photo by: Courtesy photo

Free State's Madyson Gray competes in a wrestling match at De Soto Wednesday night on Dec. 2, 2020. Gray won both of her matches in the season-opening event, helping the Firebirds pick up two convincing victories to start the season.

The Lawrence High and Free State wrestling teams aren’t the only prep grappling squads in town anymore. The 2021-22 winter season marks the first official year of competition for the district’s girls wrestling program, which combines athletes from both high schools.

While KSHSAA sanctioned girls wrestling matches and held state championships for girls the past two years, this season is the first where the boys and girls rosters are fully separated. Last year, for example, state champion Madyson Gray practiced with members of the FSHS boys team. This year, Gray and the five other members of the new girls’ program have their own practices and head coach.

Madyson’s father, Darin, is the girls’ coach. He said the idea of this being a year of firsts has become a rallying cry for the group. In fact, after each practice, the girls all put their hands in together before yelling out, “the first!”

Darin Gray said he wanted to emphasize setting a precedent.

“My philosophy is set that bar really high and let the teams that follow have to chase that bar,” the coach said. “When you’re trying to build a program, you can either start off and be known as kind of a laid back team. Or you can set that precedent of, ‘Hey, we’re coming after you.'”

The inaugural roster is comprised of six wrestlers — four from FSHS and two from the LHS side of the district. Madyson Gray is the defending state champ at 132 pounds and entered the season ranked No. 1 in the state. She is joined by FSHS freshmen Daijah Preston, Peyton Renyer and Ryan Turk, as well as Makhia Krause and Elle Martin from LHS.

The girls had their first competition earlier this week, and Coach Gray said they were so excited he had them go walk down the hallway and cool down, because they still had more matches to wrestle and he didn’t want them to get burned out.

The dual, a loss at Gardner Edgerton, Darin Gray said, also provided another lesson.

“We didn’t really get too terribly outwrestled. But (the opponents) were just way more aggressive,” the coach said. “Our girls came back and they were like, ‘OK, now we understand why you want us to be really aggressive wrestlers.'”

Firebirds enter season No. 4 in 6A

Though the FSHS wrestling team lost five seniors from last season, second-year head coach Randy Streeter is feeling good about the returning talent at the top of this year’s roster, as well as the program’s depth.

“We were strong last year. But this year, our numbers have tripled,” Streeter said.

When he took over the program, it had about a dozen wrestlers committed to competing. Now, with the help of a large freshman class, FSHS has 50 athletes involved.

“So the future looks pretty bright,” Streeter said.

The Firebirds opened the season as the No. 4-ranked team in Class 6A. It helped that FSHS had five key wrestlers returning.

photo by: Courtesy photo

Free State’s Darius Shields battles for a takedown against Lawrence High’s Kevin Honas during a match in the 120-pound weight class Saturday afternoon at Tonganoxie High on Jan. 23, 2021.

All five entered the season ranked in the top six in their weight classes. Senior Darius Shields (126 pounds) was a state champion in 2020. Senior Tai Newhouse (285) is currently ranked No. 2 in the state as the Firebirds’ heavyweight and was a state qualifier last year. Junior Nolan Bradley (113) is a two-time state placer. Junior Eric Streeter (138) took third place at state to finish last season. Junior Matthew Marcum (182) was a state qualifier last year.

Bradley, Eric Streeter and Shields have emerged as leaders, the coach said: “Those three returning state placers, they run the room.”

With competition underway, FSHS won two duals on Thursday, taking down No. 8 Olathe East and Holton, which is ranked No. 3 in 4A. And there will be even more high-level competition on deck this weekend, at the Leavenworth Challenger event.

“We’ll see everybody the first two weeks,” Randy Streeter said. “We’re going to get tested in December, for sure.”

LHS led by experienced wrestlers

Lawrence High wrestling coach Pat Naughton is feeling upbeat this week as the Lions’ season begins, and he has the team’s wrestlers to thank.

The coach said “the enthusiasm of everybody coming in and being ready to do new things” has helped a mostly young roster take an optimistic approach.

“The best thing about it is we have about 30 kids out for boys wrestling and we have four seniors. So when you look over the team, if everybody stays with it and works hard, things are going to be really looking up,” Naughton said.

The experienced wrestlers have been able to help the younger ones along. Three Lions entered the season ranked in 6A: sophomore Andrew Honas (No. 3, 106), junior Jack Elsten (No. 2, 120) and senior Kevin Honas (No. 1, 126).

Naughton also pointed to junior Tucker Corbin (220) as a key veteran.

One Lion in particular, the coach said, has emerged as a team leader. Naughton said even though in past years Kevin Honas was quieter and led by example, the 126-pound senior has a different mindset for his final campaign.

“Kevin Honas has kind of taken this entire team under his wing. And it’s been really fun and enjoyable to watch him work with the entire team — it’s not just one or two guys. And he has his own goals and everything like that, but he also has goals set for the team,” Naughton said. “And so to make those goals, he’s making sure that kids are understanding, like what we’re wanting and the positions and mentality behind different things that we’re doing.”