SFT’s Wiscombe claims crown

? No matter what happened Saturday night, Santa Fe Trail High senior Justin Wiscombe knew he would beat his dad’s record at state.

Still, the 171-pounder, who suffered a one-point setback in last year’s finals, wasn’t going to settle for second again.

“I just wanted this so bad,” said Wiscombe, who ruined Tonganoxie senior Ross Starcher’s bid to become the Chieftains’ first-ever champ when Wiscombe won, 8-3.

“It feels so great to get here after all the hard work, and now it’s time to go have some fun,” continued Wiscombe, whose father, Kirk, placed second three decades ago at state as a 138-pounder.

“I just told him to go out there and finally get this 27-year-old monkey off my back,” Kirk said with a smile.

Unfortunately for De Soto junior Neil Erisman, the third time was not the charm needed to become a champ.

The 152-pounder fell to Columbus’ Nick Zahm on a last-second takedown, which sealed Erisman’s fate of suffering a third straight season without a title.

“Once again, he just ended another great season with another heartbreaker,” Wildcat coach Matt Jones said of Erisman, who has suffered three of his four career losses at state.

Mill Valley junior Justin Broadbent lost his title match against Arkansas City’s Trison Graham, 11-7, in the 112-pound finals.

Santa Fe Trail's Justin Wiscombe, top, works on Tonganoxie's Ross Starcher in the Class 4A 171-pound championship match. Wiscombe won Saturday in Wichita.

However, the Jaguars finished with a top-12 finish in Class 5A, while Ottawa ended its season in 17th place.

The Chargers had the best team performance of any area squads — sixth in 4A. SFT had three third-place finishers — Lorenzo Mundy (125), Max Connelly (140) and Travis Eden (160 — and Brad Padilla was sixth at 119.

Baldwin’s Kevin Callahan was fourth.

De Soto’s Leif Goleman was fourth at 171, and Alex Mercer was sixth at 215. Eudora’s Andy Coffman was sixth, and Mill Valley’s Matt Westin was fourth at 140.