Wildcat wrestling finishes third at Tonganoxie

Louisburg freshman Cade Holtzen works for a pin in his 113-pound match during the Randy Starcher Invitational on Saturday at Tonganoxie High School. Holtzen and the Wildcats finished third overall in the dual tournament. 

 

TONGANOXIE – In its final tune-up before the holiday break, the Louisburg High School wrestling team was tested in many different areas Saturday during the Randy Starcher Invitational.

The Wildcats battled injuries, competed in difficult matches and faced off with a pair of state-ranked teams. Despite all that, Louisburg came back home from Tonganoxie with a little hardware to show for its efforts.

Louisburg finished third overall in the dual tournament with a 3-2 mark and completed the first part of its schedule with an 11-4 overall dual record. The Wildcats only losses Saturday came against Shawnee Heights, which is ranked No. 6 in Class 5A, and the No. 6 team in Class 4A – Tonganoxie.

“It’s nice to end this part of the season on a positive note,” Louisburg coach Bobby Bovaird said. “Bringing home a plaque is a nice tangible symbol of our team’s hard work. Our team’s dual record isn’t bad considering the caliber of teams we’ve faced.

“I liked how we did against Shawnee Heights. We held them to the fewest points of any team last weekend, and we scored more than any other team scored on them. We had two matches — 120 and 132 — that could have gone either way, so that dual might have even been closer. It was a good test for us at this point in the season.”

The Wildcats opened the tournament with a pair of easy victories. Louisburg rolled Eudora in the first round 56-15 and then dominated Frontenac, 66-4.

Tonganoxie was the Wildcats’ next opponent in the final round of pool play and the Chieftains were able to win some key matches in their 54-24 win over Louisburg.

Even with the loss, Louisburg still advanced to the championship bracket, where it squared off with eventual champion, Shawnee Heights. The Wildcats fell 50-24, but bounced back to defeat Independence for third place, 46-30.

Louisburg got a big performance from one of its newer wrestlers. Freshman Cade Holtzen continues to put together strong tournaments for the Wildcats as he finished with a 5-0 record at 113 pounds Saturday, including a pair of pins, and has an overall mark of 14-1 through three weeks.

“I knew that coming into high school, Cade would be a strong factor with the program,” Bovaird said. “He’s won several USAW kids state medals over the years, and he’s been wrestling quite a bit in the off-season. He’s having some great matches, and he’s working hard in the practice room. Anyone who partners up with Cade is going to get better. He just naturally does that with his teammates.”

The Wildcats also got nice performances from senior Ryan Adams (145 pounds) and Austin Moore (195) as both wrestlers finished the day with a 4-1 record and they each had four pins. Unfortunately, both of them also experienced their first loss of the season.

Adams, the No. 1 wrestler at 145 pounds in Class 4A, faced off with the No. 2 wrestler in Tonganoxie’s Patterson Starcher. Starcher pinned Adams in the second period in what was a tight match up to that point.

As for Moore, the No. 5 wrestler at 195 pounds, he squared off with No. 4 Connor Searcy, who is also from Tonganoxie. The Louisburg junior came up short in a 10-3 decision.

“That’s one thing that’s tough to get across to an advanced wrestler is that losses happen,” Bovaird said. “They’re necessary to make us get better. They bring out the driven athlete in us all. No one likes losses, but it’s a mistake to measure your season, and your success, on whether or not you go undefeated. Those matches Austin and Ryan lost on Saturday will be much different next time.”

Junior Hunter Bindi also put together a 4-1 performance at 120 pounds with a pin and a technical fall, and he nearly went undefeated himself. Bindi faced off with Shawnee Heights’ Barrett Stickleman and lost a tough 7-5 decision in overtime.

Senior Tucker Batten (152) finished the day with a 3-0 record, while freshman Ben Wiedenmann (160/170), senior Garrett Caldwell (182) and junior Hunter Day (285) also ended the tournament with three wins.

Bovaird liked what he saw in senior Thad Hendrix (106) and Blue Caplinger (160/170), who despite finishing with losing records, performed well against difficult opponents.

“We wrestled tough against some pretty physical teams,” Bovaird said. “Blue and Thad faced some pretty tough opponents during the day. Thad lost a 6-5 decision to an Independence kid who’d majored him the week before, and he was hanging pretty well with the No. 1 ranked kid in 5A from Shawnee Heights.

“Blue went 1-4 on the weekend, with three of his losses coming from ranked opponents. He never gave up against them. Very few wrestlers are going to pin or tech Blue Caplinger. He’s pretty stubborn like that.”

Louisburg will now take some time off and try to heal as it enters the holiday break. The Wildcats will get a chance to perform in front of their home fans when they get back as they will host the Louisburg Invitational on Jan. 6.

“It’s definitely the right time to take a break and recuperate,” Bovaird said. “We got beat up a lot at Tonganoxie, but that happens. We’ll take a week off and get healthy. Then, several of our guys will be gone for the Rose Parade trip to Pasadena. They’ll get back a couple days before our home tournament, so that will be a challenge for us to manage with. We might see some weight changes after Christmas, and I’m looking forward to seeing how the guys do once they get their post-Christmas growth allowance and weight management isn’t as much of a challenge.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do, which is good. We have direction, and we have momentum. The guys are ready to step up and keep working on being better wrestlers.”

 

RANDY STARCHER INVITATIONAL RESULTS

 

Match 1: Louisburg 56, Eudora 15

106 – Thad Hendrix (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

113 – Cade Holtzen (Louisburg) over Will Schreiner (Eudora) Dec 5-1

120 – Hunter Bindi (Louisburg) over Larry Gulley (Eudora) TF 16-0

126 – Holden Andrews (Eudora) over Kyle Allen (Louisburg) Dec 10-4

132 – Hagan Andrews (Eudora) over Gabriel Bonham (Louisburg) Dec 6-0

138 – Cael Lynch (Eudora) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

145 – Ryan Adams (Louisburg) over Nate Criqui (Eudora) Fall 0:40

152 – Tucker Batten (Louisburg) over Andre Whitson (Eudora) Fall 3:23

160 – Elijah Kennedy (Eudora) over Blue Caplinger (Louisburg) Dec 6-1

170 – Ben Wiedenmann (Louisburg) over Weston Trefz (Eudora) Fall 2:55

182 – Garrett Caldwell (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

195 – Austin Moore (Louisburg) over Christopher Huslig (Eudora) Fall 0:41

220 – Sam Kratochvil (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

285 – Hunter Day (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

Match 2: Louisburg 66, Frontenac 4

106 – Thad Hendrix (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

113 – Cade Holtzen (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

120 – Hunter Bindi (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

126 – Kyle Allen (Louisburg) over Bennie Adarr (Frontenac) Fall 1:19

132 – Riley McDaniel (Frontenac) over Gabriel Bonham (Louisburg) Maj 15-5

138 – Dalton Hilt (Louisburg) over Austin Souder (Frontenac) Fall 4:41

145 – Ryan Adams (Louisburg) over Drew Bollinger (Frontenac) Fall 3:35

152 – Tucker Batten (Louisburg) over Jeremiah Mellnick (Frontenac) Dec 12-5

160 – Blue Caplinger (Louisburg) over KW Hale (Frontenac) Fall 3:11

170 – Ben Wiedenmann (Louisburg) over Kaleb Kroenke (Frontenac) Dec 5-0

182 – Garrett Caldwell (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

195 – Double Forfeit

220 – Austin Moore (Louisburg) over Nathan Kaufman (Frontenac) Fall 0:45

285 – Hunter Day (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

Match 3: Tonganoxie 54, Louisburg 24

106 – Caleb Allen (Tonganoxie) over Thad Hendrix (Louisburg) Fall 6:00

113 – Cade Holtzen (Louisburg) over Hunter Harris (Tonganoxie) Fall 0:57

120 – Hunter Bindi (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

126 – Aidan McClellan (Tonganoxie) over Kyle Allen (Louisburg) Fall 4:48

132 – Gabriel Bonham (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

138 – Korbin Reidel (Tonganoxie) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

145 – Patterson Starcher (Tonganoxie) over Ryan Adams (Louisburg) Fall 3:06

152 – Zeb Huseman (Tonganoxie) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

160 – Ben Wiedenmann (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

170 – Justin Hand (Tonganoxie) over Blue Caplinger (Louisburg) Dec 7-1

182 – Devon Duncan (Tonganoxie) over Garrett Caldwell (Louisburg) Fall 1:17

195 – Connor Searcy (Tonganoxie) over Austin Moore (Louisburg) Dec 10-3

220 – William Harris (Tonganoxie) over Sam Kratochvil (Louisburg) Fall 3:31

285 – Jacob Miller (Tonganoxie) over Hunter Day (Louisburg) Fall 1:50

Semifinals: Shawnee Heights 50, Louisburg 24

106 – Freddy Maisberger IV (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Thad Hendrix (Louisburg) Maj 8-0

113 – Cade Holtzen (Louisburg) over Scott Smith (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) Fall 3:27

120 – Barrett Stickelman (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Hunter Bindi (Louisburg) SV-1 7-5

126 – Noah Moore (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Kyle Allen (Louisburg) Fall 1:22

132 – Logan Brede (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Gabriel Bonham (Louisburg) Dec 4-2

138 – Cade Wathke (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

145 – Ryan Adams (Louisburg) over Alex Walker (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) Fall 1:42

152 – Tucker Batten (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

160 – Jake Patterson (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Blue Caplinger (Louisburg) Maj 15-1

170 – Chase Reynolds (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Ben Wiedenmann (Louisburg) Fall 0:20

182 – Zack Gonzales (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Garrett Caldwell (Louisburg) Fall 0:58

195 – Austin Moore (Louisburg) over Dane Terry (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) Fall 0:58

220 – Tristan Killman (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Sam Kratochvil (Louisburg) Fall 1:00

285 – Ethan Shuman (Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights) over Hunter Day (Louisburg) Fall 0:22

Third-place match: Louisburg 46, Independence 30

106 – Gabe Eades (Independence) over Thad Hendrix (Louisburg) Dec 6-5

113 – Cade Holtzen (Louisburg) over Zak Al-Bureni (Independence) Maj 13-2

120 – Hunter Bindi (Louisburg) over Alexis Allen (Independence) Fall 2:29

126 – Kyle Allen (Louisburg) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

132 – Gabriel Bonham (Louisburg) over Jon Lingenfelter (Independence) Inj 2:35

138 – James Lingenfelter (Independence) over Dalton Hilt (Louisburg) Fall 5:04

145 – Ryan Adams (Louisburg) over Ian Lawson (Independence) Fall 0:54

152 – Ryan Bruce (Independence) over Unknown (Unattached) Forf

160 – Heith Mendoza (Independence) over Blue Caplinger (Louisburg) Dec 11-7

170 – Cole Swearingen (Independence) over Ben Wiedenmann (Louisburg) Fall 4:51

182 – Garrett Caldwell (Louisburg) over Dakota Thorenson (Independence) Fall 0:32

195 – Austin Moore (Louisburg) over Cal Bloomfield (Independence) Fall 1:58

220 – Grant Thiessen (Independence) over Sam Kratochvil (Louisburg) Fall 4:30

285 – Hunter Day (Louisburg) over Jacob Burd (Independence) Fall 1:40