Lawrence High's wrestling team had a pretty good night Wednesday at LHS when it was on the mat.
Problem was, LHS didn't spend much time there.
The Lions knew they stood little chance of winning Wednesday's double-dual with Topeka High and Topeka West because they had only about half a team competing.
And when the final scores were tallied, Lawrence's 12 forfeits proved to be the difference in a 48-36 loss to Topeka West and a 52-26 loss to Topeka.
"It's really frustrating knowing that you have little chance of winning going into a dual," said Lawrence's Joey Kelly, who picked up two wins Wednesday in the 112-pound class. "You can't win a dual with only half a team."
Wednesday's struggles are representative of the Lions' plight this season as low numbers, injuries and inexperience have led to an 0-14 dual record.
"Is it frustrating," Lawrence coach Jeff Tummons said with a shrug. "Yes and no. We know that we have little chance of winning a dual because we're giving up so many points with forfeits, but we're working to make the guys on this team the best that we can.
"We're practicing hard everyday with the goal to make each individual wrestler better and get them ready for the postseason."
Still, the Lions had a chance to tie Topeka West, despite giving up 36 points for forfeits.
Trailing by 30 points (42-12), Aaron Madill started the Lions' rally with a pin in the 160-pound class.
Carl Lisher followed that with a first-period pin of Topeka West's Avery Frantzen to keep the momentum going.
Back-to-back forfeit wins by Lawrence's Brad Harrell and Ryan Rayzor set up a showdown between Lawrence's Kenny Poeverlein II and J.P. Price.
It was short-lived, as Price overcame an early struggle and pinned Poeverlein with :28 seconds left in the first.
"We have the numbers," Tummons said, "but they're all concentrated at certain weights."
The dual with Topeka wasn't nearly as close, again mostly because of forfeits, but also because the Trojans had a couple of big pins.
Madill said the Lions couldn't help the forfeits and instead are going to keep improving with the goal of concentrating on regionals and state.
"Wrestling is pretty much an individualistic sport, so as far as that goes we can still accomplish a lot," he said.
The Lions will get that chance when they face cross-town rival Free State on Tuesday in a dual starting at 5 p.m.
"It's always a really competitive match," Tummons said. "It's two guys (Tummons and Free State coach Darrell Andrew, who was Tummons' high school teammate at Perry-Lecompton) who just love coaching wrestling and have fun trying to beat each other."
Topeka West 48, Lawrence 36
103 Brady Bean, TW, win by forfeit; 112 Joey Kelly, L, win by forfeit; 119 Steve Guerrero, TW, win by forfeit; 125 Josh Kutter, TW, win by forfeit; 130 Jeremy Wallentine, TW, win by forfeit; 135 Chris Hultine, L, pinned Chris Davies, 3:18; 140 Brad Schmidt, TW, win by forfeit; 145 Sam Nasser, TW, pinned Chris Cain, 1:42; 152 Curtis Viar, TW, win by forfeit; 160 Aaron Madill, L, pinned Matt Ruhnke, 2:34; 171 Carl Lisher, L, pinned Avery Frantzen, 1:51; 189 Brad Harrell, L, win by forfeit; 215 Ryan Rayzor, L, win by forfeit; 275 JP Price, TW, pinned Kenny Poeverlein II, 1:32.
Topeka High 52, Lawrence 26
103 Vince Kelly, T, win by forfeit; 112 Joey Kelly, L, dec. Kevin Gray, 8-4; 119 Ty Hysten, T, win by forfeit; 125 Derek Hicks, T, win by forfeit; 130 Mike Witherall, T, win by forfeit; 135 Chris Hultine, L, win by forfeit; 140 Chris Volle, T, win by forfeit; 145 David Torrez, T, pinned Chris Cain, 1:11; 152 Matt Brungardt, T, win by forfeit; 160 Aaron Madill, L, win by forfeit; 171 Carl Lisher, L, dec. Chris Burkland, 18-1; 189 Russell Washington, T, dec. Brad Harrell, 13-5; 215 Matt Foster, T, pinned Ryan Rayzor, 2:58; 275 Kenny Poeverlein II, L, win by forfeit.
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