By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The expectations couldn't have been a whole lot higher when Josh Hogan took over the vaunted Washburn Rural wrestling program last spring.
After all, Rural was coming off its first Class 6A state wrestling championship and returned two state champions and a state finalist from that team.
But the former Washburn Rural star, who had cut his coaching teeth with the Topeka Blue Thunder Wrestling Club the previous nine years, said he really didn't feel any pressure when he took over for coach Damon Parker.
"No, there really was no pressure,'' Hogan said Saturday night affter Washburn Rural wrapped up its second straight title by a 151-142.5 margin over Derby. "I've been coaching wrestling for a long time, I've been wrestling for a long time and as far as I'm concerned wrestling is a way to raise young men and young women up. I don't put much more on it than that.
"It's nice to win, it sucks to lose, but there's also a greater picture that we're after.''
Washburn Rural wrestling coach Josh Hogan watches the action during the Class 6A state tournament at Park City's Hartman Arena. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior star Austin Fager flips Rural coach Josh Hogan to the mat in celebration Saturday after winning the Class 6A 182-pound state title. [Photo by Jeff Jacobsen/Action Images Photography]
Hogan said he felt all season that the Junior Blues were the premier team in 6A, but it wasn't all smooth sailing.
"When we lost out 220-pounder and then we lost our 138, both to shoulder injuries for the season, there was a little worry that may have crept in there because that's a lot of points that we lost,'' Hogan said. "But I knew that our backups were strong across the board.
"The way that we've done this the last 10 years is just by having so many kids wrestle, so there's a plethora of kids to pick from and some of our second guys would be first guys a lot of other places. So we step up when we need to.''
Senior Austin Fager, the 6A 182-pound state champ said that even though Rural changed coaches and graduated a great senior class, including three-time state champ Bishop Murray and state finalist David Huckstep, the Junior Blues were capable of doing exactly what they did Friday and Saturday at Park City's Hartman Arena.
"We just proved ourselves as a program,'' Fager said. "That's what we just did. Here yesterday and today we proved ourselves as a program and our coach proved that he can come out here and coach us and losing guys doesn't mean anything. We can still come out here and win.''
Senior Aidan Boline, the 160-pound state champ, agreed.
"There's nobody in the state that deserves it more than this squad,'' Boline said. "We've worked harder than anybody for the last 268 days, not just the last 100 days of the season.
"These guys are in the room in the offseason busting their butts. I couldn't have asked for a better team to be a part of.''
RUNNER-UP CARVER LEADS FIVE COUNTY 3A-1A STATE PLACERS
Rossville junior 285-pounder Jacob Carver advanced to the Class 3A-1A state championship match Saturday at Hays before finishing second, pacing five Shawnee County wrestlers who earned state medals.
Rossville 285-pounder Jacob Carver (top) battles Douglass' Joe Martin in the Class 3A-1A state championship match Saturday at Hays. Carver finished second. [Submitted]
Carver was pinned in the second period by Douglass' Joe Martin in the finals.
Rossville also got third-place finishes from senior 138-pounder Colby Hurla and senior 160-pounder Sam Twombly.
Silver Lake senior Triston Vande Velde finished third at 182 pounds while senior Daigan Kruger placed fourth at 170 pounds.
