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Titans Triumph: Lee’s Summit West Edges Blue Springs South in Dramatic Dual

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Lee’s Summit West senior Kallen Koelzer’s backpack sticks out.

That’s because he has several white and black safety pins lined up on both straps and all of them have a meaning. Each of them represents each of Koelzer’s wrestling matches from his career from youth leagues through high school competition.

It reminds him of all the hard work he has put in to get to this point. 

And he wrestled his 216th career match against Alec Mills during a dual with Blue Springs South Tuesday at home. He made short work of Mills in the 120-pound bout, getting a pin in 1 minute and 7 seconds to kick off a special Senior Night win as he helped his team pick up a 43-36 victory. 

“All the white (pins) are from the youth seasons and all black pins are from my freshman season up until the senior season,” Koelzer said. “Right now, there’s 108 on each side and I am hoping there is a lot more by the end of the year.”

The night was emotional for the lone senior on the Titans as he got to add safety pin No. 216 to his backpack.

“I think the whole ceremony and leading up to my match was very emotional,” Koelzer said. “But once I got on the mat, I went out and took care of business.”

Overall, the senior said he was happy with the way his match went against Mills.

“The outside single and my high crotch worked great,” Koelzer said. “I transitioned from my shots to a wing and a half pretty seamlessly.”

West junior Grady Mortensen praised the senior following the dual.

“He’s been important to our team,” Mortensen said. “He’s been a staple of our team at 106 and 120. We will miss him after this year.”

The Titans would not have been able to win without the effort of freshman Karsen Fetters (113). West led South 40-36 going into the final match between Fetters and South’s Kale Martin, who needed a major decision or better to give the Jaguars a chance to win the dual.

But Fetters didn’t give Martin a chance to do that as he did not allow a single point and rode out his opponent during the second and third periods to take a 3-0 decision, clinching the win for his team.

“I went into the match as tough as I could,” Fetters said. “It ended up being a defensive battle. My forearms are sore I can tell you that. I made sure to chop down on his wrists.”

Mortensen also was a big contributor to the win for West. He got multiple takedowns against Carter Roach before hooking in a cradle to get a win by fall in 2:35.

“I felt like I wrestled all right,” Mortensen said. “I came out a little but hot and had to slow it down a little bit, but I got the win and that’s all that matters.”

Blue Springs South’s Brayden Greenfield got the most impressive win for the Jaguars as he pinned Jonah Fortier in just 24 seconds.

“He was being very aggressive and I was being passive,” Greenfield said. “He shot in and had a bad shot. I scored off it and took the dresser dump.”

Others to pick up wins for the Titans were junior Chase Hinton (138), who pinned Peter Gutierrez in the third period; and Junior Lane Pannell (150), who took an 18-5 major decision over Caleb Hart.

Noah Patton (285), Logan Markovich (144) and Quentin Robinson (126) each won by forfeit for the Titans.

Others to pick up wins for the Jaguars were Xander Milton (132), who got a reversal and a pin over Braylen Koelzer in 1:24; Cy Wilmes (165), who dominated his match against Cade Broom and used a reverse half to turn his opponent and get a pin in the second period; And Alex Ultican (190) and Jayce Miller (215) both took wins by forfeit.

Girls

There were only two contest matches on the girls side as the teams split them.

The Jaguars and the Titans ended in a tie at 30-30 but West ended up winning by tiebreaker for having more back points (4-2).

Senior Sam Lopez (115) made her Senior Night special as she pinned Heaven Conaway in the third period. Juniors, Kinley Harker (110) and McKenna Gardner (120) along with freshman Ashley Hefferman (125) and sophomore Dailyn George (135) all won by forfeit.

For South, Killian Evans (105) had little trouble winning her match against Lillian Whittall, getting a pin in the second period. Ryleigh Nay (130), Neveah Conaway (145), Halle Goodrich (155) and McKenna Rusert (170) added forfeit wins for the Jaguars. 

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