This morning on the KNSS NewsWatch, Sports with Ted Woodward, and KFH, Sports Daily with Bruce, Bob and Brent, we went here and there. Topics of choice were:

Wrestling

Hutch at Derby (postponed tonight due to weather and power outage in Hutch)
-Hutch wrestler Romero Cotton (171) is a four-time football state champ and is favored to become a four-time wrestling champ; from early research, I believe only Roy Oeser, now coach at Maize, can match Cotton on this. From 1974-77, Oeser was a four-time champ at Kapaun, during which years Kapaun also won four straight football titles. I'm checking on whether Oeser was a football player;
-Derby's wrestling coach has a connection to one of the other stunning pedigrees in Kansas wrestling: coach Bill Ross wrestled in high school under Wayne Jackson at Ark City, the winningest championship coach in Kansas wrestling history with 14 titles from ’82-03

Salina Central at Goddard
-Goddard returns 12 state qualifiers, five finalists and four state champs: Tyler Caldwell, Boaz Beard, Brandon Bonewell, Mitchell Means
-Goddard could have six individual state champs this year, to take back the state title they won in 2006

Wichita South at Northwest (former longtime South coach Dennis Nigg is now at Northwest coaching under Eric Prichard, one of his former South wrestlers)
-Northwest wrestler Kyle Caylor was state runner-up at 6A state to Karl Oeser of Maize last year; he won both the freestyle and greco-roman divisions at Nationals at 215 over the summer

Valley Center at Winfield
-Defending state champ Pete Tapia (152) of Winfield and fourth-place finisher Chad Harding go up against Valley Center, a top 5A program in the area. Brian Shelton and Corey Jones, a two-time champ at Kapaun in the 80s, coach VC. Chase Nitcher (119), Jimmy Stults (119 to 145) and Seth Mertins (130) all placed third last year. Mertins lost in semis to potential four-time state champ Trison Graham of Ark City

Rose Hill (Zac Sparr, 119) at Augusta (Zach Peters, 125; Corey Crawford, 145; Chris Stuart, 171; Jacob Weaver, 189 – all champs at El Dorado tournament on December 1)
-Former Rose Hill coach Darian Eshelman is now coach at Bishop Carroll. Drew Anderson has stepped in. Zac Sparr is a state contender. Augusta 11th at state last year, should finish higher than that this year.

East at Bishop Carroll – 90 dual-match win streak for Carroll, dating back to 2001; Carroll's going for seventh straight City title

BC Wrestling Invite this weekend hosts Andale, Campus, KC Schlagle, Mulvane, Newton, Rose Hill, Salina South, Wichita Heights, North, South, Winfield

Boys Basketball on Friday

East at Bishop Carroll
-Bishop Carroll is coming on, after a narrow 61-58 loss to Southeast Wednesday night. Blake Bell, Brett Steven and Luke Barnwell are already playing well. When Joe Brown returns, they will compete with anyone in the City League.

Wichita South at Northwest
-South upset East Wednesday night 77-73 behind strong guard led by Lance Russell and Marky Nolan. Russell is the purest scorer in the city, which is huge.

Southeast at Heights
-Can Southeast put it together? Does it matter yet? It's only December, but with the best talent in the city, the Buffs should be playing better. Heights is a team to watch in the city, with Kelton Marshall and a trio of strong guards. They also have youth that is contributing.

Wellington at Andale
-Class 4A is up for grabs in this area. Can either of these teams compete with Andover?

Girls Basketball on Friday
Hutch at Derby
-Weather and power permitting, Hutch will travel to Derby on Friday. Nice players on both sides, and each will compete a spot in state this season.

Goddard at Maize
-Rivalry!