By CONOR NICHOLL
This past weekend was shaped by five tournaments, three boys and two girls. For the boys, Beloit, Hays High’s Bob Kuhn Prairie Classic and Blue Valley Northwest’s were the top tournaments. On the girls’ side, Eureka and Olathe South were the major competitions. All rankings from Jan. 25 Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association.
Hoxie boys dominant at Beloit
Hoxie, the two-time 3-2-1A state champions, continues to dominate at an historic rate. The Beloit tournament is one of the state’s most historic and recognized wrestling competition. Hoxie nearly doubled up every team. The Indians had 260 points. Concordia is second with 134.5 points. Clay Center was third with 128 points.
Hoxie continued to rack up plenty of championships. The titles came from: 113-pounder Ian Giancola (23-2), 132-pounder Carson Ochs (21-0), 157-pounder Derek Johnson (26-0), 165-pounder Drew Bretz (24-0) and 175-pounder Sam Watkins (23-1).
Giancola was 4-0 with two first period wins, a 9-2 win and an 8-0 decision. Notably, Ochs picked up a 1-0 semifinal victory against Concordia’s Daniel Vines.
In the 138-pound final, Dayton Bell (26-1) took his first loss this season. He fell, 3-0, to Chanute’s Trey Dillow, who improved to 25-2. At 144, Abilene’s Tucker Cell improved to 18-1 with a first-period fall against Hoxie’s Duncan Bell in the championship. Duncan Bell is 23-3.
Johnson, a three-time state champion and the state’s best 157-pounder, won his first three matches in 1:02, 1:51 and 1:14. In the final, he defeated highly athletic Chanute’s Ty Leedy by a 7-3 margin.
Bretz won 20-6, 5-0 and 8-2. Watkins dominated with wins by fall in 1:36, 55 seconds, 1:03 and 12-5.
Three wrestlers finished with four pins: Oberlin’s Josh Juenemann and Lukas Zodrow and Silver Lake’s Trenten Harris. Eighteen wrestlers had three wins by fall. Of that group, Watkins had the least pin time at 3 minutes, 34 seconds.
Five wrestlers delivered 28 points: Cell, Chanute’s Dagen Dean, Hoxie’s Derek Johnson and Sam Watlins, and Blue Valley Southwest’s Torin Forsyth.
Andover boys wins at Blue Valley Northwest
The Blue Valley Northwest meet had 21 teams. Andover won with 453 points, Maize was second at 419. An out-of-state team was third, and Topeka Seaman was fourth with 365.5 points. Andover is ranked seventh in 5A, Maize is ranked first.
For Andover, Coulter Reischick (22-9) earned the 120-pound championship. Reischick had two byes and went 6-0 with five wins by fall. He won the title in 1:04.
Adam Maki (31-0) earned the championship at 138. Maki, who is ranked first in 5A, has enjoyed a huge season with six wins: two technical falls, three falls and a 3-0 decision championship. At 144, Bradley Trimmell (24-7) took second. He went 5-1 and lost to Maize’s Camden Padgett, 3-2, in the finals. Padgett is 25-5.
Tate Hutchinson (31-4) was third at 175.
For Maize, Daniel Gomez (26-9) earned the championship at 132. Gomez went 6-0, including a championship versus Blue Valley West’s Logan Meinheit. Nakaylen Shabazz (34-5) was third at 138.
Camden Padgett (25-5) took first at 144. He is ranked No. 1 in 5A. Clayton Bowers (27-4) was first at 150, and Connor Padgett (35-3) won at 175. Ronan Wunsch (29-7) was third at 215.
Manhattan wins in Hays at Bob Kuhn
Manhattan captured the 22-team tournament with 202.5 points. Junction City is second at 181.5. Great Bend took third with 176.5 points, while Hays High (109), Salina Central (108.5) and Pratt (108) were the next three.
Manhattan is ranked seventh in 6A.
For Manhattan, Caeleb Hutchinson (29-3) captured the 106-pound title. Hutchinson won by fall, tech fall and fall. He is ranked second.
Logan Lagerman (25-4) took first at 126. In the finals, he defeated Ellis’ Mason Younger in overtime. Younger is 25-1 and ranked first in 3-2-1A. Lagerman is ranked fourth at 126.
Clayton Frehn (20-6) won at 285 for the Indians and is ranked fifth. Frehn won all three matches by fall, including in the final against Hoisington’s Cole Gilliland (19-2).
Other winners featured: Junction City’s Ezekiel Witt (27-1 at 113), Oakley sophomore Carter Krier (6-0 at 120), Hays High’s Harley Zimmerman (21-1 at 132, No. 1 ranked at 5A), Junction City’s Patrick Foxworth (27-2 at 138), Great Bend’s Jace Schartz (25-3 at 144), Pratt’s Taye Wilson (16-2 at 150), Goodland’s Kyan Ensign (24-5 at 157), Buhler’s Cooper McCloy (21-2 at 165), Kapaun’s Adrian Turner (22-2 at 175), Kapaun’s Nathan Fury (26-2 at 190) and Kapaun’s Omari Elias (24-5 at 215).
Columbus girls win major Eureka tournament; Saporito sets school record
Columbus, which took third at Class 4-1A last season, continued to establish itself as a state contender. Columbus is ranked third in 4-1A behind Pratt and Baldwin.
Star senior Addison Saporito, an Ottawa University commit, picked up career win No. 100. She is the first Titan girl wrestler to accomplish the mark. Columbus won with 165 points. Eureka took second with 126, while Burlington was third with 104, and Newton fourth at 89.
For Columbus, Grace Noel (15-9) took third at 100. Saporito remained perfect at 26-0 at 120. She delivered two wins by fall and picked up a 5-2 championship win against Bluestem’s Cadence Williamson.
Noel is ranked sixth at 100. Saporito is ranked third, and Williamson second.
At 125, Emily Britt (16-10) won the championship. She had a fall in the quarterfinals before 3-2 and 5-4 victories. At 130, two Columbus wrestlers met up in the championship. Madelyn Garcia defeated Brooklyn Collingsworth by fall in 4:34. Garcia stands at 16-2, while Collingsworth is 3-1. At 135, Aubree Saporito (28-3) took third.
At 140, Brooklyn Lima (23-4) finished second. In the final, Eureka’s Lyndsey Escareno won 11-8. Escareno improved to 21-1. Escareno is ranked fourth, and Lima sixth.
At 145, Graci Major (15-5) took second. Burlington’s Michelle Phillips improved to 14-2 with a 10-5 decision against Major.
At 155, Jailyn Rodriguez (25-3) picked up the championship with a dominant three wins. Rodriguez won by fall in 2:14, 3:04 and 5:21. She is ranked second.
Burlington’s Olivia Lyons and Garcia both had four pins. Eighteen wrestlers had three pins. Douglass’ Riley Belt, El Dorado’s Trinity Motter, Eureka’s Makyla Gore, Aubree Saporito, Burlington’s Haylei Potter, and Rossville’s Cassie Fund and Hailey Horton were the leaders in fewest collective pin time among those with three pins.
Columbus’ Garcia led all wrestlers with 30 points. Jailyn Rodriguez and Gore had 28 points. Douglass’ Tye Rozell had 27 points. Addison Saporito, Escareno, and Cherryvale’s Zoey Kessler delivered 26 points.
Emporia takes second in Olathe South’s Southside Slam
The Southside Slam had 26 teams. Ozark (Mo.) won with 303.5 points. Emporia was second with 239, Topeka Seaman third with 229, Tonganoxie fourth at 216 and Baldwin fifth with 215. Many of Kansas’ uber elite wrestlers, including Olathe North’s Kaylan Hitchcock, Olathe South’s Nicole Redmond, Bonner Springs’ Olivia Stean and Tonganoxie’s Holly Colvert won championships.
Emporia is ranked seventh in 5-6A.
Hitchcock won by fall in 4:50 in the 120-pound championship against Shawnee Mission West’s Ella Weber. She moved to 34-1 in her sophomore year. She is ranked first in 5-6A.
At 130, Redmond defeated Topeka Seaman’s Koti Best by fall in 1:39. A junior, Redmond is 29-1. Best is 18-2 as a sophomore. Redmond is ranked first, Best second.
Plus, Olathe Northwest junior Chloe Harris remained undefeated at 155 and moved to 18-0. Leavenworth’s Hannah Jackson won a tiebreaker at 235 against Olathe North’s Hailey Conley and improved to 22-0 in her senior year.
Harris is ranked second, Jackson first.
Stean was utterly dominant again at 170. She improved to 23-0 with a championship win in 23 seconds. Stean is a two-time state champion. She is ranked first.
At 190, Tonganoxie’s Colvert improved to 21-1. Colvert won the championship in 1:19.
For Emporia, 115-pounder Azia Obregon (20-10) took fourth. At 120, Katina Keosybounheuang (25-6) was third. She finished 4-1 with all wins by fall in the first period. She is ranked third in 5-6A. Kensley Medrano (16-14) took fifth at 125.
Virginia Munoz (24-7) won the championship at 135. She is ranked first. Munoz went 5-0 with wins by fall in 58 seconds, 50 seconds, 5:10, 4:18 and an 8-5 win in the final against KC Harmon’s Kamanhi Jackson, who dropped to 26-2.
Kiana Flores-Delgado (27-6) was third at 170. She won by fall in 57 seconds, 1:56 and 3:27. After a loss in the semifinals, she won by tiebreaker in the third place match.
At 105, Tonganoxie’s Autumn Wilson defeated Baldwin’s Brianna Mitchell by a 10-0 margin. Wilson, a freshman, improved to 16-8. Mitchell is 23-7. At 110, Shawnee Mission South’s Stella Segura defeated Topeka Seaman’s Taylie Heston by fall in the championship. Segura is 21-1 in her freshman year. Heston, a sophomore, is 14-4.
At 115, Topeka Seaman sophomore Natalie Smith won by first-period fall. Smith is 10-2, while Olathe Northwest’s Emmy Keller stands at 10-3.
At 125, Topeka Seaman’s Madison Murray won the final in 53 seconds and moved to 20-3 in her junior year. Both Seaman wrestlers are ranked sixth.
At 140, Baldwin’s Audrey Darnell won the championship via first-period fall against Topeka Seaman’s Kaidence Heston. Darnell is 26-3. She is ranked second.
For 145, Leavenworth junior Avari Jackson earned a 9-0 major decision against Olathe South’s Justice Thomas. Jackson is 23-1 and ranked second.
