Williams, Pesek cap off perfect seasons with state wrestling titles

Given all the possible ways to celebrate winning a third consecutive state championship, Gardner Edgerton senior Dustin Williams elected for simplicity.

Williams, who will attend Nebraska, quietly walked to the center of the ring and raised three fingers into the air before walking off the mat to hug his coach.

“I kind of expected it to happen and I am not a really emotional guy, so I don’t go out and overdo it,” Williams said.

Williams defeated Micah Felton of Junction City in a 7-4 decision, capping a perfect 37-0 season and winning the Kansas Class 6A 170-pound title at the state championshipon Saturday.

“When you accomplish a goal that you set out as a child, you always feel out of this world when you get it done,” Williams said.

Junior Seth Pesek also repeated as a state champion, winning the 195-pound weight class in a 3-2 decision against Sam Reyes of Garden City.

He finished the season with a 32-0 record.

“We are both so competitive, and neither one of us wants to ever lose,” Pesek said.

“When you have that mentality in the wrestling room you can’t do anything but have greatness that goes on during the season.”

Jacob Bonham added a second-place finish for the Trailblazers in the 113-pound weight class.

When St. James Academy coach Mike Medina returned every state medalist from his team that finished second last year, he knew the team had the potential to do something great.

The Thunder proved him right at the Class 5A state championships where three wrestlers took home individual titles in a dominant first-place finish. St. James accumulated 180.5 points while second place Goddard finished with 117.5.

“It is an incredible feeling,” Medina said. “I’m proud of all the boys. They’ve busted their butts and we’ve worked hard for this.”

The Thunder advanced six wrestlers to title matches. Zak Hensley, Andrew Tujague and Matt Pratt took home titles in the 132-pound, the 152-pound and 170-pound weight classes, respectively. Reese Cokeley, Ben VanLerberg and Trent Salsbury added second-place finishes.

One week ago, Blue Valley Northwest set a school record by qualifying 14 wrestlers for the state tournament.

The Huskies added another huge accomplishment to their resume Saturday with a third-place finish in Class 6A. They are the first team in school history to take back a team trophy.

“These guys set records for our school all year long,” head coach Tim Serbousek said. “Everyone contributed so I am pretty happy.”

The Huskies were led by Sam Elliott and Max Tierney who won their weight classes. Elliott defeated De`Khyale McFarland of Olathe East in a 2-1 decision in the 120-pound weight class and finished 41-2 for the year. Tierney won the 152-pound weight class when two-time defending state champion Andrew Millsap of Junction City was disqualified for disciplinary purposes.

The Huskies finished with 115 points and edged Wichita Northwest for third place. Garden City won the Class 6A title with 153.5 points and Derby came in second with 135.5.

“We have a great staff in place with coaches for every weight class and they work with them and then the kids bought into what we are trying to do and they work together well,” Serbousek said. “They did an outstanding job.”

Just four months ago, Mill Valley senior Tyler Dickman was sidelined with a torn medial collateral ligament.

He returned to wrestling about a month ago and worked all the way to the Class 5A state title in the 138-pound weight class on Saturday.

“It was difficult, but I fought through it,” Dickman said. “It makes it mean that much more to me.”

Dickman won with a 3-1 decision against Kevin Kissane of Maize South, capping a perfect 16-0 record.

• Michael Olsen of Lansing won his second state title after defeating Dayton Will of Salina Central in the 5A 145-pound weight class, finishing the year with a 36-0 record.

• Isaac Dulgarian of St. Thomas Aquinas defeated St. James Academy’s VanLerberg in the 5A 160-pound weight class for his second state title.

• Alan Clothier of Lawrence defeated LaPhonso McKinnis of Shawnee Mission Northwest in the 6A 182-pound weight class.

• Mario Galvan of Shawnee Mission Northwest defeated Derby’s Matt Kissinger for the 6A 220-pound title.

• Alex Jones of Lawrence defeated Montana Fuller of Garden City for the 6A 285-pound title.

This story was originally published March 1, 2014 at 9:09 PM with the headline "Williams, Pesek cap off perfect seasons with state wrestling titles."