By CONOR NICHOLL
Looking at several wrestling champions, top performances from each class
Rossville girls win home meet; Wamego boys win at Rossville
The Rossville tournament featured a close competition on the boys and girls side. For the girls, the top-four finished within 13 points. Rossville delivered 124, Wellington finished at 121, Wellsville at 114, and Santa Fe Trail with 111.
For Rossville, Keera Lacock won her first two matches by fall and a third in a 7-2 decision at 115. Two-time state champion Kendra Hurla rolled by fall in 2 minutes, 23 seconds, forfeit and a fall in 1:57 at 120. Hurla is ranked first in the 4-1A classification.
Nagos Hale took fourth at 130. Cassie Fund finished second at 135. Reagan Wonnell was first at 140. She won all four matches by fall at 2:21 or less. Hailey Horton was second at 155. She lost to Oskaloosa’s Allison King, a defending state champion, via fall in 1:23.
For Wellington, Deighlynn Lea was second at 105. Aubri Rohrer took second at 110. Isabelle Cullens finished second at 120. Bri Walker was first at 135. Kaylee Horinek was second at 170. Aubrey Hunt captured the title at 235 with four wins by fall: 2:21, 28 seconds, 1:19 and 4:55.
Wellsville had a second-place finish from Olive Dubois at 125. She picked up three wins by 2:43 or less. Lainey Fairley was second at 130 with three dominant victories: wins via fall in 46 seconds, 1:20 and 1:46. Olivia Darnell took second at 145.
Santa Fe Trail had several strong wrestlers. Audrey Johnson was third at 105. Madison Adkins took second at 115. Morgan Pickering took third at 135. Hailee Crosland was first at 145. Kilee Waters earned third at 155. Sierra Dempsey finished second at 235.
On the boys’ side, Wamego won with 213 points, Santa Fe Trail second with 203 and Atchison County third with 202.5 points. Sabetha was fourth at 193. For Wamego, Harry Costa took second. Knox Karnowski took first at 126. Austin Meyer was second at 138. Tayke Weber was third at 144. Thomas McIntyre and Brody Oviatt were both second at 150 and 157, respectively. Jake Meyer was first at 190.
Overall, girls and boys combined, seven wrestlers had four pins: Wamego’s Tayke Weber, Rossville’s Reagan Wonnell, Wellington’s Talan Cantrell, Oskaloosa’s Holly Thacher, Nemaha Central’s John Siess, Wellington’s Aubrey Hunt and Sabetha’s Colin Menold.
Dodge City wins girls’ meet; Pratt takes fourth
Dodge City won the third annual Dodge City Invitational girls’ tournament. Dodge City had two teams entered in the tournament. The Blue squad, which was the varsity team, won with 205 points. DC is the defending 5-6A state champions. Second and third finishing teams were out of state squads. Pratt, the defending 4-1A titlist, was fourth. Great Bend, Emporia, Manhattan and Valley Center were next; all four teams scored between 114 and 92 points.
Dodge City is currently ranked first in 5-6A, and Pratt first in 4-1A.
At 105, Dodge City’s Jessica Rivera went 17-1. In the championship game, Rivera defeated Cimarron’s Veronica Greene in the final by sudden victory. At 110, Ashley Alonso was 13-5 and took third. At 125, Ariana De La Rosa (19-1) won the championship. De La Rosa won by fall in 28 seconds, by major decision, by fall and a 10-3 championship in the finals.
At 145, Ashley Arroyo remained undefeated with a 13-0 mark. She had a dominating run with wins by fall in 33 seconds, 57 seconds, 33 seconds, 11-2 decision and a victory in 3:54. At 170, Jolette Almaraz (14-3) took second. In the final, Valley Center’s Grace Timmons beat Almaraz by fall. Timmons improved to 15-0.
For Pratt, 130-pounder Jadyn Thompson, a defending state runner-up, took second and moved to 13-1. Thompson, who could break the all-time Kansas girls’ wrestling wins record this season, won by fall in 45 seconds, an 8-0 decision and a 4-3 loss to an out-of-state wrestler.
Her sister, Keimarla Thompson (13-3) was second at 140. She fell by fall to Goodard’s AshLynn Goodwin in the finals. Goodwin improved to 15-1.
The Thompsons are ranked first at their weight classes in 4-1A.
Timmons led all wrestlers with five pins. Sixteen wrestlers had four pins. The group included: Valley Center’s Ryleigh Kurtz, Cimarron’s Madison Newton, Manhattan’s Sage Rosario, Emporia’s Katina Keosybounheuang, Dodge City’s Arroyo and Jolette Almaraz, Liberal’s Mana Chanthasone, Valley Center’s Gracie Orr, Goodard’s Goodwin, Great Bend’s Natalee Daniels, Liberal’s Jasmine Rangel, and Gardner-Edgerton’s Karen Rodriguez.
Four wrestlers, three from Kansas, tied for the overall lead with 30 points: Keosybounheuang, Goodwin, and Rosario. Hutchinson’s Anna Cullens also improved to 14-0 with a championship at 110. She won by fall in 20 seconds, 5:01 and 1:33. Cullens was a former state championship at Wellington.
Augusta boys wins home meet; undefeated matchup at 138
Augusta boys won the 55th annual Augusta Invitational. The Orioles scored 267.5 points. Rose Hill was second with 236 points. Andover took third with 206.5 points.
For Augusta, Elijah Foy (13-2) took first at 106. Marcus Terry (13-0) remained perfect at 126. Terry won all five of his matches by fall. At 132, Kalvin LaPlant (12-1) delivered a championship with four wins by fall and a major decision. Grady Fox (12-1) finished second at 138. Augusta is currently ranked third in 4A behind Andale and Rose Hill.
In the finals, Andover’s Adam Maki improved to 20-0. He defeated Fox, 8-7, in the championship. Haze Flower was third at 144. At 150, Cannon Carey (12-1) won the championship. He collected wins by fall, fall, technical fall, fall and a 7-2 decision.
Michael Johnson was third at 157, and Roman Coldwell took second at 175. At 190, Cooper Buell (11-3) captured the championship. Buell won three in a row by fall, a 1-0 decision and a major decision in the title. Gabe Kant and Willy Jon Morales each took second at 215 and 285, respectively.
Other top performances
Ellis junior Mason Younger improved to 17-0 at 126 with a title at the Franklin (Neb.) Invite. Younger won by fall, fall, tech fall and fall. He is a defending state runner-up. Teammate Jarett Mader (13-2) was first at 145. Mader won by fall, fall, decision and technical fall. Younger is ranked first at 126.
Maize boys rolled at the 38th Derby Panther Invitational. Maize delivered 215.5 points. Derby was second with 165.5 points. For Maize, Talon Verbeck (19-4) took second at 106. Daniel Gomez (18-9) was second at 132. Maize is currently ranked first in 5A.
At 138 and 145, Nakaylen Shabazz (24-3) and Camden Padgett (15-2) both won championships. Jayden Ford (19-3) was first at 165. Connor Padgett (25-2) took a title at 175. Ronan Wunsch (19-5) and Ayden Flores (23-2) was second at 190 and 215.
Erie’s Breanna Ross hit 100 career victories. Ross, a senior, is wrestling at 110 pounds. She was undefeated in the regular season last year and is currently undefeated this year.
