By STEPHEN GLOVER
For the Call
The Lindbergh Senior High wrestling team brought experience to the state champion-ships in Columbia last week and returned with a glimpse of future potential.
“I believe that we made a decent showing at state,” Flyers head coach Tom Gose told the Call. “Overall I wasn’t surprised be-cause besides Jeff (Streibig), we only had (Greg) Feilner who had qualified for state before this year.”
The Flyers took 23rd overall with 23 points as Streibig highlighted his career at Lindbergh with a third place finish at 130 pounds. The senior grappler found himself down by five points in the first match against Jefferson City junior Dow McKnelly before making a huge comeback for a 10-8 victory.
“Jeff wrestled really well,” Gose said. “He got down by five points in his first match and came back to win 10-8 and that got him on a roll.”
Streibig defeated Blue Springs senior Sammy Agrusa 5-1 in the consolation championship match before losing to defending state champion Shane Nay 15-0 in the championship semifinal. Gose and Lindbergh Athletics Director Mike Slyman then gave Streibig a little pep talk.
Apparently it was what Streibig needed as he defeated Lee’s Summit junior Ryan Gudde 7-0 and then hammered Agrusa 8-0 in a rematch.
“We basically told him that this was a test of his character,” Gose said. “He then goes out on the last day of his career and doesn’t get scored on.”
Streibig, who finished fourth last year at state, also finished with the school record in career wins with a overall record of 124-35.
But the Flyer success at state didn’t end with Streibig’s performance, senior Greg Feilner advanced to the consolation semifinal at 145 pounds before losing 3-2 to junior Rico Williams of Hazelwood Central.
“I was really happy with how Greg wrestled,” Gose said. “He got to the verge of a medal two times and the kid that he lost to in the consolation semifinal, he lost to him earlier in the year. He was an excellent captain along with a two-time state qualifier and that’s something to be proud of.”
Lindbergh junior Nick Stinebrook ad-vanced to the second round of the consolation bracket before falling to junior Ian Gossett of Liberty.
“Both of his losses were a result of inexperience,” Gose explained. “His effort and attitude were great and this trip will help him come next year.”
Junior Adam Bearden lost in the first round of the consolation bracket at 152 pounds to senior Mike Thompson of Mc-Cluer North.
“All year long he (Bearden) has been one of our lay it all out on the line guys,” Gose said. “He didn’t wrestle poorly at state, he just wasn’t on that day.”
Senior Ben Lachmann also was eliminated after the first round of competition in the consolation bracket at 160 pounds with a fall to senior Joe Martinez of Oak Park.
“Ben went down there and we thought that he had the talent to medal,” Gose said. “He went out and wrestled high quality guys and unfortunately made some mistakes.”
Sophomore Brock Summers was eliminated from the tournament at 103 pounds with a first-round loss in the consolation bracket competition. Summers suffered a 7-1 decision to sophomore Jake Beggs of Liberty.
“Brock’s growing into that weight class and can still lose to some guys on just size and strength,” Gose said. “He did what we thought was realistic for him so there’s no real disappointment there. This was a good learning experience for him.”
The experience will be good for returning grapplers Bearden, Summers and Stinebrook, Gose said, giving them the desire to work hard in the offseason.
“Next year they’ll walk out of that tunnel and it will be more routine for them,” Gose said. “The kids have to come with the attitude to give that maximum amount of effort and just see what they can do out there.”
