Video Interviews
By Michael Smith
Mid-Buchanan might have been the team representing the smallest school at Saturday’s Shawnee Mission North Invitational, but that doesn’t mean it couldn’t compete with bigger schools.
In a tournament that featured Class 5A and 6A Kansas schools and Class 4 Missouri teams, the Class 1 Dragons did just that at the event when they finished 4-0 to take first, winning the championship match 54-15 against St. James Academy (Kan.).
“We came here to see different opponents in upper classes,” Mid Buchanan coach Daniel Kountz said. “We wanted to push ourselves because this was our last competition before districts.
“We want the challenge. We think we can take on anybody. We’re not scared to wrestle anybody.”
Eight teams attended the invitational and they were split into two separate quad duals. The first place finishers faced each other in a crossover match to determine the overall winner and so did the second place finishers to determine third place, and so on.
Mid-Buchanan defeated Lansing (Kan.) 59-21, beat Blue Valley South (Kan.) 43-27 and took down Park Hill 56-13 to advance to the championship match.
The Dragons had four wrestlers finish 4-0 including Clancey Woodword (113), Chase Davidson (160), Butch Walters (138) and Wade Stanton (182). Ryder Coons (106), Dallas Grippando (120), Clayton Rotterman (132), Colton Kirkham (152) and Creed Webster (195) each finished 3-1.