Lawrence High's Tucker Wilson does a reversal on De Soto's Nate Panagakis in the 160-pound weight class during the Eudora Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, Wilson won, 15-5.

There’s a difference between being in shape for football and being in shape for wrestling. Add in a previous leg injury, and Lawrence High junior wrestler Santino Gee learned that lesson the hard way.

Gee ran out of gas in the Eudora Tournament of Champions title match at 170 pounds, finishing in second place at Eudora High. LHS junior Tucker Wilson added a third-place finish at 160 pounds.

It was the first tournament of the season for Gee, who missed last week’s tournament in Leavenworth after straining his left leg while doing squats in the weight room. In the finals match, he led by a point with 25 seconds left before giving up two points in a reversal in a 7-6 loss to Rossville senior Derek Gentry.

“I gave up two points by not getting down fast enough,” said Gee, who started at strong safety for the Lions on the gridiron. “If I didn’t have that, I probably would’ve had more of a chance.”

Gee tried to escape from Gentry’s grip in the final seconds to tie the score and send the match into overtime, but he didn’t have the energy to stand up.

In Gee’s first six matches, he won five of them by pin in the first period and the other with a pin in the second period. He attributed those quick pins to adrenaline.

Last season, Gee wrestled mostly on the junior varsity squad with his raw athleticism. He moved up to varsity at the end of the year and qualified for the state tournament. He admits he forgot a few moves since the end of last season, but plans to keep improving during practice.

“If we can just get his conditioning under him, he’s going to do some really great things,” said LHS assistant coach Jacob Nowak, who filled in for head coach Pat Naughton, who was out of town. “But he’s a really great kid to have in the room. He pushes people like Tucker and Alan (Clothier).”

The Lions were without Clothier, the top-ranked wrestler at 182 pounds, because he was taking his ACT test on Saturday. They only brought six wrestlers to the tournament, and five finished with medals. Junior Cade Burghart took fifth place at 145 pounds, sophomore Jay Cheatham was fifth at 138, and junior Kevin Nichols finished sixth at 285 pounds.

“I think it’s a big improvement, especially without Alan here, to have someone actually in the finals,” Wilson said. “It means we are going somewhere, and we’re actually getting better as a team.”

Wilson nearly earned a spot in the finals. After winning his first five matches, including four by pinfall, Wilson lost in a tiebreaker to Holcomb sophomore Chance Rodriguez. Wilson tweaked his ankle during the match, and during the tiebreaker he was penalized by the official for locking hands, which put him down by two points.

“I mean, I should’ve won my semis (match), but it happens,” Wilson said. “I’m happy. I’ve never placed here before.”

Nowak added: “He was fighting through a little bit of pain today. Tucker has improved a lot. He’s probably improved the most on our team, which he was already pretty good to begin with. He put in a lot of work in the offseason and has become an even smarter wrestler.”

Among area wrestlers, Wellsville junior Reese Williams was runner-up at 145 pounds, and senior JT Ellis was third at 170 pounds. Other third-place finishers included: Eudora’s Noah Kennedy (152), Ottawa junior Blaine Ray (182), De Soto junior Caleb McQuality (195), and Tonganoxie freshman Korbin Riedel (120) and sophomore Gad Huseman (126).

Eudora Tournament of Champions

Friday and Saturday at Eudora High

LHS results

132 — Melle Dye def. Ricardo Flores, KC Schlage, 15-5; lost to Justin Hershberger, Buhler, 9-6; lost to Rylan Kasitz, Maize South, by fall; def. Dustin Pierce, De Soto, 20-10.

138 — Jay Cheatham, 5th, pinned Morgan Taylor, Spring Hill; pinned Thomas Nighswonger, Fort Scott; pinned Austin King, St. Mary’s; lost to Tyler Whitson, Buhler, 18-3; def. Phoenix Thomas, Rossville, 8-2; lost to Louie Andrews, KC Schlagle, by fall; lost to Ryan Bertha, Maize South, 12-0; def. Jonathan Brase, St. Mary’s, 10-3.

145 — Cade Burghart, 5th, def. Blue Caplinger, Louisburg, 10-2; lost to Caden Searcy, Tonganoxie, by fall; pinned Chase Dressler, Eudora; pinned Alex Denning, Spring Hill; lost to Reese Williams, Wellsville, by fall; def. Ethan Perry, St. Mary’s, 9-1; lost to Searcy, Tonganoxie, SV-1 10-8; def. Reed Miller, Rossville, 4-0.

160 — Tucker Wilson, 3rd, pinned Austin Moore, Louisburg; pinned Danny Sublette, St. James Academy; pinned Eli Berggren, St. Thomas Aquinas; def. Nate Panagakis, De Soto; 15-5; pinned Dillin Roberts, Louisburg; lost to Chance Rodriguez, Holcomb, TB-1 4-1; pinned Lamar Maltbia, KC Schlagle; def. Clayton Peterson, Buhler, 4-1.

170 — Santino Gee, 2nd, pinned Pedro Morales-Sosa, KC Ward; pinned Tyler Dowell, Buhler; pinned Ben Hupp, Louisburg; pinned Taegan Schoenfeld, St. Mary’s; pinned Billy Slyter, Spring Hill; pinned Jayden Creach, Ottawa; lost to Derek Gentry, Rossville, 7-6.

285 — Kevin Nichols, 6th, lost to Anders Vance, Louisburg, by fall; pinned Ryan Hanshaw, Effingham-ACCHS; lost to Nick Glenn, Maize South, by fall; lost to Khalil Austin, Lansing, 5-0; won by default over Nick Aguilar, Eudora; lost to Tylen Wallace, KC Schlagle, by fall; won by default over Nick Ufford, St. Thomas Aquinas; lost to Vance, Louisburg, by fall; lost to Bradley Trageser, Louisburg, by injury default.