Great Bend Post Sports
The Panther wrestlers hit the mats Saturday in Kearney, Neb. against mostly new opponents. The 104 points Great Bend scored was still good enough for fifth place. Kearney won the tournament with 201 points, followed by Grand Island with 172.5 points, and North Platte with 137 points.
Jace Schartz, the lone Panther senior in action Saturday, entered the field ranked No. 2 after a third-place state finish at 157 pounds in February. In true Schartz fashion, he ground down his opponents with a pair of tech fall wins and an 18-6 major to close out pool action. He edged Kearney's Taj Wilson, ranked No. 4 in Nebraska's largest class, 7-5 for the championship.
Junior Hayden Kelly brought home the other title at 150 pounds. He pinned his first two opponents before picking up a tech fall and 8-2 decision to get out of pool matches at 4-0. He defeated Andre Mercier of Klein, Texas 9-5 in the finals.
Fifth-ranked Trenton Kern reached the finals at 215 pounds before bowing out with an injury. The junior pinned two of his first three opponents in a total of 104 seconds (1:44) and threw in a tech fall to reach the finals.
Sixth-ranked Triston Tomlinson battled out a third-place finish at 138 pounds. The junior won his first three matches in a variety of ways with a fall, a tech fall, and a major before getting pinned by Kearney junior Kaedun Goodman, ranked No. 6 at 132 pounds. Tomlinson needed just 54 seconds to secure third place in the consolation finals.
Freshman Cal Schartz had a tough open at 113 pounds, losing by tech fall to Kearney's eventual champion and fourth-ranked Jack Sponenburgh. Schartz bounced back with a 36-second pin and a tech fall to advance to the consolation finals where he needed just 45 seconds to pin his North Platte opponent for third place.
Trevin Maciel placed sixth at 132 pounds. He went 1-2 in contested pool matches with a pin and losses to the eventual first and fourth-place finishers. He was pinned by his Kearney opponent in the fifth-place match.
Sophomore Blake Stein posted 2-2 record at 157 pounds for sixth place. Freshman Braxton Richter posted an 0-4 record for sixth place at 120 pounds. Caleb Mulligan lost his first three matches before winning the seventh-place match by forfeit at 126 pounds. Freshman Brody Mendez finished with an 0-4 record at 190 pounds for seventh place. Junior Josue Bustamonte finished contested matches at 285 pounds at 0-3 to place ninth.