The numbers worked for the Panther wrestlers Friday at Hoisington’s Cardinal Classic. With 20 wrestlers in action, Great Bend scored 198 points for the title. Concordia, with 13 wrestlers going, scored 189.5 points for second, and Liberal, with a dozen wrestlers, placed third with 118 points. Hoisington scored 99.5 points for fourth.
Second-ranked Matthew Johnson was impressive at 175 pounds. The junior pinned all four pool opponents in under a minute, then picked up a fifth pin against Concordia in the championship match.
Fourth-ranked Jace Schartz pinned all four of his opponents in pool matches at 150 pounds. That set up a marquee finale against sixth-ranked Deryk Yott of Hoisington. Schartz took the title with a 5-0 decision. Third-ranked Cooper Liles was even better at 157 points, going 5-0 on the day with all wins coming by fall. Trevin Maciel went 2-3 in that bracket for sixth.
Freshman Triston Tomlinson doubled his season win total at 106 pounds, pinning all four opponents to capture first place. At 138, Skyler McMullen advanced to the finals with a pin and a 12-7 decision. McMullen pinned his Larned opponent in the semifinals before losing a 7-4 decision to Concordia’s one-loss Easton Swihart in the finals.
The 113-pound bracket featured sixth-ranked Ashton Dooley of Concordia (4A), who won. Panther sophomore Ambrose Kramer pinned his first two opponents before losing a 15-0 tech fall to Dooley in what proved to be the championship match. Freshman Aaron Ramirez went 0-3 in the bracket but lost an 8-0 major decision to Dooley to place fourth.
The 215-pound bracket could have featured an all-Great Bend final. Keyven Schroeder and Brody Schnoebelen each pinned all three pool opponents. Schnoebelen advanced to the finals with a 7-0 decision against Hoisington, but Schroeder was pinned by Larned in his semifinal match. Larned’s Carter Atteberry went on to win a 3-1 sudden-victory match against Schnoebelen in the finals. Schroeder pinned Hoisington’s Elliott Copp for third. After losing his first four matches, Ryder Morria defeated Concordia 10-5 for seventh place.
Freshman Hayden Kelly made the finals at 126 pounds. He went 3-0 in pool matches with a pair of pins, then opened bracket competition with a quick pin against Holcomb. Concordia’s Drew Sterrett, with just one loss on the season, won a 10-0 major decision against Kelly in the finals. Freshman Luis Gonzalez went 0-2 in pool matches but pinned his Stafford opponent to reach the fifth-place match. There he was pinned by Liberal.
Trenton Kern had to contend with top-ranked Trystian Juarez of Liberal (6A) at 190 pounds. Kern went 1-1 in pool matches with a pin and a loss to Juarez. Kern lost his semifinal match to Larned 8-0, but rebounded to beat Concordia 7-4 for third place.
Junior Kaiden Hoffman placed third at 132 pounds, going 2-1 in pool matches with a pair of pins and a 13-0 loss to one-loss Gregery Martinez of Holcomb. Hoffman lost a 20-5 tech fall to another tough wrestler from Concordia in the semifinals, then pinned his Liberal opponent for third.
Two more Panther wrestlers made up a third of the bracket at 165 pounds. Michael Montoya finished at 3-2, with all matches decided by fall, for third place. Kenton Grauerholz went 0-5 for sixth place. Blake Davis went 1-3 in pool matches at 285 pounds. He needed just 41 seconds to pin his teammate at 285 pounds for seventh.
Lady Panthers place third out of 10 teams
Reigning Class 4-1A state runner up Hoisington dominated
the field Friday with 152.5 points for the win. Liberal finished second with
133.5 points, and Great Bend scored 132 points for third. Eudora placed a
distance fourth with 102 points.
Third-ranked Daizy Gomez made quick work of her two opponents at 125 pounds. The junior won in 96 and 28 seconds to improve to 11-2 on the year. Senior Katie Kuhlman pinned three of her first four opponents at 130 pounds in round-robin action. Kuhlman finished third in the bracket after a 3-0 loss to Liberal and a loss by fall to third-ranked Daijah Jones of H oisington.
Freshman Natalee Daniels posted a 3-0 record at 190 pounds for the win. After a 3-0 decision over Hoisington to open the tournament, Daniels pinned her final two opponents in 44 and 34 seconds, respectively. Sophomore Haylee Holinde followed with the win at 235 pounds, moving to 8-1 on the season. She pinned all three of her opponents in under a minute each.
Freshman Kaylea McMullen made it to the finals at 120 pounds. She pinned all three of her pool opponents, then advanced out of the semifinals on injury default. Fifth-ranked Kiana Grandclair of Hoisington won the title 8-0 for a major decision. Freshman Alyvia Grabast went 2-3 in the bracket with a pair of pins for sixth place.
Great Bend made up half the bracket at 155 pounds. Sophomore Danica Cline won by fall and a 2-1 decision to finish at 2-1 for second place. Paige Sanders finished at 0-3 with the 2-1 loss to Cline for fourth place. Lea Nokes placed third at 170 pounds. She pinned her first two opponents before losing by fall to Liberal. Nokes defeated her Scott City opponent 7-5 in the third-place match.
The Lady Panthers went open in the two lightest weights, but senior Karley Stuckey went 1-1 at 110 pounds with a 30-second pin to finish second out of three girls. Freshman Josie Blevins pinned her first opponent in short order at 135 pounds but had to default the rest of her matches due to injury.
Two Lady Panthers made up 40 percent of the bracket at 140 pounds. Jaydon Davis opened with a quick pin of teammate Raegen Ketch. Davis went on to finish third with a 1-3 showing. Ketch pinned her Holcomb opponent to finish at 1-3 in fourth. Third-ranked Lyndsay Escareno of Eudora kept her perfect record intact for first.
Freshman Melissa Martinez opened with a loss to fourth-ranked Rian Rodriguez at 145 pounds. Martinez lost all three contested matches to place seventh.