State Wrestling Itinerary Feb. 25th-27th

Thursday (2-25)

• 3:25 Final Work-out (30-45 min of work)
• State shirts will be given out after work out
• Wrestlers may leave when they are within 1 lb of weight.

Friday (2-26)

• 5:30 A.M. (SHARP!!) Meet at Heights to check weight
• 6:00 A.M. Leave Heights for Intrust Arena
• (Athletes will be with coaches)
• 7:00 A.M. Weigh-In at Intrust Arena
• 8:15 A.M. Team Warm-up
• 9:30 A.M. Team Line-up for Parade
• 10:00 A.M. First Round of Wrestling
• 1:30 P.M.  Championship Quarter Finals
• 3:30 P.M.  First round losers
• Semi Finals follow immediately
• As soon as wrestling is done and athletes have made weight we will go to Pacific Coast Pizza on 37th and Rock and have a team meal.  Families and Friends are welcome to come but I am only paying for athletes.
• After meals wrestlers are excused to go home.

Saturday (2-27)

• 8:15 A.M. All athletes how have a loss report for team warm-up
• 9:00 A.M. Wrestling Begins - All day no breaks
• 2:00 P.M. Championship Finalist Warm-up
• 4:00 P.M. Championship Finals (Televised on Cox 22)
• All Athletes are to remain at Arena until Finals are over and awards have been presented.

Falcons move up to #3 in Final KWCA Rankings

Our Wichita Heights Falcons moved up one spot to #3 in the final Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association Rankings.

Team Rankings:
1. Derby  2. Garden City  3. Wichita Heights  4.Goddard
5. Dodge City6. Wichita NW  7. Junction City  8. Maize
 9.Lawrence  10. BV West

Ranked Falcon Wrestlers:

103lbs Conner Neal  #5
125lbs Daniel Deshazer #1
135lbs Uylesses Deshazer #2
145lbs Dalton Maier #6
152lbs Dominique Henderson #2
160lbs Hunter Jameson #4
171lbs Matt Reed #3

As I personally believe rankings are nothing more than a guess and can't be counted on. It is very nice to see the hard work paying off for these young men in the recognition and respect they are beginning to obtain.

Regional Championships: Perfect 13 for 13

Yesterday the #4 ranked Wichita Heights Falcons Wrestling team made the trip to hostile Manhattan, KS to compete in the Regional Championship.  After the seeding meeting on Friday the Falcons were picked to have state qualifiers at 11 weights of the 13 they were taking.  However, the Falcons showed their determination for this season as they qualified all 13 wrestlers for the State Wrestling Championships at Intrust Bank Arena  this coming Friday.  The Falcons did fall short in the team race finishing second behind #2 ranked Derby High School who qualified all 14 wrestlers for State. There was a different Aura about this team however... you can tell they are genuinely excited and confident that good things are going to happen at the state championships.  They are not competing for themselves but instead their teammates, families, fans and their school.   It is truly a great day to be a Falcons

Regional Top 4: Derby 227½, Wichita Heights 206, Junction City 145½, Manhattan 133, Washburn Rural 63, Wichita Southeast 55, Topeka 38, Wichita East 28

Regional Champions:  Conner Neal 103, Daniel Deshazer 125, Uylesses Deshazer 135, Dominique Henderson 152

Second Place:  Trey Schrimscher 140, Dalton Maier 145, Hunter Jameson 160, Matt Reed 171

Third Place:  Barry Newton 119, Mike Ashpole 130, Justin Reynolds 215

Fourth Place:  Christian Duckens 189, Khary Jones HWT

Special Note.  Heights did have a few upsets this week-end in route to qualifying all 13 wrestlers.
Barry Newton (Unranked) defeats #5 ranked Brijon McCullough
Dalton Maier (Unranked) defeats #5 ranked Cody Harrison (Topeka)
Dominique Henderson (unranked) defeats #5 ranked Vontez Long (Derby) and #2 ranked Dillon Charland (Junction City)
Christian Duckens (unranked) defeats #6 ranked Josh Presgrove (Washburn Rural)


Great day in Falcon Country.  Time to get ready for the State Championships this Friday and Saturday!
GO FALCONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

GWAL CHAMPIONS "Back-to-Back"

I am once again a little late in writing about this however, there have been some very exciting times recently in the world of Wichita Heights Falcon Wrestling.  Last week the Falcons finished up the dual season with a pounding of Wichita North High School.  In doing that, the Falcons finished the GWAL dual season 8-0 and had clinched at least a share of the league championship.  However, our men believed sharing the league would be as bad as taking second and knew that they needed to win the tournament outright to become the sole champions of the City League.

After watching their J.V. blow out the J.V. City meet by over 60 points on the Friday before and crown themselves league champions the varsity then stepped up and finished off the job.  The varsity grabbed a commanding lead in the tournament after the semi finals and never looked back.  The Falcons won the City League Tournament by 60 pts over runner up Northwest and Third place Kapaun.  This makes the Falcon wrestling team 16-0 over the past two seasons in duals as well as champions of the league tournament to make them outright Back-to-Back League Champs.

Champions:  Conner Neal 103, Daniel Deshazer 125, Mike Ashpole 130, Uylesses Deshazer 135, Trey Schrimscher 140 and  Matt Reed 171.  
Second Place Finishers:  Dalton Maier 145, Hunter Jameson 160
Third Place Finishers:  Dominique Henderson 152, Justin Reynolds 215  
Fourth Place Finishers:  Barry Newton 119, Khary Jones HWT.

To this point the Falcons have been on a roll winning back to back tournaments and were looking forward to the Regional Tournament in Manhattan, KS.

South High Freshman/Sophomore Invitational 2-6-2010

I believe this tournament is a great opportunity for our young athletes to show their talents against other people their age in the sport.  Our wrestlers did a great job of at this tournament and did not disappoint.

103 Kody Reed 2nd

119 Jordan Ray 3rd

130 Mason Rasmussen 1st

152 Michael Christie 4th

160 Juwan Peart 3rd

171 Jonathan Wilcoxon 1st

189 Grant Watkins 4th

215 Steven Walker 2nd

This group of athletes worked hard through these brackets and their work paid off.  I am excited to see these awesome young men in the future on the mat for the Falcons!!!  Their varsity time will come and I can guarantee you this.. they will be ready to shine.    

GWAL CHAMPIONSHIP WEEK - TENATIVE ITINERARY

Today we have snow and USD 259 administration says we can't practice.  Therefore, here is what he have for the rest of the week:

Tuesday:  Practice 3:25-5:15
Wednesday: Practice 3:25-5:15
Thursday:
  -Morning:  7:00 weigh in for North High Dual
  -Afternoon: Practice 3:25-4:30
  -Evenings:  North High Dual.  Senior night.  All parents need to be ready 6:30 p.m.
                    -Team of Hard Knox Recognition Night (TOHK) Free admission.
Friday:  J.V. 7:00 a.m. Weigh-In
             J.V. GWAL Tourney TBA (at east in afternoon)
            Varsity:  Practice TBA
Saturday:  Varsity GWAL  6:30 a.m. weigh in

This could easily change due to weather, time constraints etc.
  
 

Heights improves to GWAL 7-0 after defeating Bishop Carroll 43-12

It was the dual of the year a year ago.  Now it was just a dual as the Falcons stepped on the mat at Bishop Carroll and proved that we are not just a one hit wonder but instead a "Program".  The boys were tough and I am very proud of them.  To have practice and then go out and dominate a team by over 30 points two hours later is a proof that the City League Championship we are trying to defend was not a fluke, but instead a product of our hard work and dedication to the sport.

The Junior Varsity also kept its undefeated GWAL dual record alive with a 36-24 win over BC.  With dual wins over North High Varsity and J.V., the Falcons will have clinched at least a tie for the league championship going into the GWAL tournaments on February 12th (J.V. at East High) and February 13th (Varsity at Heights).  Lets pick up our tempo and grind out this final stretch of the season with League Championships.  

J.V wrestlers successful at Garden Plain Varsity Tournament

It's always nice to that there is talent on the horizon and the J.V. squad proved that when they stepped on the mat at the Varsity Garden Plain tournament on Saturday 1-30-2010.

Placers from Garden Plain:

103 Kody Reed – 3^rd

^{112 Tommy Tran – 4th}

119 Jordan Ray – 3^rd

135 Dalton Haskins – 3^rd

140 Jesse Hill – 4^th

152 Juwan Peart – 4^th

285 Sammy Balbuena – 3^r

^{Coach Jeff Watkins and Coach Zac Poague took these young men to the tournament and had the following to say about their performances.} 

"Our team gave great effort; wrestling for many of them in their 1^st varsity tournament.  If you have wrestlers who are willing to leave it all out on the mat, then you can teach them the technique which will lead them to them being very good wrestlers."  Jeff Watkins 

Heights defeats KMC and wins Junction City BIG!! 1/30/2010

I am a little late on this however, I needed to let the Heights Falcons know that the wrestling team won the Junction City Invitational by more than 40 pts.  This was the first time all season long that we took our complete line-up to a tournament minus a 112 pounder.  However, the lack of that weight class as proved not to matter that much as the men have all stepped up to make up that void in points.  I am extremely proud of all 13 men that competed at this tournament as they are buying into the program and it is paying off with an upswing in performance late in the season.  We are trying to peak at the right time and if we continue at this pace, we will be very tough to handle in February!

103-Conner Neal 2nd   119 - Trent Newton  4th   125-Daniel Deshazer 1st  130-Mike Ashpole 4th  135-Uylesses Deshazer-1st  140-Trey Schrimscher 2nd   152-Domonique Henderson 3rd  160-Hunter Jameson- 2nd   171-Matt Reed 1st  189-Christian Duckens 3rd  HWT-Khary Jones 4th

Top Three Teams:
1st Wichita Heights
2nd Junction City
3rd Wichita Northwest

This performance followed a huge win over the Kapaun Mt. Carmel Crusaders which put the Falcons up to a 6-0 GWAL record and a 7-4 overall record.