Wildcats end regular season with home dual win

Junior Ryan Owens works for some back points against an opponent during a 120-pound match Tuesday during the Wildcat Duals at Louisburg High School.

Thanks to Mother Nature, the
Louisburg High School wrestling schedule was a little bit shorter than in year’s
past.

A couple different events,
including the Wildcats’ home tournament last month, had to be cancelled due to
weather and head coach Bobby Bovaird was looking to add something to his
schedule to give his wrestlers more mat time.

Bovaird was able to find something
right before the start of the postseason as Louisburg invited Blue Valley West,
Anderson County and Girard to compete in the Wildcat Duals on Tuesday at
Louisburg High School.

Although the Wildcats didn’t get
the results they wanted, as they went 1-2 on the evening, it was a good way to
get ready for the important tournaments ahead.

“We
lost 4-5 matches with our home invitational being canceled, then the next week
we lost one more match with the Spring Hill dual being canceled,” Bovaird said.
“It’s tough trying to make-up matches with wrestling. A game can be easily
rescheduled, but not an entire tournament. I’m very thankful that my
administration was willing to let us host this meet to make up some competition
points, plus it gave us one more chance to showcase our wrestlers at home.”

It
didn’t get off to the start the Wildcats were hoping for as they fell to Blue
Valley West (54-24) and Anderson County (42-32). Louisburg did end the night on
a positive note as it defeated Girard, 45-21, in its final dual of the season
as the Wildcats now focus on the Frontier League Tournament this Saturday.

Louisburg
got victories from Kaven Bartlett (113 pounds), Ryan Owens (120), Cade Holtzen
(126), Brett Rangel (145), Brandon Doles (160), Aiden Barker (170), Jonathan
Keegan-Childs (195) and Elijah Eslinger (285) to secure the win over Girard.

“We didn’t wrestle our best Tuesday night, but that’s all right,”
Bovaird said. “It gave us some ideas of where we really need to focus as we get
ready for the end of the season. I especially am proud of the guys for
finishing our dual season with a victory. We have a lot of opens and a lot of
younger and lighter kids bumping up to fill our varsity weights. That’s
something that really impresses me, that we have the ability to fill those
weights with kids who can compete.”

Owens, Holtzen and Doles
each finished the night with a 3-0 record, while Bartlett, Holtzen and Doles
are each currently ranked No. 6 in Class 4A in their respective weight classes.

Senior Sam Kratochvil
(220) got a win against Blue Valley West, while Barker, Keegan-Childs and Eslinger
also picked up victories over Anderson County.

The Wildcats will now
turn their attention to the Frontier League Invitational. The Frontier League
currently has two teams (Tonganoxie and Piper) ranked in the top 10 in Class
4A, along with state-ranked wrestlers from several schools.

The tournament will begin
at 9 a.m. tomorrow at Ottawa High School.

“The
Frontier League is traditionally a pretty tough tournament,” Bovaird said. “Each
of our guys will have some key match-ups that will help us get set for
regionals. Whether it’s a state-ranked opponent from another league school, a
potential regional match-up, or even just a chance for a revenge win, we’re
sitting in a good position to win those match-ups.”