,” he said. “I know that I have the conditioning to pull something off and I just go for it. Apparently, it works for me.”
 
Dempewolf finished the season 41-1 with his lone loss to Hoxie’s Ian Giancola when he bumped up to 120 pounds for a dual with the Class 3-2-1A champions. As exciting as his first two titles have been, Dempewolf is already looking ahead.
 
“The first one was the best feeling in the world,” he said. “It’s cool to have two now, but I would like to go for three. It feels somewhat like an unsatisfied feeling with two so we’ll just have to see next year. I’m OK with two and if I lost next year, it’s not the end of the world. Wrestling is wrestling and anything can happen. But I’m unsatisfied and I’m hungry to get three.”
 

 
FOLLOW THEIR LEAD: ABILENE FRESHMAN WUTHNOW HAS READY-MADE ROLE MODELS
 
For someone who’s long held the dream of becoming a four-time state wrestling champion, Noah Wuthnow couldn’t ask for a better situation than the one he has at Abilene.
 
Not only does he have one previous four-timer he can draw inspiration and knowledge from, he’s got two.
 
Tagen Lambotte, who won four straight titles at Rossville from 2011-14, has been an assistant coach for the Cowboys for the past three seasons. Meanwhile, Jake Kriegbaum, the only four-timer in Abilene history (2001-04), is coach for the Abilene Kids Wrestling Club.
 
“They’ve taught me a lot,” Wuthnow said. “They’re really good wrestlers and I just pace myself around them. I’ve learned a lot.”
 
Indeed he has. To win four, you’ve got to win the first and that’s exactly what Wuthnow did Saturday in Salina. Despite not entering the state meet as the favorite for the 132-pound title, Wuthnow proved he was the guy to beat after all.
 
He upset No. 1 Adam Bilby of Rose Hill with a decisive 7-1 victory to earn his spot in the championship match. Getting a rematch of his regional championship showdown with Buhler’s Sammy Hershberger in the state finals, Wuthnow again prevailed.
 
After beating Hershberger by just a 4-2 score at regionals, Wuthnow took a commanding 9-2 victory in the state finals to cap a 38-6 season. His lead was that identical same 4-2 margin as regional in the third period before Wuthnow finished strong with a takedown and back points.
 
“Jake always tells me, ‘Third period, you push the pace,’ and that was ringing in my head,” said Wuthnow, who often will put in extra sessions with the former Cowboy four-timer at a building owned by former three-time Abilene champion Ross Taplin. “I knew that I couldn’t just sit there and stall and I took one shot, got to the leg and finished it. He was laying there and I knew he was broke so I snuck in a half real quick and got two swipes.”
 
While Wuthnow may not have been favored based on the rankings, sitting No. 3 behind Bilby and Winfield’s Owen Suttles, there was a different sentiment in the Cowboy corner. And in Wuthnow’s own mind.
 

 
“I was very confident and there wasn’t any doubt in my mind,” Wuthnow said. “Usually whenever state rolls around, the end of the season, that’s when I wrestle my best. I’ve won a lot of kids tournaments, national tournaments and at the end, I’m not shook.
 
“All my teammates, they say that’s one of the things about me. If anyone’s going to win state, it’s me because that’s when I perform my best.”
 
The only lament Wuthnow had about this moment was that the title match wasn’t wrestled under a spotlight.
 
“That makes it exciting,” he said.
 
Wuthnow did have to share a bit of the spotlight for Abilene on Saturday. Prior to capturing his championship on the boys’ mat, Wuthnow watched fellow freshman Josie and Jade Wilson capture state championships of their own on the girls’ mats with Josie claiming the 100-pound crown and Jade following with a title at 105.
 
The standout freshmen trio have been linked for most of their lives, attending elementary school together at St. Andrews Catholic School. They also won Kids State titles in the same years, racking up three apiece.
 
“We’ve always been connected,” Wuthnow said. “We kind of have the same mentality too.”
 

 
PRATT’S WILSON ENDS CAREER WITH 94 STRAIGHT WINS, THREE STATE TITLES
 
As great as winning back-to-back undefeated state championships has been for Taye Wilson the past two seasons, the Pratt senior will always cherish his first one.
 
As he should.
 
Wilson was an unlikely champion in 2023, going into the state tournament ranked No. 5 at 150 pounds having spent only the last half of the season at the weight after trying to cut down to 138 to start the season. But it was the offseason leading up to his sophomore campaign that really made a title seem somewhat unlikely.
 
Basically, Wilson didn’t have one.
 
Wrestling in the consolation semifinals at the state tournament his freshman season, Wilson suffered a broken left elbow when he tried to post out to counter a move by Independence’s Koehn Wright. The recovery process involved his elbow needing to be reset and to this day he still has a screw in his elbow after it was stripped while being inserted.
 
He was sidelined for more than four months, wiping out not only his baseball season, but his club wrestling season as well.
 
“I couldn’t move my arm for a three-month process,” Wilson said. “I had to go to PT just to be able to move it again. I still don’t have full extension in it. It was definitely hard coming back.”
 
Once he was cleared to resume activity, Wilson got to work. While playing football for Pratt in the fall of his sophomore year, he would leave that practice to get in some of the wrestling training he had missed out on.
 
It paid off as he pulled off one of the most electric victories of the state tournament that year against Augusta’s Cannon Carey, who had beaten him a week earlier in the regional finals. Tied with less than 20 seconds left in regulation, Wilson saw Carey get a takedown with 13 seconds left to go.
 
But with the final seconds ticking off, he got a reversal to tie the match and then took Carey down in overtime to claim an 8-6 sudden victory decision.
 
“It was a great feeling,” he said. “I wasn’t expecting it at all. I worked as hard as I could and I feel like I came back (from my injury) stronger than ever.”
 
Wilson went 36-3 that season and the loss to Carey at regionals proved significant. It was the last loss of his high school career.
 
After going 42-0 to win the Class 4A 165-pound title last year as a junior, Wilson was even better as a senior. Moving up to 175 pounds, he went 48-0 and won his third straight state crown with a 13-2 major decision in his championship match with Columbus’ Mason O’Banion.
 
Wilson ended his career on a 94-match winning streak.
 
“That’s crazy to think about,” he said. “I never really realized it. It means a lot. I worked hard all these years to get to these three championships. It was nice to finish it out strong.”
 

 
Once he got his first state title, the goal of becoming a multi-time champion intensified.
 
“It made me realize I could really do something with this if I kept working hard,” Wilson said. “Good things were coming. I just really fell in love with wrestling. I wasn’t completely invested before, I guess.”
 
Given his three-sport status at Pratt, that’s understandable. But once he poured himself even more into wrestling, Wilson transformed from unlikely champion to overwhelming favorite.
 
The journey got some assistance from Pratt’s only other boys’ three-time champions, Beau Tillman (1996-99) and Dylan Pelland (2015-17). Tillman is an assistant coach for Pratt and has worked with Wilson since his early days in the kids program. Pelland is an assistant at Derby, but frequently makes it back to Pratt to work out with Wilson.
 
“I just always wanted to be up there with them,” Wilson said.
 
Even in going undefeated as a junior, finishing off the season with a thrilling 9-2 double-overtime win over Paola’s Clayton Younger in the finals, Wilson knew there was plenty of room for improvement. He called himself mostly a scrambler while winning his first two titles, and knew if he wanted to take things to the next level – he’ll wrestle collegiately at Arkansas-Little Rock – he had to put even more work in.
 
So he did.
 
“I did a lot of freestyle and Greco over the summer this year and it really taught me how to keep position, how to do things a little bit more fundamental,” he said. “I did a lot of scrambles sophomore and junior year, and senior year I got more technical and was shooting more and everything just kind of came together.
 
“I remember this summer, the only matches I lost were to nationally ranked guys. I knew I was able to beat anyone so I wasn’t really wary of anyone and that I was up there (at the top of the rankings) for a reason. I just went out there knowing I would win.”
 
Wilson had never faced O’Banion before Saturday’s finals match, but that wasn’t anything new. In his final two state tournaments, he met a first-time opponent every step of the way.
 
“It’s been crazy, but I like wrestling them for a first time,” he said. “It’s easier to gauge because you wrestle different styles against different people so it’s always nice to face someone who doesn’t know what you do and you don’t really know what they do. It’s more feeling each other out and seeing how they react to what you do.”
 
Wilson enforced his will at state this year, getting major decisions in his first and last match and a pin and technical fall win in between. He forced the issue quickly with O’Banion in the finals and only allowed two escapes when he let O’Banion up to take him down again.
 
Wilson finished his career with a 156-17 record.
 

 
FLY HIGH: AUGUSTA’S MORALES HONORS LATE FATHER AS HE GETS HIS LONG-AWAITED VIEW FROM THE TOP
 
One of the state’s top heavyweights since his freshman season, Wily Morales had just about every view from the state podium one could imagine in his first three years.
 
Just not the one he had hoped for.
 
He took third at the Class 4A state tournament as a freshman. Instead of taking a step up as a sophomore, Morales went a step down, taking fourth. Last year, it was back up, this time to a second-place finish.
 
All that was left for the Oriole standout to accomplish was a view from the top.
 
“I’ve been waiting that for a long time,” he said.
 
Saturday he could finally look down on the rest of the 285 field, finishing off his climb to the top with his first state title. And it took everything Morales had to get there.
 
Facing off against Osiris Unruh of Jefferson West in the only 4A championship match feature two undefeated wrestlers, the title bout was everything one might expect from such a heavyweight showdown.
 
Tied 1-1 through three periods and one overtime, Morales was able to keep Unruh down in the first 30-second double-overtime period. He then fought off an unexpected move by Unruh from on top in the second 30-second period and got the winning reversal in the final seconds for a 3-2 win.
 
“I’d never seen him, never wrestled him, so I knew it was going to be a tough one,” Morales said. “I didn’t know what to expect from him and I just wrestled my best. This was my last chance at a high school state title. Everybody was rooting for me, everybody knew I could do it. I knew I could do it. I just had to go out and prove it.”
 

 
With escapes the only points scored in the match’s first three periods, there was every reason to believe the match might very well go to a ultimate tiebreaker to decide the title. But after Morales was able to keep Unruh from escaping in the first double-OT period, he suddenly liked his chances.
 
Just as suddenly, he was in a fight for his life. At the start of the second double-OT, Unuh made a quick lunge and got his legs locked in around Morales’ midseason and his arm locked over his head. Unruh slowly began to muscle Morales into a tilt for back points, but never quite reached the point for a count to begin and after several seconds, the referee blew the whistle for a reset.
 
“It was pretty unexpected,” Morales said of Unruh’s move. “When he threw the legs in, I knew I was in trouble. But I remembered my practices and my teaching and I grabbed an ankle and sagged and waited for a stalemate and they called it.”
 
On the restart, Morales blocked Unruh’s attempt to do it again and was able to get the winning reversal shortly thereafter.
 
“No doubt in my mind at all,” he said. “We practice that every day, how to get out in a short-time situation so I knew what to do.”
 
The title was a bit of redemption from a year ago when Morales lost to Bishop Miege’s Baker North in the 285 finals. He had beaten North in overtime earlier in the season, but in the second period of their title rematch, Morales got in a bad position and North was able to lock up a cradle and pinned him.
 
“That was stupid,” Morales said. “It shouldn’t have happened but it did. Coming so close to having a state title and having it stripped away by something I did, it really motivated me to do everything right and take no shortcuts.”
 

 
He spent his entire senior season on a mission and posted an undefeated 33-0 record. Morales also finished his career as Augusta’s all-time winningest wrestler with a 144-19 career mark, edging out former Orioles Grady Fox, who went 143-28 from 2020-23, and Jake Goldenstein, who was 142-9 from 2012-15. 
 
As soon as he finished off his championship, Morales pointed to fingers toward the heavens, honoring his late father, Gabe, who passed away in 2020 just before Morales began his high school career.
 
“He was always in my corner, rooting me on no matter how good or bad it was going,” Morales said. “I wanted to do it for him more than anything. It’s what my dad would have wanted, rest in peace. Fly high. 
 
“It just means everything to me too. It’s what I’ve been working for my whole life.”
 

 
SMOKY VALLEY’S GARDNER SIZES UP COMPETITION FOR FIRST STATE TITLE
 
Take one look at Parker Gardner’s frame and it’s apparent. Whatever he lacks in height, he more than makes up with a muscular frame that belies the strength he brings to the mat.
 
What isn’t necessarily apparent is how quick the Smoky Valley junior is. Which is extremely helpful when it comes to another aspect that’s not immediately noticeable. Wrestling at 215 pounds is a bit of a stretch for him.
 
“A disadvantage I’ve had all year is being hyper-low,” Gardner said, referring to his actual weight, which is closer to 200 pounds. “This morning, I weighed 203 so I was 15 under what I could be and yesterday I was 17 under. So I am trying to go as fast as I can because I have the energy and the conditioning to go as fast as I can.”
 
Facing a similarly ultra-athletic opponent in the 215-pound finals – Louisburg’s Ashton Moore, who is a Kansas State football signee – Gardner used his strengths to his advantage. Or make that his quickness.
 
He repeatedly was able to get his shots in and finish, rolling to a 13-5 major decision to capture his first state championship. He finished with a 33-2 record, both losses coming to Class 3-2-1A champion Carter Green of Douglass.
 
“There are some opponents where you can feel their strength outnumbers you, but you have to work around and feel it,” Gardner said. “I felt comfortable with my size going against (Moore), it gave me enough strength to move him when I wanted. But I still had some constraints trying to hold him and do stuff.”
 
A year ago, Gardner was seemingly on the fast track to challenge for a state title. After placing fifth at state at 175 pounds as a freshman, he took a 31-1 record into his Class 4A regional at the same weight. But a lingering displaced sternum injury that he had battled through for the last part of the season became too much to overcome. After regional the regional semifinals, he couldn’t complete the season, getting pinned in that round and then again in the consolation semifinals.
 
It was a tough blow.
 
“It made me push way harder than I’ve ever pushed,” he said.
 

 
Gardner secured his spot in the state finals with a 6-2 semifinal upset of season-long No. 1 Cole Rogers of Rose Hill. Given the opportunity he hoped to have a year ago, Gardner cashed in to become the Vikings’ first boys state champion since Austin Cook in 2015.
 
Now his goal is to match Cook, whose title in 2015 was his second straight – the only two-time champion in Smoky Valley history.
 
“It gives me so much motivation and I want to tie that now,” Gardner said. “But this one feels great. It’s a shock to my system and my body is still very sore, but it’s amazing for this to happen.”