LAWRENCE HIGH SENIOR BRANDON GOODWIN (IN WHITE) gets tangled up with Junction City's Isaac Ruiz during a battle of 103-pounders at the Class 6A state wrestling meet. Goodwin rallied for a 20-14 victory in Saturday's third-place match at the Kansas Coliseum in Valley Center.

VALLEY CENTER ? It’s hard to believe that a third-place finish could bring greater joy than coming in one spot higher.

But for Free State High freshman Koty Russell, coming up two points short of a Kansas Class 6A state wrestling championship in the 112-pound division produced a much different emotion than that shared by Lawrence High’s Brandon Goodwin and Kyle McTaggart, each of whom finished third in their respective weight classes at the Kansas Coliseum on Saturday.

“It’s a pretty good accomplishment for me, but I knew I should have won that easily,” said Russell, who was quick in leaving the mat following his 9-7 loss to Wichita Heights’ Chase Nelson.

Leading most of the championship match, Russell began to gradually lose his advantage until, with less than 30 seconds remaining, it was tied. Then, within the final 10 seconds, Nelson was awarded a two-point takedown, ending Russell’s hopes for the title.

“I just gave it up. I wasn’t really wrestling well,” a dejected Russell said.

McTaggart wasn’t lucky enough to make the championship round, coming up one point short in Friday’s semifinal match. Because of that near miss, he wanted to come out quickly Saturday to try to finish his senior year with at least a third-place finish in the 215-pound bracket.

He did just that. It took McTaggart only 41 seconds into his first match of the day to pin Dylan Pryor of Washburn Rural and advance to the third-place bout. In that match, he needed 2:34 to pin Wichita Northwest’s Trey Page and take third.

“It was awesome. The first guy I wrestled, I stuck him quick, and I got pumped because I got to wrestle in the finals (of the consolation bracket),” said McTaggart, who was on the LHS junior varsity just last season. “I picked my guy in the third-place bout up in the air, and I had already dropped him once on his head and slammed him, so coach, as soon as I picked him up, said take him down easy.

“So I took him down easy straight to the mat and pinned him. It was awesome. I was so happy.”

Friday was a struggle for Goodwin, who won just one match before getting knocked into the consolation bracket. But he charged through the consolation portion of the 103-pound class, beating four wrestlers Saturday to claim his third-place finish.

“In my last match, I had to come from a 5-0 deficit, as I had put myself in a hole early,” Goodwin said. “But I thought I was up to the challenge. When you get beat, and you’re not expecting to get beat, I was to the point where I might not have placed. I was just (upset) the rest of the way where wrestling was, ‘This is just a joke.’ But that has to be my championship. That has to be the best I do.

“I’ve been sick this whole week. I let that get into my head, that I was sick yesterday, and today I was like, I don’t care, I’m beating everybody and taking third. I did not want to be on that fourth-place podium. I wanted to be on the third – it’s a little bit higher.”

Lawrence High’s Chris Coons was the only other remaining city wrestler who won a match on the final day of competition. After defeating Olathe Northwest’s Brad Cooper, 12-7, Coons lost to Manhattan’s Lucas Wagner in a 5-1 decision.

Mill Valley’s Tyler Williamson and Ottawa’s Jordan Miller also attempted to claim championships in the Class 5A state tournament.

Williamson lost an 11-0 major decision to Wichita Carroll’s Jordan Keller in the title bout of the 112-pound bracket.

Miller had difficulty as well in his match against Mitch Arnold, another Wichita Carroll wrestler, in the 130-pound division. Arnold, who finished the season unbeaten, picked up a two-point takedown early in the match, all he would need to claim a 2-0 decision.

Mill Valley had two additional wrestlers finish on the podium. Robby McClung fell in the third-place match of the 140-pound division, while J.R. Logan finished fifth in the 171-pound division after quickly being pinned in the semifinals by Topeka Seaman’s T.J. Lorson, who eventually finished third.