2007-08 Highlight Video- New
Alums "Big Shew" and Merton
Make sure to check out our
Highlight Video from this past season below. It is about 16
minutes long (making it too long for
youTube, although it is on
there split into two-
Part 1 here
and Part 2 here) and a lot of fun to watch. If you would
like a DVD copy of the video, just bring Coach Anderson a blank DVD
(room 809) so he can make a copy of it for you.
↓↓↓ [story continued below]
↓↓↓
Also, we have
several new former KW wrestlers on the
Alumni page, including Justin "The Big Shew" Shewey (2007),
Merton Nanquilada (2006), Herb Lengel (1995), Mark Nickels (1996),
Marlee Lucas (1996), Ian Staaleson (2005), Kellan Hale (2006), and
Peter Logar (2006). Also, we have both Coach Andersons
updating their alumni profiles soon as well. On a related
note, Congratulations goes out to Coach Kendall Anderson for earning
a 4.0 this quarter at CWU. Not only is he a good coach, but
apparently he is brilliant too! Make sure to study hard in
these past few weeks and end this spring quarter on a great note.
Congratulations to all of our seniors!
3-12-08
Banquet set for Fri, March 21st
at 6pm in KW Commons
The banquet has been officially
set for next Friday, March 21st at 6pm in the Kentwood Commons. Wrestlers and their families
are invited to attend as we hand out Varsity and JV Letters, as well
as specific individual awards. Please turn in gear to either
Coach Sroka (Portable 4) or Coach Anderson (Room 809) BEFORE the
banquet. Please do not bring your gear to the banquet.
You can also click the picture to see
award winners for the past two years on our
Stats page.
2-28-08
Kentwood places 6 at State,
finish 7th; Girls both finish 2nd
Mat Classic XX was an
interesting tournament, to say the least, for the Kentwood Wrestling
Team. In all, Kentwood placed 6 wrestlers between 3rd and 6th
place, good enough to be the 2nd highest number of placers in
Kentwood history, ahead of two State Champion teams! But in
this crazy tournament, it was nowhere near enough to see the Conks
near the top of the podium, relegating them to 7th place with 88
points. In the recorded history of the Mat Classic, 88 points
would have placed KW no lower than 4th in any other year. In
fact, it would have taken first one time, second or third several
times, and fourth a couple of times. This just happened to be
an interesting year for team scoring, and Kentwood was left at the
tail of a 4 team race for 4th. A lot of wrestlers may have
fallen short of their goals on the year, but the coaches are
extremely proud of the way they fought through adversity from the
start of their careers here. Returning state champion Brandon
Rodgers took third place at 119 pounds, losing an extremely close
semifinal match to put him in the backdoor, where he won his
next two matches. Cody Quinn took 4th place at 135 pounds,
getting caught in his first round matchup, but then battled all the
way back to reach the consolation finals. Sean Staaleson also
took 4th place (215), earning his way to the semis before losing,
then reaching the consolation finals by winning his next match.
Ruben Navejas took 5th place at 103, losing a hard-fought OT match
to close friend Josh Martinez of Oak Harbor. Ruben finished
his year with only two losses, but ended his season on a win.
Derek Lipp also placed 5th (112), avenging his loss in the
quarterfinals to Zach Holland of Evergreen, by beating him 5-2 for
5th place. Nick Zografos placed 6th at 152 pounds, earning his
way to the semifinals before losing an extremely close match to
runner-up Kyle Foster of Rogers 6-4. Nick earned himself quite
a shiner in that match, which led to some tough matchups the rest of
the way for him (view the picture page to see his black eye up
close!). Josh Kutterer (135) had the unfortunate luck of
meeting up with teammate Cody Quinn in the backdoor, which hurt his
chances of placing. Hayden Peterson (112), met the same fate
as Josh, but to teammate Derek Lipp. Nathan Herrick fell one
match short of placing as well at 215 pounds. Ryan Patterson
(140), hit a tough draw, but battled as he always does. Lance
Larsen (160) never did get fully healthy, but still wrestled well
until he was caught in both matches. Billy Creighton (125) and
Joe Angevine (171) both got some great experience at state that will
hopefully carry over to next year when they are seniors. In
the girls' state meet, both Antonia Navejas (119) and Jolene
Crook-Meyers (135) took 2nd place in a much improved state meet.
These two girls combined for a team score good enough for 5th in the
girls' tournament! Congrats girls! The coaches would
like to congratulate the wrestlers on an incredible season that
included several tournament wins, an undefeated dual meet season, an
SPSL League Tournament Championship, a Region II Championship, and a
7th place finish at state. We appreciate all the work that the
seniors have put in over their 4 years here, and look forward to
seeing the impact from it in the years to come.
2-12-08
Conks obliterate Region II; 6
champs, 10 finalists, 13 SQ
"Open Season" was the saying on
the back of Kentwood's new state camouflage shirt, and the Conks
took it to heart with a thoroughly dominating
performance
at the Region II Championships at Inglemoor High School.
Kentwood advances a statewide high 13 wrestlers to next week's State
Championships, on the backs of 6 champs and 10 finalists.
Kentwood scored an amazing 269.5 points, more than doubling 2nd
place Tahoma's 132 points. In fact, no wrestler from Kentwood
actually lost in the finals to another opponent, as 6 Conks faced
off against each other, and Lance Larsen defaulted at the 160 pound
weight class. Kentwood is taking the most participants to
state in Region Coach of the Year Ken Sroka's tenure here at
Kentwood, and perhaps the most in KW's entire history.
Kentwood looks to battle for the state championship next week thanks
to the performances of the following state participants: Ruben
Navejas (1st, 103), Derek Lipp (1st, 112), Hayden Peterson (2nd,
112), Brandon Rodgers (1st, 119), Billy Creighton (3rd, 125), Cody
Quinn (1st, 135), Josh Kutterer (2nd, 135), Ryan Patterson (3rd,
140), Nick Zografos (1st, 152), Lance Larsen
(2nd, 160), Joe Angevine (4th, 171), Sean Staaleson (1st, 215), and
Nathan Herrick (2nd, 215). Also, Jolene Crook-Meyer took first
at 135 pounds, while Antonia Navejas took second at 119 to advance
to the Girls' State Tournament as well. This Friday and
Saturday marks the 20th Mat Classic, an incredible event in the
Tacoma Dome that has 24 matches all being wrestled simultaneously.
Come support our wrestlers as some of them wrestle for the very last
time. Be there for the Parade of Champions, as all of those
that have earned a state place make their way around the Dome in a
goosebump moment that requires as much Kentwood support as possible
for our wrestlers.
View the state
brackets here, or if you would like to save some money at the tournament, print
out the state brackets here. GO CONKS!
2-5-08
KW dominates League Tourney: 5
Champs, 17 RQ, 23 Placers
The Kentwood Conqueror wrestling
team improved on last year's finish, placing 23 of 28 wrestles in
the SPSL North League Tournament. Add in 5 champions, 12 finalists, and
17 regional qualifiers, and you come up with an amazing 463.5
points! The Conks showed their depth by placing several JV
wrestlers, many of which will be moving on to the regional
tournament next week at Inglemoor High School. Kentwood was
paced by 12 finalists, 4 of which wrestled against each other in the
finals. At 103, Ruben Navejas continued his winning ways,
controlling Jesus Valdez of Kent-Meridian by a score of 6-2.
Two Conks faced off at 112 pounds, with Derek Lipp outscoring Hayden
Peterson 4-0. Brandon Rodgers got on the offense at 119,
beating up on a very strong opponent in Ivan Mukomol of Thomas
Jefferson before pinning him in the third round. At 125, Billy
Creighton made a great run to the finals, but was stopped short by
Tyler Lamb of Tahoma. At 135, Cody Quinn battled teammate Josh
Kutterer to a final result of 11-0. At 140, Ryan Patterson
dropped a decision to Kentlake's Austin Carillo 5-1. At 152,
Nick Zografos took home the crown 10-7 against Federal Way's Jacob
Conklin, despite making the match seem a lot closer than it really
was. At 160, Lance Larsen lost a hard-fought decision to Nick
Bayer of Tahoma 4-2. At 171, Luke Angevine won a tough
semifinal to avoid a match with brother Joe, but lost to highly
ranked Taylor Johnson of Kentlake. Sean Staaleson finished the
Conquerors night at 215 pounds with one of the most exciting matches
of the night. After being cradled twice in the second round,
Sean came back and missed tying the match by 1 second, as he only
got four nearfall counts good for two points to lost by 1 to Federal
Way's Jon Detzler. Other placers: Kevin Nguyen (6th, 103),
Eric Alonzo (5th, 119, Regional Alternate) Teddy Zografos (3rd, 125,
Regional Participant), Alex Hough (6th, 140), David Laird (145, 4th,
Regional Participant), Tom Creighton (6th, 160), Joe Angevine (3rd,
171, Regional Participant), Josh Loveland (189, 6th), Nathan Herrick
(215, 3rd, Regional Participant), Austin Haggin (4th, 285, Regional
Participant), and Alex Verhaar (6th, 285).
1-30-08
SPSL North Sub-Regional
Tournament Brackets Posted
Kentwood took home 6
number 1 seeds and 4 number 2 seeds out of 14 weights for
Friday-Saturday's SPSL North Sub-Regional Tournament held at
Kent-Meridian HS. Ruben Navejas (103), Hayden Peterson (112),
Brandon Rodgers (119), Cody Quinn (135), Nick Zografos (152), and
Lance Larsen (160) all earned number 1 seeds. Billy Creighton
(125), Ryan Patterson (140), Luke Angevine (171), and Sean Staaleson
(215) all earned number 2 seeds. Kentwood looks to defend
their league title from last year, as they outscored the 2nd place
team 412 to 261.5 to run away with the title.
View
the brackets here, or click the SPSL North team logos above to
view the brackets. If you would like
printable brackets (pdf
file), click here.
1-25-08
Conks beat Bears for League
Title! Seniors go undefeated!
The Conqueror wrestling team
finished an undefeated 7-0 as SPSL North League Champions for a
second straight season thanks to a 47-18 blowout against Tahoma.
The Conks won 10 of the 14 matchups on the night, several by
relatively close scores. The action started at 103 when frosh
phenom Ruben Navejas received a forfeit. Hayden Peterson
squeaked out a 3-2 victory against a fired up Bear at 112 pounds.
At 119, returning state champion Brandon Rodgers worked a 9-1 major
decision against his defensive opponent. After consecutive
losses at 125 and 130 pounds, the Conks ripped off 5 consecutive
wins starting with Josh Kutterer's nail-biting 7-6 win at 135
pounds. Cody Quinn controlled his Bear opponent with a
relatively close but dominant 5-2 decision at 140 pounds. The
unquestioned match of the night was Ryan Patterson's thrilling first
round stick of this year's Pac Coast Champion at 145 pounds.
After giving up the first takedown (and a full weight class),
Patterson got his opponent on his hip, wrapped up his head and got
underneath his arm for an extremely tight half. He left the
mat with pin, and with the entire crowd on their feet. This
was Ryan's first win in a green singlet, as documented in the
article in the Seattle Times about KW's league championship and
Ryan's match. Moving on to 152, Nick Zografos was nails on
his feet, crushing his Tahoma opponent 19-6. Tahoma then
forfeited to returning state placer Lance Larsen at 160 pounds, and
Luke Angevine wrestled well losing a tough one at 171 to his highly
ranked Bear opponent. Brother Joe lost to a much bigger
opponent, but the Conks finished the night with a pin at 215 from
Sean Staaleson and a win by forfeit for Nathan Herrick. The
night started off as Senior Night, and the seniors definitely
delivered by not losing a match at any level on the night. The
coaches would like to thank the seniors for all of their hard work
over the past 4 years. Not only have the seniors brought our
program to the two of the three league championships in KW history,
but are an incredible class of young men who we will miss very much.
You guys have done Kentwood proud, but your job is not done yet!
Thanks to the following seniors, and their parents, who have done so
much for our program: Ben Apo (285), Erik Bala (119), Tom Creighton
(160), Tony Creveling (145), Kyle Faulkner (152), Josh Kutterer
(130), David Laird (145), Lance Larsen (160), Josh Loveland (189),
Michael Montgomery (285), Ryan Patterson (140), Brandon Rodgers
(119), Ryan Scarff (145), Sean Staaleson (215), Chase Valentine
(215), Colton Werner (119), and Nick Zografos (152).
1-24-08
KW zaps Chargers, outwrestles
Gators; 1st at Jag Invite
The Kentwood Conquerors improved
to 6-0 with wins over Kentridge and Decatur. At KR, the match
of the night went to Cody Quinn who bumped up to wrestle one of
their better wrestlers. Quinn was rewarded with a first period
fall, and KW prevailed 61-18. On Thursday, Decatur traveled to
KW for a match between two SPSL powerhouses. Kentwood again
came out on top, this time by a score of 48-12. Match of the
night honors went to Luke Angevine, who outlasted Decatur's Tristan
Jones at 171 pounds by a 9-7 score. On Saturday the Conks
headed to the Jag Invite held at Emerald Ridge High School, looking
to defend the team title for a third year in a row. Kentwood
was successful in their attempt, outdistancing the next closest team
by nearly 100 points! Kentwood came away with 6 champs: Ruben Navejas (103), Brandon Rodgers (125), Josh Kutterer (130), Cody
Quinn (135), Nick Zografos (152), and Luke Angevine (171).
Kentwood scattered 16 placers among 14 weights, an impressive
showing for the last tournament of the year. The remaining
placers were: Kevin Nguyen (4th, 103), Hayden Peterson (2nd, 112),
Derek Lipp (2nd, 119), Teddy Zografos (3rd, 119), Billy Creighton
(2nd, 125), Ryan Patterson (2nd, 140), David Laird (4th, 145), Tom
Creighton (3rd, 160), Nathan Herrick (4th, 215), and Alex Verhaar
(3rd, 285). Two of the champions had especially great showings
in the finals, led by Josh Kutterer's last second win against
previously unbeaten David Kuich of Franklin Pierce. This
marked Josh's first championship in his last regular season
tournament! Nick Zografos at 152 earned redemption about as
quickly as humanly possible, as he avenged a Thursday loss to
Decatur's Spencer Kabelac by beating him in the finals on Saturday
4-2. On a side note, stay tuned for a great throw by Tom
Creighton at 160 pounds!
1-17-08
Kentwood wins Westburg Invite;
Rodgers (OW)
Kentwood made it tournament win
#5 this past weekend at the Ray Westburg Invite hosted by Ellensburg
H.S. The Conks fought off a tough Ellensburg team to secure their third straight Westburg
title, and look to finish strong heading into their last weeks of
the regular season. Brandon Rodgers took home his 2nd
Outstanding Wrestler award, dominating the competition at 119
pounds. Ruben Navejas (103) faced his stiffest competition of
the year, outlasting Luis Gomez of Wapato 2-1 to remain undefeated
on the year. Cody Quinn continued to impress anyone that
has seen him wrestle, pinning Tyler Enos of Beamer in the first
round on his way to the
135 pound crown. Nick Zografos "got busy on his feet" to take
home gold at 152 pounds, while Lance Larsen also took first at 160
pounds. Ryan Patterson (140) and Hayden Peterson (112) each
took home 2nd place to round out the scoring from finalists for KW.
Nathan Herrick and Sean Staaleson collided in their match at 215
pounds, leaving them a little battered and in need of a few stitches
(see picture on left). Make sure you take a look at the photos
page, as there are now thousands of pictures taken from this season
alone on there.
1-11-08
Conks continue winning ways
against KM, 63-7
Kentwood rolled to its 4th
league win against KM on Thursday night, losing only two matches on
the way to a 63-7 victory. Pins by Eric Alonzo (112), Teddy
Zografos
(125), Cody Quinn (135), Ryan Patterson (140), Tony Creveling (145), Luke Angevine
(160), and Sean Staaleson (215) led Kentwood. A tech fall by
Brandon Rodgers (125), a major decision by Ruben Navejas (103), and
decisions by Joe Angevine (171) and Nathan Herrick (285) finished
off the scoring for the Conks. Navejas, Joe Angevine, and
Herrick all had crucial wins for league seeding purposes, as they
faced some of the tougher competition in league at those weights.
The Conks will take their show across Snoqualmie Pass (hopefully) to
the Ray Westburg Invite hosted at Ellensburg High School.
There looks to be several potentially interesting matchups at the
tournament, so stay tuned for photos and results!
1-9-08
KW downs TJ, 67-9; Match vs.
Tahoma changed to 1/23
The Kentwood Conqueror wrestling
continued their success against SPSL North teams, losing only two
matches on their way to a 67-9 rout of the Thomas Jefferson Raiders. This boosted the
Conks record in league to 3-0, with a match coming up Thursday
against Kent-Meridian (at home). Kentwood was led by pins from
Brandon Rodgers (125), Ryan Patterson (145), Lance Larsen (160),
Luke Angevine (171), Sean Staaleson (215), and Nathan Herrick (285).
Josh Kutterer (135) and Cody Quinn (140) both won by technical fall.
Joe Angevine (189) came back from a 1 point deficit in the last few
seconds to win his match against a large TJ opponent to round out
the scoring for Kentwood (KW also took three forfeits). The JV
made their way over to Rogers High School for the JV Dual
tournament. Kentwood won 4 matches on the day, three against
very tough teams to take home their first dual championship!
The championship was earned with wins against Bellarmine Prep,
Enumclaw, Emerald Ridge, and Rogers. Also, Hayden Peterson
(112) was named Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament (low
weights). Congrats guys! An important change has been
made on the schedule page! This year's Senior Night against
Tahoma (at KW) has been changed to Wednesday, January 23rd.
This has the possibility of being the match to determine the league
championship, so make sure you change your calendars!
12-30-07
Navejas dominates at Pac Coast;
KW takes 5th with 7 placers
Kentwood finished the Pacific
Coast Championships held at Hudson's Bay High School with its
highest finish ever, 5th place. In addition to the top 5
honor, KW
placed 7 wrestlers led by super frosh Ruben Navejas (103).
Navejas continued his unbeaten streak by tech falling Raylin Lucey
of Snohomish in the finals, 20-5, to put a final stamp on a dominant
tournament by the freshman. Navejas becomes only the third KW
wrestler to win the prestigious tournament, and the first freshman
from KW ever to win it. Brandon Rodgers (119) made his way
through a difficult bracket to meet up in the finals with a familiar
foe in Sam Bauer from Enumclaw. Bauer came out the victor for
the 2nd time in 2 weeks by a score of 3-1, leaving Brandon a very
respectable 2nd place at a difficult
weight. Fellow senior captains Nick Zografos (152) and Lance
Larsen (160) both placed 4th at two of the most stacked weights in
the entire tournament. Prior to the start of the tournament,
12 state participants were seeded at 160. Luke Angevine (171)
finished in 6th place while winning some extremely close matches,
including a match where he scrambled for a takedown with 1 second
left to advance against Teagen Franco of Bethel. At 112
pounds, Erik Alonzo went in as a nonscorer, but ended up placing 8th
while fighting through some pain as he injured a finger. Sean
Staaleson (215) wrestled very tough all day, but an apparent
concussion ended his day prematurely, forcing him to default out to
8th place as well. The tough competition at Pac Coast looks to
have the Kentwood wrestlers ready to make an impact at state.
The question is how high on the podium do they want to be, and what
will it take to get them there?
12-22-07
12-20-07
KW outduels #1 ranked Enumclaw,
#3 ranked Auburn
The Kentwood Conqueror Varsity
team had quite a night on Thursday, as they first toppled the #3
ranked Auburn Trojans 51-17 and finished off by beating the #1
ranked Enumclaw Hornets (both are 3A) 36-27. To make this feat
even more impressive, the Conks did all of this without two
returning state participants (Cody Quinn, 3rd in state; Derek Lipp,
participant). This marks the first time that a Coach Sroka led
team has beaten Enumclaw, who is always an extremely tough team to
beat in duals. Kentwood started off by destroying the SPSL 3A
Trojans of Auburn 51-17. Nathan Herrick (285), Ruben Navejas
(103), and Brandon Rodgers (119) all earned pins over their Auburn
foes. Nick Zografos (152) and Hayden Peterson (112) added
tech. falls, and Josh Kutterer (135) and Billy Creighton (130)
scored major decisions in their matches. The Enumclaw match
was much more intense, as the Conks got off to a nice start thanks
to a Ryan Patterson (140) fall. Sean Staaleson (215), Nathan
Herrick (285), and Ruben Navejas (103) put up 18 straight matches to
put Enumclaw in a difficult spot to win the match. In the
biggest match of the night, Brandon Rodgers lost to 3A #1 ranked Sam
Bauer at 119 pounds on a last second reversal by Bauer.
However, the Conks did score a big win at 171 pounds as junior Luke
Angevine beat returning state placer Dillon Claire 4-2 in overtime.
The final match of the night would prove to be an important one, as
senior Josh Kutterer (135) matched up with returning placer Wayne
Horton. To put even more pressure on Kutterer, all he had to
do was not get pinned and KW would secure the win. Josh went
out and did more than that, beating Horton 6-1 in dominant fashion
to put the stamp on the KW win. So far this year, Kentwood has
beaten the top two teams in the SPSL 3A, one of the top teams in the
SPSL South (4A), won both dual matches in league, and also won every
tournament they have entered. With that being said, there is
still a lot of work to do! The most difficult tournament of
the year is coming up next week, and KW looks to improve on last
year's 10th place finish.
12-19-07
Conks take narrow victory from
Heritage at Shelton
The Kentwood Conqueror wrestling
team had a depressing finish to a solid tournament this past
Saturday because of a scoring error by the Shelton Tournament personnel. The team title was
awarded to Heritage High School when it deserved to be in the hands
of Kentwood. Kentwood wrestled well in the finals, and was
about to take home yet another first place trophy when the mistake
happened. The actual final tally of the tournament should have
been KW 211, Heritage 210 in what
should have been a thrilling win. Kentwood freshman Ruben
Navejas (103) dominated in the finals on his way to his 2nd title in
two weeks. 119 pound Brandon Rodgers added to his incredible
steak of wins, which is now in the 50's and yet another title.
Josh Kutterer at 135 fell just short, taking 2nd place against his
very tough Heritage opponent. Nick Zografos (152) would
definitely be considered for Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament
if it was awarded, as he destroyed his opponents on his feet,
leading to his 2nd title of the year. Lance Larsen finished
out the captain sweep (minus injured Cody) with a dominating win in
the finals as well. Other placers were: Derek Lipp (112,
3rd), Erik Alonzo (112, 5th), Hayden Peterson (119, 5th), Billy
Creighton (125, 5th), Alex Hough (135, 3rd), Luke Angevine (171,
5th), and Nathan Herrick (285, 5th). The Conks will travel to
Enumclaw (JV to Auburn) on Thursday night for a double dual with 3A
powers Enumclaw and Auburn. Both matches (V and JV) start at 5
pm.
12-13-07
Conks sink Kentlake 54-15 to
take home "Throwdown" Trophy
The KW wrestling team upped
their league record to 2-0 after dismantling cross-town rival
Kentlake 54-15. Every match that the Conks won was in dominant
fashion, while two of KW's four losses were by two points or less.
Teddy Zografos (119) got the
barrage started, pinning Friant from KL. Brandon Rodgers (125)
put on a takedown display for the energized crowd, which finally
ended with a pin. Josh Kutterer (135) added to KW's total,
tech falling his strong KL opponent 19-3. Nick Zografos (152)
got his feet busy in his match, dominating on his feet on his way to
a 19-4 1st period technical fall. Lance Larsen (160) won 14-5
in convincing fashion over one of the more anticipated matches of
the night against junior Greg Eley. Joe Angevine (189) managed
a 3rd round pin, while Sean Staaleson (215) earned another tech fall
against former KW wrestler Bryce Fontaine, 19-3. "The Odd
Couple," Nathan Herrick (285) and Ruben Navejas (103) won by
pin and tech fall, respectively. Kentwood ended the night with
freshman Hayden Peterson pinning his KL opponent to finish off a
28 point run. The win by KW kept Kentlake winless in duals
against us in this decade, and helped put KW in the driver's seat
for another league title. This Saturday the Varsity is at the
Shelton Tournament, and the JV is at the River Ridge Tournament.
Good luck to both squads!
The Kentwood Conqueror wrestling
team continued its fast start, winning the "Battle of the Border"
Tournament held at Blaine High School in convincing fashion.
Kentwood's final tally for the two-day tournament of 253 points was
116 points more than the next closest team. Kentwood was lead
by Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament Brandon Rodgers, who
avenged his only loss last year to Jacob Humphreys of Blaine with a
dominating 15-5 victory in the semifinals. He then went on
beat #1 ranked Nick Burnham of Black Hills 9-4 in the finals, to cap
off a great two days of wrestling. Ruben Navejas earned his
first high school tournament win with an 11-1 defeat of youth foe
Brad Watson of Elma. Ruben also earned the "Most Falls in
Least Time" trophy as well. The 112 bracket was a Kentwood
sweep, as Derek Lipp, Hayden Peterson, and Eric Alonzo finished
1-2-3 (respectively) showing off KW's depth in the lower weights.
Nick Zografos cruised through the 152 pound bracket, earning yet
another tournament championship to his career. Other placers
were: Ryan Patterson (2nd, 140), Luke Angevine (3rd, 171), Sean
Staaleson (4th, 215) Teddy Zografos (5th, 125), and Greg Smith (160,
5th). In addition, Coach Ken Sroka was named "Coach of the
Tournament" by his peers in attendance at the "Battle."
Congrats Coach! The JV fared well for themselves as well,
taking 1st place and crowning 17 champions out of 31 wrestlers at
the Franklin Pierce JV tournament. Overall, this was a great
weekend for Kentwood Wrestling, and the coaches are happy with the
progress of our wrestlers. The Conks will travel down Kent-Kangley
for a dual with SPSL rival Kentlake in the "Throwdown in Cov-town"
on Wednesday, December 12th. We look forward to seeing you all
at the match!
12-7-07
Kentwood clips Eagles, 65-6;
Battle at Border Fri-Sat
The Kentwood Wrestling Team
starting off the league dual season with a decisive 65-6 blowout of
a very young Federal Way team. Wrestlers appeared to shed some
of the rust that plagued them in last week's dual, which led to
winning 12 of the 14 matches on the night. Pins by Billy
Creighton (130), Josh Kutterer (135), Ryan Patterson (140), Joe
Angevine (189), and Derek Lipp (112) as well as technical falls by
Tony Creveling (145) and Nick Zografos (152). But the match of
the night was turned in by a very bloody Teddy Zografos (119).
Teddy wrestled one of his best matches in the Black and Silver,
dominating in all phases of the match which led to a 14-2 major
decision over his FW opponent. Tom Creighton (160) joined his
younger brother with a win as well. Kentwood also won by
forfeit with Austin Haggin (285), Ruben Navejas (103), and Brandon
Rodgers (119). The JV shutout FW with a score of 79-0 as well.
The Conks take their Varsity up I-5 nearly to the Canadian Border to
compete in the annual "Battle at the Border" at Blaine H.S.
This is one of the tougher tournaments around, and returning state
champion Brandon Rodgers looks to avenge his only loss of the year
last year to state runner-up Jacob Humphreys at 119 pounds.
Also in a very tough bracket at 119 is the returning state champion
from 2A, Nick Burnham of Black Hills. The JV will drive in the
opposite direction to the Franklin Pierce JV tournament. Good
luck to all of the wrestlers competing this weekend!
12-3-07
KW takes down Beamer Tourney;
Defeats Rogers 34-21
The Kentwood Varsity started off
their week by winning the Todd Beamer Takedown Tournament for the
first time in school history. Outstanding
performances were turned in by several individuals in the Conks'
wins over Franklin Pierce, Kentridge, and Tahoma in the
championships. On Thursday, the 5th ranked Rams of Rogers
traveled to Kentwood for dual between two of the better teams in
state. The JV won their match in thrilling fashion, as Erik
Bala (119) broke up a 33-33 tie by defeating his Rogers opponent in
triple overtime for a 36-33 win over Rogers. The Varsity's
final score was 34-21, based on strong performances from Ruben
Navejas (103), Teddy Zografos (119), Billy Creighton (130), and Luke
Angevine (171). But the star of the night was 205 pound Sean
Staaleson who wrestled up at 285, and convincingly defeated a very
tough (and large) Rogers opponent. Sean's match swung the
momentum back in KW's favor, who ended the dual with 4 consecutive
victories. Next up are the Federal Way Eagles, who will travel
to Kentwood on Wednesday night to wrestle the Conks. It is
also Staff Appreciation Day on Wednesday, so spread the word and get
your teachers to the match!
