SALINA — Iola High’s wrestling program closed its third season of existence Saturday morning. But the Mustangs closed it for the second straight year at the Kansas Class 4A State Wrestling Tournament.
The Mustang program is still without a state tournament placer. It has qualified five wrestlers in the past two years.
“It has been well worth it,” said Marcus Sullivan, Iola High senior, a day away from the sting of losing his medal bid at the 2011 state tournament at Salina’s Bicentennial Center.
“Sure, it hurt when I lost the two matches. The one on Friday, especially, since I thought I had it won and the St. James kid caught me with a side headlock and got me down.
“But I love wrestling.”
Sullivan, who qualified a year ago for the state at 160 pounds, was trying to stay alive in the consolation side of this year’s tournament. He faced Blake Hampton of Spring Hill Saturday morning in the 160-pound division.
After a scoreless first period, Hampton came off the bottom against Sullivan to score a one-point escape. Hampton was up 3-0 after a takedown when Sullivan reversed him to make it 3-2.
Hampton escaped again carrying a 4-2 lead into the third period. Sullivan chose the bottom position to score off in the final two minutes. He escaped but then could not get a takedown, losing 4-3.
“I gave it my all but I reinjured my elbow in the quarterfinal match Friday. It has been a problem for me all season. One of the state trainers wrapped and taped it before the match Saturday but it just hurt throughout the match,” Sullivan said.
“It was tough to control the kids with just one arm.”
Sullivan said he was nervous going into the state tournament, but once his first match started Friday “I settled down and got comfortable.” He won the first match then faced third-ranked Rory Haug of St. James Academy in the quarterfinals.
Sullivan led Haug 6-5 with 38 seconds left.
“I didn’t want to be called for stalling and I was dead tired. But I shot and he caught me with that side headlock.”
Sullivan finished his senior season, which was only his third year of wrestling, at 29-4.
“I was a bit scared to try wrestling at first as a sophomore but decided to give it a chance. I went to one practice and fell in love with the sport,” Sullivan said. “We need more kids at Iola High to go out for wrestling.
“Just give it a try. I want to thank my coaches for their time and effort in teaching me the sport the past three years.”
Sullivan said he had talked to Labette Community College in Parsons about going there to wrestle next year. He planned to take an official visit to LCC.
Iola High had two other wrestlers at the state meet this year. Sophomore Stephen McDonald and freshman Mike Armstrong went 0-2 in their first state wrestling tournament.
“It was worth the hard work this season,” Armstrong said, who finished 24-19 while wrestling at 119 pounds this season.
Armstrong said he learned he needed to be quicker on his feet and work on his takedown penetration. “And I need to hit the weights hard in the off-season to get stronger.”
McDonald ended his second season of high school wrestling at 32-16 in the 189-pound division.
“I had fun but I was disappointed that I didn’t win a match at state,” McDonald said. “In my second match, I felt I was wrestling my own way not my opponent’s and came up just a bit short.”
McDonald lost 4-3 in four overtimes to be eliminated from contention at state.
McDonald said he learned that the state wrestling tournament “is more intense than most of the tournaments I’ve been in.” He said he also knew he had to work on finding a takedown move because “I’m not great on my feet right now.”
Mustangs unable to place at state
