Prairie View senior Dayton Kline works to pin his opponent in the Class 4A state championships tournament in Salina on Friday. (Screen capture/PV Activities Twitter)
SALINA – Prairie View senior Dayton Kline, with a record of 26 wins and 12 losses, managed to avoid a fall until nearly three minutes into his third round on Saturday at the Class 4A State Wrestling Champion tournament in Salina.
However, Gabe Kant (37-10), a senior from Augusta, managed to pin Kline at 2:44 in the match, knocking Kline out of the competition. Kant went on to take third place in the 215-pound weight class at the state tourney.
Kline was 1-1 at the end of the day on Friday. He lost on a 5-0 decision against Dakota Slupianek (29-15) from Marysville in the open round. That put Kline in the consolation bracket.
Kline won his next match in a close 5-4 decision against senior Trace Slinger (24-21) of Louisburg before moving to his final match against Kant.
Walt Vandeventer, head wrestling coach for Prairie View, said that Kline didn’t have his best performance at state. “I think his nerves got to him a little,” the coach said.
Vandeventer also said that Kline has improved significantly since he competed his first year in high school.
“Dayton made large improvements the last two years,” he said. To think where that kid was at as a freshman and where he is now amazes me.”
Kline was the only wrestler on the Buffalo men’s team that advanced to the state competition. Prairie View has had a wrestler medal for eight of the last 10 years.