Last modified: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 9:13 AM CST

Ryan Prewitt photo -- GAC South 119-pound champion Kyle Chabela (Francis Howell) finished second at 125 pounds to Fox wrestler Zach Meury at Saturday's Kyle Thrasher Memorial Tournament at Francis Howell. Meury finished fifth at 125 in last year's Class 4 state finals.

Surprise guest, Radigan spur Vikings

By Russell Korando

Since finishing fourth at the Gateway Athletic Conference South Wrestling Championships on Jan. 10, the Francis Howell wrestling team has won tournaments at Riverview Gardens and at home in the Kyle Thrasher Memorial Tournament, and has a dual-meet win over two-time defending Class 3 champion Holt.

A surprise visitor showed up to hand out medals Saturday at Howell and the Vikings responded by placing eight wrestlers in the finals of the Gold Division. Former Howell athletic director and wrestling coach Roger Hodapp, who led the Vikings to state titles in 1982-83, '86-87, presented the medal winners with their hardware.

Hodapp's presence and current Howell head coach Kevin Stroh's long-time association with the Thrasher family made the Vikings' most recent tournament title even sweeter.

"It means a lot to me because I've been real good friends with the Thrasher family for 16 or 17 years," said Stroh, who was the GAC's first four-time wrestling champion for the Vikings in the 1990s. "It's neat to win it at Howell and having Roger back handing out trophies, it was special to see him. He kind of popped in and surprised all of us."

Rolla won four weight classes and won the Blue Division at the Thrasher Tournament. One of the teams that Stroh had scheduled to be in the tournament had a conflict and had to back out, so Stroh called up Holt coach Jason Moore and Moore sent over the Indians' junior varsity. The Big Indians were at MICDS, stomping the competition for their own tournament title. (See accompanying story).

"Jason's a good friend and he helped us out and we helped out his JV by giving them experience," Stroh said. "The only time I root against (Holt) is when we wrestle them."

Senior Malach Radigan continued to plow through opposing wrestlers. Since winning the GAC South heavyweight title in dramatic fashion, Radigan has won all of his matches, and he won all four matches Saturday by fall to improve to 30-2 this season. He pinned five wrestlers at the Riverview Gardens Tournament two weeks ago.

Facing Belleville West's David Darris in the Gold Division final at 285, Radigan was tied 1-1 as time ticked down in the third period. Showing the extra burst of endurance that has carried Radigan to many wins this month, he scored a takedown as time expired to beat Darris in a 3-1 decision.

"To me, that was the most exciting match of the day," Stroh said. "Malach is in really good shape for a heavyweight. Halfway through the match, you could see on (Darris') face he could barely stand up and Malach would get a nose bleed and (Darris) would get a minute break to catch his breath.

"It's neat to see a strong athletic (Radigan) is now learning how to wrestle and moving like a wrestler. By the way he works, he gets better every single practice."

After missing the GACs because of an illness, Howell's Sean O'Leary has come on strong. O'Leary, who was the No. 1 seed in the GAC South field at 103 pounds before pulling out, beat GAC South champion Tim Younger in a 17-1 technical fall when the two met in a dual meet on Jan. 16. He won the 103-pound class in the Gold Division on Saturday.

"He's wrestling the best I've ever seen him wrestle," Stroh said. "He pinned all four opponents Saturday and has pinned or (won by tech. fall) his last 13. If he keeps this up the next couple of weeks, you'll probably see him on the podium at state."

GAC South champ Nick Baker lost 15-13 in the Thrasher quarterfinals to Vianney's Sam Hanau, who was fourth at 103 pounds in Class 4 last season at CBC. Baker finished third for the Vikings.

"That was a real exciting match," Stroh said. "(Hanau) is a kid that we'll see in the state tournament."

Viking senior Matt Kalhorn finished second to Dylan Viglasky (Belleville West) at 119. Stroh said that Kalhorn has "flown under the radar" this year, but is a great motivator in the team's wrestle room.

Another Viking who won a GAC South title but finished second Saturday, is Kyle Chabela at 125. Chabela ran into Fox senior Zach Meury, who was fifth in Class 4 last year at 125 and a state champion in 2007 at 112. Stroh said that Meury was back in state championship form.

The Vikings face 7-time defending GAC North champion Fort Zumwalt North on Thursday at 7:15 p.m. On Saturday, the Vikings are part of a tri-dual meet with McCluer and Lafayette. With the state tournament in Columbia just a month away, Stroh said the Vikings will start to get ready for districts after wrestling at Francis Howell Central on Feb. 7.

"This will be our last week of real hard practices," Stroh said. "The two weeks leading up to districts, we'll get them in, get a quick workout, and get them out of there. There won't be much live wrestling after that.

"Throughout my career in college I had two different coaches, one in high school. In college, we did two-a-days all the way up to the Big 12 tournament and we were tired at that tournament. (Current Mizzou wrestling coach) Brian Smith changed that philosophy and said, 'If you guys aren't ready two weeks before the Big 12 Tournament, you don't need to be there.' Howell, as a team, has always performed well at district and state. I feel like that will continue this year."

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Kyle Thrasher Memorial Tournament

at Francis Howell, Jan. 24

Blue Division champion: Rolla

Gold Division champion: Francis Howell

Gold Division

Round 1: Howell 53, Hazelwood Central 17; Vianney 67, Pattonville 12

Round 2: Howell 58, Vianney 6; Marquette 63, Pattonville 15

Round 3: Vianney 38, Marquette 30; Hazelwood Central 36, Pattonville 21

Round 4: Howell 51, Marquette 17; Vianney 60, Hazelwood Central 18

Round 5: Howell 69, Pattonville 12; Marquette 48, Hazelwood Central 21

Blue Division

Round 1: Belleville West 64, Holt JV 12; Rolla 52, Fox 24

Round 2: Belleville West 46, Fox 24; Rolla 49, Zumwalt East 24

Round 3: Zumwalt East 41, Fox 39; Rolla 66, Holt JV 10

Round 4: Belleville West 52, Zumwalt East 19; Fox 52, Holt JV 8

Round 5: Rolla 45, Belleville West 21; Zumwalt East 50, Holt JV 27

(First; second; third; fourth)

103 pounds: Sean O'Leary (Howell); Bradley Watson (Rolla); Ryan Owens (Vianney); Brandon Thoma (Fox)

112: Blayne Shockley (Rolla); Sam Hanau (Vianney); Nick Baker (Howell); Cory Parr (Fox)

119: Dylan Viglasky (Belleville West); Matt Kalhorn (Howell); Jesse Conaway (Rolla); Mike Meier (Vianney)

125: Zach Meury (Fox); Kyle Chabela (Howell); Alex Larson (Zumwalt East); Montitque Coleman (Marquette)

130: Chris Sanders (Rolla); Tyler Austin (Howell); Isaiah Hechenbuger (Belleville West); Brad Lux (Vianney)

135: Bobby Mahoney (Fox); Nick Hellman (Vianney); Joel Laney (Rolla); Julian Donahue (Howell)

140: Colin Neighbors (Belleville West); Dillon Drennon (Howell); Brandon Nehis (Fox); Nick Dondziln (Vianney)

145: Todd Hall (Fox); Alex Langford (Howell); Landon Reading (Zumwalt East); Aaron Schuh (Vianney)

152: Smyth Bontemps (Marquette); Dominique Hardy (Belleville West); David Shipley (Howell); Andrew Moore (Zumwalt East)

160: Mason Ridenhour (Rolla); Chris Wolf (Howell); Wyatt Miller (Marquette); Conor Vortherms (Zumwalt East)

171: Eli Miller (Marquette); Devin Williams (Belleville West); Caleb Anthonis (Howell); John Hofheins (Rolla)

189: John Mosier (Marquette); Mark Russell (Zumwalt East); Adam Dachroeden (Hazelwood Central); Denver Sells (Rolla)

215: Trent Boyer (Rolla); Julia Smith (Hazelwood Central); Jared Korte (Belleville West); Brian Wright (Pattonville)

HWT: Malach Radigan (Howell); David Darris (Belleville West); J.T. Yount (Zumwalt East); Matt Mathina (Vianney)