Bloody, bruised and battered yet he emerged victorious. Garden City senior Anthony Calderon was the talk of the 6A regional wrestling tournament.
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Not only because he mounted a gladiator style comeback in his final match but because his dual represented everything his team has been through.
Garden City head coach Monte Moser said the Buffalo wrestlers have had a long list of adversities to overcome. The loss of wrestler Braxston Medina was at the top of it.
“We’ve had everything thrown at us this year,” he said. “We’ve lost one of our teammates and we’ve had injuries. This was the first week that we almost had everybody back and then we had one of our better ones not make weight. It’s a continuing saga; it would make a good soap opera.”
Those obstacles have only made them stronger. The Buffs came in second at 6A regionals and qualified nine wrestlers for the state tournament.
“It’s what we aim for every year,” Moser said. “Ideally, we would have liked all 14 of them to qualify but we will take nine. Nine is not too bad. We are feeling pretty good about that.”
Calderon was Garden City’s first state qualifier in the 120 weight class. In his final match against Hutchinson’s Jonathan Peterson every point made the crowd erupt into a deafening roar. In the first period a blow to Calderon’s nose caused a delay in the match as the trainers padded his nostrils. The cotton quickly became soaked and Calderon would have to battle through it. But that was not the only thing he had to overcome.
“Anthony Calderon, our returning state champion, was ill but he wrestled through it,” Moser said. “It was a tight match that he came from behind and won. It was probably one of the key matches. It just goes to show that you can still do anything when you put your mind to it even when you are sick.”
Again that was not the end of it. Calderon would also have to overcome an early five point deficit.
“I messed up in the beginning and let him get ahead 5-0,” Calderon said. “I knew I could come back but it wouldn’t be all at once. I knew he was the type of wrestler that could come back too. So I had to score here and there and he would respond by scoring here and there but I ended up pulling through.”
A reversal tied up the score with 50 seconds left in the third period. One more quick move before the buzzer sounded and Calderon came back to win 11-10.
“I just have to work harder every match as I go into state, wrestle everyone like it’s my last and give it all I’ve got,” Calderon said.
Although the Calderon and Peterson match up highlighted the beginning of the finals, the nail-biting matches were just getting started.
Wichita-Northwest and Hutchinson each had 10 wrestlers qualify for state. Seven from Dodge City qualified as well as five from Wichita-Haysville-Campus, four from Maize and Wichita-North had two qualify.
Wichita-Haysville-Campus senior Austin Crump qualified for state in the 285 weight class pinning Dodge City’s Tommy Andrews.
“I had faced the guy before but I did not do so well the first time,” Crump said. “I went out there thinking I needed to score as many points as possible as soon as possible. I went out there and did that but I also got the pin as soon as I could.”
Crump has also had his share of adversity this year and is greatly anticipating the competition at the state level.
“The fear of reinjuring my knee has haunted me,” Crump said. “I had an ACL surgery about a year ago and I’ve been worried about that. I’m working it as hard as I can, doing the rehab and taking care of my body basically.”
Although Dodge City senior Tommy Andrews placed fourth in the regional tournament he still qualifies for the state tournament. Andrews will travel with his six other teammates to Wichita for their shot at a state title.
Demon senior Jacob Eggers is also one of those six. He defeated Garden City rival Jonathan Heiman 1-0 in the 160 finals. Eggers said he is proud of his teammates and he already eager to get to Wichita.
“To be a state qualifier it’s a token you’ve got to carry highly,” Eggers said. “People see that and they expect the best out of you. I’m going to the state tournament expecting nothing less than gold. I mean I’m a three-time state qualifier and it’s my senior year. I am going in there ready to battle.”
Dodge City head coach Lars Lueders said he expected the level of competition at regionals to be intense and he is expecting more at the state level.
“We’ve established ourselves as a top ten team year in and year out,” Lueders said. “But we are definitely underdogs when it comes to top three and top five performances. We still have to prove ourselves that’s for sure.”
