2015 Class C State Wrestling Champions
February 23, 2015
Launch the media gallery 1 player“One’s greatest success comes after their biggest disappointments.”
This was the quote emblazoned on the back of O’Neill Eagle Wrestling 2014-15 t-shirt. After finishing the last two seasons with state runner-up honors, missing the top rung of the podium by just one point last season, it seemed more then appropriate for a team bent on winning the first NSAA team championship in school history.
O’Neill entered the tournament ranked #2 by both the wrestling coaches association and Huskermat rankings, but after coming out of the very tough C-2 district tournament with only eight state qualifiers compared to perennial powers David City, Valentine, and Wilber-Clatonia's 12 each, the odds seemed long for the Eagles in the eyes of most.
“I know a lot of people wrote us off when they looked at the team scores coming out of the other district tournaments,” said assistant coach Curtis Childers. “We scored the fewest points of any of the district champs and had the fewest qualifiers of any of the top four teams. So you can see why people had their doubts, but that’s why we wrestle these things out and don’t hand out awards at the start of tournaments.”
What the Eagles lacked in terms of quantity they more then made up for in terms of quality. Led by returning state champions Blake Walters and David Fox, and joined by fellow senior state medalists Jon Marvin, a two time state runner-up, and Cory Rowse who placed 5th in 2014, the Eagles had firepower in their lineup.
O’Neill spent much of the tournament near the bottom of a pack of four or five schools chasing Valentine who closed Thursday’s session with 5 wrestlers advancing to the semifinals compared to the Eagles 3. After Thursday’s session the Badgers led Class C with 45 points and O’Neill was tied with East Butler in 5th with 33 points.
The Eagles started to make their move at high noon on Friday in the consolation first round. Caleb Ross provided the spark that started an epic run through Session 3 of the championships. Down by one point in the closing seconds of the match, Ross scored a takedown on the edge of the mat to upset #4 rated Tony Meusch of David City. This started an eight-match run for O’Neill highlighted by a 9-4 overtime win by Jason Hahlbeck over Josh Zern of Plainview. Bailey Thompson stepped up in a big way as he defeated Nick Virka of North Bend in the second round wrestlebacks. This was only the second loss of the season for Virka who entered the tournament undefeated and ranked #2. Both Hahlbeck and Thompson's wins avenged losses from the district tournament O’Neill hosted the previous weekend.
Saturday morning the stage was set for what would be an epic day for the Eagles. O’Neill began the day in third place with 77 points while Valentine led with 94 points. The Badgers would feature four wrestlers in the afternoon’s finals with one wrestler, junior Braxton Coleman, on the consolation side of the bracket. O’Neill would send David Fox and Blake Walters into the finals and have Jon Marvin, Cory Rowse and Bailey Thompson on the backside. O’Neill began their ascent with a pin by Jon Marvin and a major decision by Bailey Thompson in the consolation semifinals. This was offset slightly by a gutty win by Colemen in the same round for the Badgers. In the following medal matches Cory Rowse notched a come from behind pin in the closing seconds to earn fifth place honors and notching an additional 2 team points for the Eagles as Jon Marvin notched his second pin in as many matches on the day earning 3rd place honors.
Entering the finals the Eagles were in second, down 101 to 98 to the Badgers. “We kinda felt like while they had more guns in that final round, we had better bullets,” said Assistant Coach Ron Sterns. Before one Eagle took the mat for the finals Valentine had dropped two of their four finals matches with losses by Hudson Pearman at 138 lbs and Jacob Hand at 145.
Senior Blake Walters summed up the strategy going into the finals, “We asked Coach what we needed to do to win this thing before the finals started. It looked like we were going to need big wins, but when Hand lost it took some of the pressure off. We knew we needed to just get a win and one of us a major to seal the deal.”
Walters cooked up half the recipe with a 3-0 win to earn his second state title over Jordan Redler of Malcolm. Senior David Fox then stepped out on the mat and wrestled like a man on fire earning a 19-6 major decision over Cade Svoboda of Ord.
“I really wanted to get a tech fall,” said Fox, “When it’s your first state title, you really don’t want to give anyone a chance to share it with you, I just ran out of time.”
The victory would prove to be enough. Fox’s win extended O’Neill’s lead 107 to 101. Although the Badgers had two wrestlers left, one Valentine wrestler was set to face Doyle Trout of Centennial in the final match of the tournament. Trout, a Division I scholarship athlete for Wyoming, was wrestling for his 4th consecutive state title, and would not be denied. The win all but assured the Eagles at least a share of their first state title in school history. Jordan Kelber earned Valentine their only individual championship, scoring a decision in his match and the final team points for the Badgers. The final outcome: a 107 to 105 victory for the Eagles.
“A lot of folks will tell you that the outcome of the state tournament is determined by the draw,” commented Assistant Coach Tyler Cole. Coach Cole was alluding to the fact that the wrestlers are not seeded as they would be in a typical tournament but are placed based on the outcomes of the district tournament. Often this results in matchups of the best wrestlers in early rounds as opposed to the finals. “The truth is, we didn’t have a very good draw, as a team. That has a significant impact, no doubt, but when you have a team that was as determined as ours and have the support from our fans, that we have, you can overcome anything. That’s the legacy of this team.”
O'Neill High School medal winners from the 2015 tournament are:
State Champions
C152 - Blake Walters - O'Neill, Senior
C170 - David Fox - O'Neill, Senior
3rd Place
C132 - Jon Marvin - O'Neill, Senior
4th Place
C182 - Bailey Thompson - O'Neill, Sophomore
5th Place
C145 - Cory Rowse - O'Neill, Senior
