Sedbrook wins crown; TMP's Schumacher suffers first loss
By CONOR NICHOLL
Dylan Schumacher laid back on the mat, his arms extended outward. Next to him, Haysville-Campus senior Dalton Miller raised his arms in victory. The scene punctuated a 4-3 Schumacher loss in the final of the 112-pound division of the Bob Kuhn Senior Prairie Classic on Saturday at Hays High School.
It marked the first time Schumacher, a Thomas More Prep-Marian sophomore, had ever lost in his high school career. Miller, ranked No. 1 in Class 6A, was eventually named the Tournament's Most Outstanding Wrestler.
"I just thought I should have won that match," Schumacher said. "It would have been awesome to win it, but first loss, it doesn't feel too good."
Two local wrestlers, though, won titles: Hays High School 171-pound junior Casey Sedbrook and TMP-Marian 189-pound senior Preston Werth. Werth set a pre-meet goal to reach the finals and called it a "dream come true" to win a title in a tournament he had watched throughout his life. Overall, Phillipsburg won the 20-team tournament with 177 points. Hays High finished seventh with 111 points, while TMP-Marian was 13th with 61 points.
"Every Saturday night, we would come here," Werth said. "My freshman and sophomore years, I would just look up to the older guys, Clint (Taylor) and Travis (Budke) with them being in the finals with the spotlight, it's just really cool."
Werth, who hasn't lost since before Winter Break, won his first match by fall in 1 minute, 49 seconds, then won 14-7 and 9-4 before facing Hoisington senior Tyler Bullard, ranked No. 6 in the state. Werth had beaten Bullard earlier in the season in a Hoisington final.
In a similar match, Werth had a first period takedown before Bullard tied the match in the second period. With 40 seconds left, though, Werth tacked on a takedown and three more points for a 6-1 win. He received a standing ovation during the awards ceremony.
"I wanted to do something for all of the people from Hays that came to watch," Werth said.
In addition, Sedbrook picked up a championship with a dominating run, including an 8-0 victory in the finals against Goodland senior Paul Starr. Sedbrook picked up four points in the first 20 seconds with an aggressive early move.
"Try to get a good start on it and try to get things my way," Sedbrook said. "I try to get out really fast at the beginning of the match to get it over as quick as I can."
Sedbrook called Classic his best tournament of the season, a stretch where he went 4-0 with two falls, a major decision and the 8-0 win.
Schumacher, though, lost early. He finished his freshman season with a 29-0 record and state title at 103 pounds. This year, he opened 25-0, one of two area 3-2-1A wrestlers (along with Osborne senior Danny Floyd) that had not lost in the last two seasons.
Schumacher, though, didn't think about the streak.
"Not really," he said. "Everyone has to lose sometime. It's better now than in state."
Schumacher labeled Miller "definitely" the best wrestler he had faced in high school. Miller, who finished fourth at state in 2009, had beaten his first three opponents at the Classic by a combined score of 35-4 and improved to 24-0 with the title.
"He is really good," Schumacher said. "There is no doubt. I wasn't really mad how I wrestled. I probably should have won it, so I didn't feel that bad even though it's my first loss. I have learned from it and it made me better."