Tim Vogel, the head coach of the wrestling team at Oakville Senior High, was hoping that he’d qualify six or even seven wrestlers for the state championships this week.

Although the Tigers’ head coach didn’t get exactly what he was wishing for, he’s definitely not complaining.

“We did almost as good as I was wanting us to do,” Vogel told the Call. “I figured that we would take six, but I’m not unhappy that we’re taking five.”

The Tigers qualified two sophomores last weekend at the sectional tournament in Darren Green (103) and Kyle Foley (135).

Green qualified for the state championships this week after soundly defeating Vito Kirshke of Northwest-House Springs in the third-place match 5-1. Foley, however, suffered a 11-3 decision at the hands of Chris Dopp of Fox in the third-place match.

Vogel was quite happy with the fact that he has two underclassmen qualified for the state tournament, which only means battle-tested experience for the Tigers’ junior and senior seasons.

“Darren lost to the No. 3 ranked kid in the state in the second round,” Vogel said. “Kyle also did a great job and he lost his first match right out of the chute and had to wrestle back.”

In a tough 140 weight bracket, junior Matt Mitchell won a 5-2 decision over Brandon Jennings of Northwest-House Springs, despite being a little under the weather, according to the Tigers’ head coach.

“Matt wasn’t feeling good, but got the job done,” Vogel said. “He lost to Haddad in the second round and also had to wrestle back.”

Junior Ryan Sutton (189) took on Bill Conger of Fox in the championship match of their respective weight class and both wrestlers put on quite a show.

“Ryan wrestled outstandingly,” Vogel said. “You could see the fire in his (Sutton’s) eyes. Conger took him down one time and that was the match.”

Yet the most exciting match of the evening was the heavyweight (275) match between the Tigers’ Nick Wymore and Bommer Cunningham of Parkway West.

Wymore came away with a 5-1 decision and the sectional championship as he solidifies his bid as being one of the top heavyweights in the state.

“Nick basically dominated everyone in the tournament,” Vogel said. “He’s got a really good chance of doing well at state.”

Now that there are just a few days left until the state championships start, Vogel is having his troops visualize what’s going to need to be done in order to medal this season.

“For the next three days, we’ll be doing a lot of thinking about what we want to be doing,” Vogel said. “It’s going to be a lot of visualizations and mental preparation from here on out.”

The Class 3 State Championships begin at 6 this evening — Feb. 19 — with the championship matches of each weight class beginning at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. For more information, go to

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