The girls' prep wrestling season reached its conclusion Thursday in Park City and Salina. Russell sophomore Jaden Ney led area wrestlers with a runner-up finish at 135 pounds in Class 4-1A. Great Bend junior Daizy Gomez reached the semifinals at 125 pounds in Class 6-5A before an eventual fourth-place finish. Here are other area finishes:
Topeka's Washburn Rural surged in day two to win the 6-5A championship with 153 points. Garden City and Dodge City followed with 141 and 109 points, respectively. Chanute dominated the 4-1A brackets with 88 team points, followed by Rossville with 73 points. Hoisington placed sixth with 64.5 points.
Great Bend's Gomez was pinned by fifth-ranked junior Maya Tarbet of Garden City in the semifinals. Tarbet went on to win the championship at 125 pounds. Gomez pinned her first opponent on the backside to reach the consolation finals against Washburn Rural's Addi Broxterman. Broxterman was pinned by Gomez in the quarterfinals but avenged the loss with a pin for third place. Gomez finishes fourth for a second-straight season.
Lady Panther freshman Kaylea McMullen fell to Newton's third-ranked sophomore Emily Torres to finish her first state tournament at 2-2 and miss a medal at 120 pounds by a single win.
Senior Katie Kuhlman stayed alive on the back side with a win before finishing her first state tournament with a 1-2 record at 135 pounds. Freshman Natalee Daniels also posted a 1-2 record at 190 pounds with losses to the No. 3 and No. 4 wrestlers, including a tie break loss in her finale.
In Salina, Russell's Ney saw limited action this year after a third-place finish at 132 pounds last year. She pinned her first three opponents in this year's bracket, including girls ranked No. 1 and No. 5, before losing to unranked Keira Mullen of Smoky Valley in the championship match.
Hoisington senior Kiana Grandclair finished third at 120 pounds. After a win in round one, she was pinned by the eventual runner-up from Columbus. Grandclair pinned her next opponent from Pratt, then won a 6-2 decision against fifth-ranked Kadynce Axelson from Chanute to reach the consolation semifinals. There she defeated Stockton's fourth-ranked Ashlyn Hahn 2-1 to secure the bronze.
Hoisington's Daijah Jones finished fifth at 130 pounds, and teammate Tally Wikum finished fifth at 140 pounds. Lyrica Orosco followed with a fifth-place finish at 145 pounds for the Lady Cardinals.