Kenning stopped short of goal

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BY GENE COTTER / For the Lincoln Journal Star

Thayer Central senior Destry Kenning had never felt the white-hot spotlight of championship Saturday before taking the mat against 41-0 and two-time medal winner Chase Klingelhoefer of Amherst in the Class D 160-pound final.

He certainly knew that’s where he wanted to be, however.

Kenning had qualified for last year’s state meet but was ousted by Klingelhoefer in the early rounds.

“He dominated us at state last year,” Thayer Central coach Dan Desmond said. “Destry set a goal for himself to beat him. He’s been working for this for the last 365 days. He set a goal for himself to beat him.”

Last year’s match lit a fire that Kenning has stoked ever since.

Despite knee surgery that nearly derailed his efforts in late December, Saturday afternoon, his quest nearly reached fruition as he faced off against Klingelhoefer.

“Sometimes when you set goals for yourself you accomplish a lot,” Desmond said.

A Klingelhoefer escape early in the second period gave the Amherst senior a 1-0 lead.

But Kenning evened the contest with an escape of his own early in the third period, before being taken down and falling behind 3-1 just a short time later.

“Last year when I got home from state I wrote down some goals. One of them was to be a state champion,” Kenning said. “I also made a list of the things I needed to do to get there, from track, to lifting over the summer, to having a good football season.”

Although Kenning broke lose once again with 27 seconds left in the match to pull to 3-2, attempts  to take Klingelhoefer down were unsuccessful and Klingelhoefer held on for the win.

“I came up a little bit short, but it was a great experience,” Kenning said. “To come out of here with a silver medal was a high accomplishment.”