Goettl's win does Mingus proud By Rob Sherrill, W.I.N. High School Editor http://www.WIN-magazine.com When Luke Goettl won the 125-pound Junior National Greco-Roman title Tuesday afternoon, it was the crowning moment of years of hard work and sacrifice, just as it was for the other 13 champions. But the two-time Arizona state champion made a lot of other people happy, too. Most notably those back at his high school, Mingus Union High in Cottonwood, located in the northern part of the state near Flagstaff. Thanks to the hard work of coach Tom Wokasch and his staff, Mingus has become one of Arizona's top wrestling programs over the years. They're the three-time defending state champions in the state's Class 4A, Division 2. Wokasch, has coached high school wrestling for 26 years, the last 19 at Mingus. The world is starting to notice. First, Wrestling USA magazine named Wokasch its Man of the Year this spring. Last night, Goettl gave Mingus something else…its first national champion. It's validation for Wokasch, who's been bringing wrestlers to the Cadet and Junior Nationals since 1991. "When you have kids who love the sport and work their tails off to be successful, as Luke has done, then (winning at Fargo) is within reach of any kid at any school," Wokasch said. "Wherever you are, if you have a passion for it, and you have kids that are the whole package and want to do it, you can be a national champion, and Luke Goettl has proved that." Today, Mingus isn't just another big fish in a small pond. It's a school that's produced a national champion. And Wokasch says it's raised the bar for the rest of his wrestlers. "Three years before I arrived, Mingus didn't win a single match at the state tournament," he said. "Going from that to this, and to be fortunate enough to have a kid like Luke accomplish this, it makes it all worthwhile. The other kids watch Luke and they know he's the hardest-working kid in our program. He didn't get there with some magic move. He got there with hard work. Now they know what that makes possible. "It's like I told my wife…all those years, this makes everything worth it." Kitzis bringing pride back to Massachusetts By Gary Abbott, USA Wrestling http://www.themat.com Massachusetts may not be considered a major hotbed for amateur wrestling, but don't say that to some of the talented wrestlers coming out of there. The first day of the Cadet National Championships featured one of the nation's top young prospects who is being coached by one of the nation's rising college stars. Both come from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. During his fifth-round match at 125 pounds, Simon Kitzis dispatched Scotty Hardiman of North Carolina, 6-0, 2-0. In his corner for the match was Rollie Peterkin, currently a top NCAA Div. I wrestler at the Univ. of Pennsylvania. Kitzis and Peterkin have a lot in common. Both started high school in Massachusetts, Peterkin at Wellesley and Kitzis at Newton South. Both transferred to a prep school out of state, Peterkin to Blair Academy in New Jersey and Kitzis to Wyoming Seminary in Pennsylvania. Peterkin won a Junior National title while in high school. This weekend, Kitzis looks to win his own title in Fargo in the Cadet National freestyle event. Peterkin has a ton of confidence in Kitzis and has been impressed by his abilities. "I worked out with him all week at camp," said Peterkin. "He is strong and has an arsenal of moves. He is going to go a long way here. He's tearing through the bracket and getting on a roll. He is putting a few great matches together." Kitzis made a buzz in the wrestling community this spring when he won a gold medal at the FILA Cadet Nationals in Akron, Ohio. He defeated highly regarded Ryan Mango of Missouri in the freestyle finals there. "I came here to win. Hopefully, I can accomplish what I did in Akron. I bumped up a weight since then. I feel confident I can do well at this weight. Last year at the Cadets, I won six matches at the Cadet Nationals. I lost to Logan Stieber (of Ohio) and Frank Cagnina (of New Jersey)." Kitzis has been reaching out for good competition and training opportunities. He trained with former Penn State star and respected coach Sanshiro Abe in Pennsylvania. He also went to Russia for nine days, training with Russians and winning an international Cadet tournament. "I went to Russia pretty confident after winning at the FILA Cadets," said Kitzis. "I obviously did well. I trained with the Russian National Team, and some of them were 20 years old. They beat on me a little bit, which was good for me." Kitzis was seventh at the Prep School Nationals this year as a sophomore, and has goals of winning it all next year. He believes he "has gotten a lot better since then." "Before, I didn't have as many good training partners. There are tough schools there. I have gained a lot of motion in my wrestling. I train year round now. Moving the Pennsylvania has helped me out," said Kitzis. Massachusetts has brought a larger delegation of athletes this year to Fargo, with over 20 wrestlers mixing it up with the nation's best. Kitzis is clearly helping carry the banner for his state by competing so well. "Mass has a lot of tough kids, but not a lot of depth," said Kitzis. "They need to give Massachusetts some credit. There are tough kids coming out of there." Beth Johnson makes Kansas proud By Randy Hinderliter, USAW-Kansas http://www.usawks.com As part of ceremonies on Monday night, TheMat.com and ASICS presented the Women's High School All-American First Team. A member of that team is Beth Johnson of Garden City, Kansas, who qualified for this honor for the second straight year. In the Women's Junior Nationals tourney she returned to the 124-pound class. She wrestled well and earned a finals match against Michaela Hutchison of Alaska. Michaela was also one of the Themat.com/ASICS first team All-Americans. Like a true competitor, Beth Johnson had been dreaming about meeting Michaela in the finals. I'm not sure if, even in a dream, the outcome would have been quite like it was. Beth dominated the matchup. Except for one pushout, Michaela could not muster any offense. Beth is a graduated senior and this next school year will be attending the USOEC program at Northern Michigan University. She might be in Michigan but "my heart will always be in Kansas!" Beth Johnson has earned the right to be called National Champion! Horan off to blistering start in Fargo by Jason Bryant, InterMat www.intermatwrestle.com Zach Horan reached the finals of the Pennsylvania AAA state tournament this past season at Lehigh Valley powerhouse Nazareth. He came up short against Mark Rappo in the finals, but in Fargo, Horan's been on a mission. He's undefeated and has a tournament-leading five falls in six matches. The biggest came with a first-period cradle in a fifth-round win over Wisconsin's Jesse Thielke, the Cadet Greco-Roman outstanding wrestler. Horan hasn't given up a point in his other five bouts. Thielke has been the only wrestler to score on Horan. Thielke took a 1-0 lead on a single leg and then went up 3-0 countering a low single attempt with a crotch lift. Horan hung on to the leg, scored the takedown and locked up a cradle to get the fall. Horan is the only wrestler in the tournament with five falls. Pennsylvania leads with 38 overall falls out of 46 entires. Evan Craig, the Cadet Greco-Roman Champion, has three falls for the Keystone State, as does Tyler Demott. Soda Tops Pop In a poll conducted during InterMat's Live Updates, the question was raised -- what's the term? Is it soda, pop or simply "coke." It was a tight race, and as the poll closed following Wednesday's last match, Soda topped Pop 48 percent to 46 percent. Coke finished a Ross Perot-like third with six percent. The discussion from Tuesday's LiveSportsVideo finals broadcast ignited converstaion on themat.com's message boards and has been a running joke amongst those on press row. TheMat.com's thread had 1588 views as of 7:37 p.m. Central ... and 39 responses. Sorry folks, Soda wins! Craig Sesker of USA Wrestling immediately demanded a recount.