WICHITA, Kan. — Four wrestlers won their individual weight classes and four more finished in the top six to boost the Newman wrestling team to a second-place finish Sunday at the 7th Annual Kansas Cup at Fugate Gymnasium.
Junior Dustin Reed (125 pounds), senior Colton Duhr (157), freshman Heath Gray (197) and sophomore Dalton Weidl (197) all went undefeated on the day to earn titles, while the Jets rolled up 112 points to finish second behind MIAA foe Fort Hays State, which finished with 133.5. It was the best performance by team finish, number of champions and number of medalists in the history of the tournament for Newman.
Reed ran his winning streak to 14 and his overall record to 20-1 on the season in picking up a win by medical forfeit, a tech fall and a major to move into the final, where he took control early against Fort Hays' Lawson Ludwin, who is ranked No. 5 in Super Region 4, to grab the 3-1 victory.
Duhr turned his solid wrestling of the past week into a string of victories, picking up a pair of falls early and then majoring Ottawa's Mark Smith 10-0 in the semifinals. Going up against Fort Hays' William Homalon in the final, Duhr got the first takedown of the bout, and responded to a Homalon takedown to go ahead by escaping and turning right back around for another takedown to take a 5-3 lead into the second. The aggressor the entire match, Duhr got another takedown midway through the second and held on for the 10-6 win.
Gray earned the third tournament title of his young career by blitzing through his first two bouts by 12-4 and 13-5 majors. Against Dylan Wiesner of Fort Hays in the final, the score was tied 1-1 early in the third period after a quick escape by each wrestler. With just about 30 seconds to go in regulation, Gray got in on a single, wrapped up Wiesner and kept his foot in on the edge of the mat to convert the winning takedown.
Weidl ran his winning streak to nine matches over the past two weeks, picking up pins in both the quarterfinals and semifinals. A matchup against Kasey Crump of Ottawa University started off about as well as Weidl could hope as the sophomore took Crump down straight to his back, narrowly missing a pin but getting the four-point nearfall. Those points held up the entire match, as he held on late for a 6-4 win.
Junior Noel Torres lost only one match on the day, falling in sudden victory in the 165 semifinals to eventual champ Connor Middleton of Baker, but bouncing back to win in the consolation semifinals then turning back Fort Hays' Matt Ziegler with a 16-0 tech fall in 3:53 to earn third place after a 4-1 day.
Sophomore Kyle Ryan also made it to the semifinals at 184, where he was pinned by eventual champ and nationally sixth-ranked Jon Inman of Fort Hays. He followed with a tight 3-1 decision in the consolation semis before ultimately finishing fourth, going 2-2 on the day.
Senior Jake Gentzler and freshman Garrett Whitson made it eight of Newman's nine wrestlers making it to the semifinals, doing so at 133 and 141, respectively. Gentzler earned a 4-0 win in the quarters to begin his day but had a rough finish, going 1-3 to finish sixth. Whitson picked up a tight 2-1 win in the quarterfinals, and responded nicely after falling to the fifth-place match, winning 9-7 over Northwest Tech's Jake Wilson to go 2-2 and finish fifth.
Forlanda Parker went 0-2 at 149 for the Jets.
The Jets have just three more duals left in the regular season after a busy January, with a matchup at No. 5 Nebraska-Kearney first up at 7 p.m. Saturday.
