ShawneeDispatch.com

Mill Valley wrestler Jack Delashmit wanted to win his last match.

He'd run too many stairs, sweated too many hours in weight room and had too many laughs with friends on road trips across Kansas to go out with a loss.

In addition, he was battling a cold in the tournament, but pressed on.

"I wasn't going to let being sick ruin my last tournament," he'd say. "Everybody told me you want to win your last match and I did. I put everything into it."

He defeated Howard Johnson of Bishop Carroll in the fifth-place match to conclude his wrestling career. A match he wasn't expected to win because Johnson had beaten him earlier in the year during a tournament at Newton.

"Fifth place is always better than sixth," he said. "So I was happy. I earned a medal at state so I guess it was a good year."

He left the mats with a satisfied feeling.

"If I was going to place, I am glad it was my senior year," he said. "I wanted to look back and know that I won my last match and placed at the last tournament that I was in."

The state tournament was Delashmit's second. Last year, he was happy to qualify for the state tournament and didn't enter the tournament with expectations to place.

Now, he looks back and wonders why.

"Last year, I was happy to qualify," he said. "This year I was wishing I had gone in and wanted to win more than I did, last year. This year I wasn't happy to qualify, I wanted to go in and win matches."

Delashmit finished 4-2 in the state tournament. He won the first match with a pin over Tyler Strouhal of Lansing.

He lost the next match and began wrestling in the backside of the bracket. He won two consecutive matches and then lost to Malcom Sharp of Sumner Academy by pin.

"Jack wrestled very well and finished 4-2, which was good enough to finish fifth overall," coach Travis Keal said.

Delashmit was the only Jaguar to place in the tournament, though, numerous wrestlers were eliminiated in the match before the medal round. A wrestler had to compete in the medal round to place in the tournament.

Mill Valley finished in 19th place with 34 points. Wichita-Carroll finished first with 184.5 points. Arkansas City finished second with 137.5 points.

In addition to Delashmit's performance, the Jaguars sent nine other wrestlers to the state tournament. The team won more matches than it ever has, Keal said.

Wrestlers just couldn't win one more match to get into the medal round.

"We had five in that round, and all were matches against people that had beaten them," he said. "We lost the matches by one or two points. They were tough matches."

Trevor Boyer, 112-pounder, finished 2-2 in the tournament, which included a third-round pin.

Matt Korte finished with a 1-2 record in the tournament. He defeated Jesse Poff of Shawnee Heights in the first round 16-5, but lost the next two matches.

Brett Delich finished his senior year with a 32-7 record, but without placing in the state tournament.

He lost the first match to Cade Blair of Valley Center, 9-4.

Blair went on to win the state tournament.

Delich responded by beating Cole Schreiner of Topeka-Seaman 4-2 and then defeated Stefan Andrews of Highland Park, 5-2.

Delich lost to Jake Walker of St. Thomas Aquinas in his final match.

Walker had defeated him in the regional finals last week.

James Mullin, 140-pounder, finished 2-2 in the tournament. He concludes the year with a 2-2 record.

Andrew Rogers, 152-pounder, finished 1-2 in the tournament and finished the year with a 13-20 record.

Josh Van Holland, 160-pounder, finished 1-2 and with 25-20 record this season.

J.R. Logan missed the state tournament with an injury. He finished the year with a 32-10 record.

Chad Mauzey, 189-pounder, finished with a 2-2 record in the tournament and a 27-20 record this season.

Leo Beck, 285-pounder, finished 0-2 in the tournament.

"We all had fun," Delashmit said. "We wish done better as a team. We had a lot more good memories than we did bad ones. We will all look back and enjoy our last tournament."