SCHS matmen collect 5 medals in Class 4A; Mulligan 3rd, Hayes 4th

Scott City’s start to the Class 4A state wrestling tournament certainly wasn’t what they had envisioned.

Four of their seven state qualifiers dropped opening round matches. Two more were sent to the consolation bracket following the quarter-finals.

Dakota Hayes (145), the only semi-finalist, was bumped into the consolation round by Friday evening.

“Discouraged would have been a mild way to describe how we were feeling Friday. I think there could have been a suicide watch,” joked head coach Jon Lippelmann.

“It wasn’t the kind of day we were planning on, but these boys didn’t have any quit in them. We felt coming in here we could pick up five or six medals and we still felt that way after Friday.”

It was just going to be a little more difficult.

The Scott Community High School squad responded with some outstanding wrestling on Saturday, climbing from 16th place at the start of the day into a tie for sixth.

They also collected five state medals, led by a third place finish from sophomore Clay Mulligan (103). He was joined on the awards stand by Luke Hayes (189, 4th), Morgan Numrich (152, 5th), Paco Antillon (119, 6th) and Dakota Hayes (145, 6th).

Mulligan (37-3) was among those who dropped a heartbreaker on Friday by a 2-0 overtime decision to eventual state champion Bryce Shoemaker (Baldwin).

The sophomore was denied what appeared to be a reversal and near-fall points in the closing seconds of the third period, leading to Shoemaker’s winning takedown just 15 seconds into overtime.

“That loss was a heartbreaker after working so hard and having such high expectations,” Mulligan says. “I’ve wrestled for a long time and it’s always been my goal to win state. I’ve come close, but never been able to quite get there.”

It was a matter of survival on Saturday as Mulligan’s final three wins were decided by a single point against Jason Perez (Ulysses, 3-2), Jr. Morgan (Abilene, 2-1) and Jace Roy (Prairie View, 3-2).

“Clay understands how what it takes to compete at this level and how important each point is,” says assistant coach Brice Eisenhour. “He goes into each match with a game plan.”

Even though it’s just his second trip to the high school state tournament, Mulligan grasps what it takes to win against the state’s best.

“You have to keep your composure, score points where you can and just figure a way to advance,” he says.

The trip to the awards stand was even more difficult for Luke Hayes and Numrich, who each dropped their first round matches.

Hayes (38-10), a regional champion, was stunned with a second period fall to Nathan Morris (Columbus).

“For some reason I was really nervous. When I was on bottom I freaked out and got lazy,” says Hayes.

That set up a long road through the consolation bracket in which Hayes advanced into the consolation finals with four consecutive wins. Along the way he pinned Pratt’s Chase Kreutzer, who he had defeated in the finals of the regional tournament, to guarantee himself a state medal.

“Even after I lost I really wasn’t discouraged. I knew it was a match I should have won. After that kid made it to the semi-finals, I knew that’s where I should have been,” Hayes said.

The sophomore backed up his belief when he had a rematch with Morris in the consolation semi-finals. This time Hayes needed just 2:42 to pin the Columbus grappler.

“It wasn’t that we improved that much in just one day. Luke was more mentally prepared for the second match,” says Lippelmann. “That happens with high school kids.”

In the third place match, Hayes dropped a tough 3-1 decision to Dylan Hagerman (Mulvane, 30-7).

For two years, Numrich (37-12) has come up short against Ulysses senior Josh Rodriguez, losing five matches, including three times this season.

In the final match of his high school career, Numrich ended two seasons of frustration with a 10-2 decision for a fifth place finish.

This was Numrich’s second state medal, including a fourth place finish as a sophomore in Class 3-2-1A.