PARK CITY — As Free State senior wrestler Elijah Denmark prepares to enter the United States Army following his high school graduation, he’s always made sure to keep a level head on and off the mat.

In his first three years of wrestling, Denmark didn’t place at the Class 6A state tournament, but he didn’t put any limits on himself for what he could accomplish this weekend at Hartman Arena. Denmark assured himself of placing on Friday by winning two of his first three matches, and he wasn’t about to stop there.

The Free State 195-pounder went out with a bang on Saturday after winning by fall in the third-place match against Dodge City’s Ansony Quezada to lead the Firebirds to 14th in the team standings. Olathe North was crowned as the 6A champion.

“That’s just the accumulation of all of the hard work I’ve put in over the four years,” Denmark said. “I started as a nobody freshman year. This is my first time placing. I took third and I’m super proud.”

After earning winning his final match, Denmark was up front in saying he wasn’t as talented as Quezada. Denmark surprised himself and Quezada with his first-period pin.

“It was nuts, man. If you would go on who is technically better, I would say he is better than me,” Denmark said. “I got him, though. I was talking in the locker room with him earlier and he said he’d probably beat me if we had to wrestle, so to me it kind of felt like, ‘Yeah, that’s right.'”

Denmark match against Quezada almost didn’t happen, as he was facing a five-point deficit in the third period in the consolation semifinals against Olathe North’s Ryan Huck. The Free State senior battled back to force overtime before winning in sudden victory to advance to the third-place match.

“He epitomizes what we want in a wrestler — a kid that just works hard and does what he’s supposed to do,” Free State coach Mike Gillman said. “Yes sir. No sir. (He is) the most coachable kid I’ve ever had in my entire life.”

Denmark was one of two placers for the Firebirds. Elijah Jacobs also went 2-1 on Day 1 to reach the consolation semifinals. Jacobs dropped a 3-0 decision to Olathe South’s Gavin Brown, but bounced back to win a 5-1 decision over Hutchinson’s Patrick Graebner to finish fifth at 145 pounds.

“He didn’t qualify for state last year because he was in a really hard regional in a hard weight class,” Gillman said. “So for him to qualify and then place fifth is really good for him. He’s a hard worker.”

While Denmark and Jacobs punched their tickets into the consolation semifinals on Friday, five Free State wrestlers had the chance to join them on Saturday. Lou Fincher, Caleb Streeter, Garrett Bradley, Isaiah Jacobs and Joey Eddis were all knocked out in the consolation third round to come up one match short of placing.

“We had our ups and downs. We came into it with some issues in the tournament that we were worried about, but we settled the kids down. Everybody got their good matches and we got the wins where we needed to get the wins,” Gillman said. “There were a few things where calls could go either way. I think Lou had a bad match where I think it (the officiating) was questionable, but we can’t dwell on that too much. Other than that, I think we did a good job.”

Lawrence High matched Free State with two wrestlers reaching the consolation semifinals. Seniors Relle and Melle Dye finished third and fourth, respectively, to lead the Lions to 19th place.

The Dye brothers were wrestling at the same time on adjacent mats in the consolation finals, and both won by decision to reach their respective third-place matches.

“It’s special because we always come to the state tournament and we always sit down and watch the third-and fourth-place matches and were like, ‘Man, we want to be in there. We want to do that,'” Melle said. “This year we got to do it.”

After winning an 8-4 decision over Graebner in the consolation semifinals, Melle came up just short in the third-place match at 145 pounds against Brown — losing in a 3-2 ultimate tiebreaker.

Relle was also in a nail-biter in the 138-pound third-place match against Blue Valley Northwest’s Brooks Rockey, but he found an extra gear in the third period to win by a 10-2 major decision.

“I just pushed the pace,” Relle said. “He wouldn’t be able to keep up with me if I just pushed the pace to get him tired.”

Even before winning a 7-2 decision over Manhattan’s Abraham Sanchez in the consolation semifinals, Relle achieved a feat that he hadn’t accomplished in the previous three years.

“I’ve never placed at this tournament before,” Relle said. “To come out senior year and place third is good.”

While the Dye brothers rounded out their careers as state placers, Lawrence freshman Logan Farrell also competed on Day 2. Farrell lost by a 12-2 major decision, but LHS coach Pat Naughton was proud of his 106-pounder for his effort on Saturday and the season as a whole.

“He wrestled over 30 times. He had 25 wins,” Naughton said. “He got a win at state. The way the brackets ran out, you’re going to have to beat somebody with a pretty good record that you’ve known from wrestling in kids (club). It’s one of those deals, but he should be proud about his whole season and use that to build on to for next year.”

Class 6A state wrestling tournament

Team scores: 1. Olathe North, 151; 2. Washburn Rural, 149.5; 3. Manhattan, 142.5; 4. Derby, 140.5; 5. Garden City, 116; 6. Wichita South, 111; 7. Blue Valley Northwest, 91; 8. Haysville-Campus, 89.5; 9. Olathe South, 88.5; 10. Hutchinson, 73; 11. Dodge City, 68; 12. Gardner Edgerton 60.5; 13. Olathe Northwest, 57.5; 14. Free State, 53; 15. Junction City, 41; 16. Wichita Northwest, 37; 17. Blue Valley, 36; 18. Shawnee Mission Northwest, 31.5; 19. Lawrence High, 29; 20. Wichita Southeast, 22; 21. Shawnee Mission East, 20; 22. Wichita West, 19; 23. Blue Valley West, 16; 24. Blue Valley North, 13; 25. Shawnee Mission West, 12; 26. Harmon, 9; T-27. Olathe East, 7; T-27. Topeka, 7; T-29. Shawnee Mission North, 5; T-29. Wichita East, 7; 31. Shawnee Mission South, 0.

Day 2 results

Free State

106 — Lou Fincher, cons. round 2, won by major decision over Gabe Arreguin (Shawnee Mission Northwest), 14-0; cons. round 3, lost by fall to Nasir Johnson (Wichita West), 2:14.

113 — Caleb Streeter, cons. round 2, won by decision over Rudhra Thakur (Blue Valley Northwest), 5-3; cons. round 3, lost by fall to Kai Rhea (Haysville-Campus), 4:51.

120 — Garrett Bradley, cons. round 2, won by decision over Derek Journey (Haysville-Campus), 6-4; cons. round 3, lost by decision to Diego Hernandez (Garden City), 2-1.

132 — Isaiah Jacobs, cons. round 2, won by decision over Gunner Murphy (Olathe North), 3-2; cons. round 3, lost by fall to Kaj Perez (Garden City), 0:45.

145 — Elijah Jacobs, cons. semifinals, lost by decision to Gavin Brown (Olathe South), 3-0; won by decision over Patrick Graebner (Hutchinson), 5-1.

160 — Joey Eddis, cons. round 2, won by decision over Jashon Taylor (Dodge City), 6-3; cons. round 3, lost in an ultimate tiebreaker to McCoy Stoker (Olathe North), 3-2.

182 — Devin Beers, cons. round 2, lost by fall to Mitchell Bartsch (Blue Valley), 2:53.

195 — Elijah Denmark, cons. semifinals, won in sudden victory over Ryan Huck (Olathe North), 13-9; third place, won by fall over Ansony Quezada (Dodge City), 1:54.

Lawrence High

106 — Logan Farrell, cons. round 2, lost by major decision to Steven Sellers (Garden City), 12-2.

138 — Relle Dye, cons. semifinals, won by decision over Abraham Sanchez (Manhattan), 7-2; third place, won by major decision over Brooks Rockey (Blue Valley Northwest), 10-2.

145 — Melle Dye, cons. semifinals, won by decision over Patrick Graebner (Hutchinson), 8-4; third place, lost in an ultimate tiebreaker to Gavin Brown (Olathe South), 3-2.