Call it a banner two days for the Great Bend High School wrestlers. All 10 state qualifiers advanced to day two of the Class 5A State Wrestling Championships in Park City Friday and Saturday. Junior Kaiden Hoffman finished second at 126 pounds, and six other Panthers medaled. Maize and Newton were the big favorites going in. Maize won the team title with 214 points, followed by Newton with 175.5 points. St. Thomas Aquinas took the final team trophy with 122 points, and Great Bend finished fourth with 115.5 points.
Dropping out of the rankings at 126 pounds, Hoffman pinned two of his first three opponents, including the No. 2 and No. 5 wrestlers, to reach the finals. Top-ranked AB Stokes of Newton was too much for the bracket, pinning his way to the finals and pinning Hoffman in the first period of the championship match. Hoffman ends his season with a 27-16 record as the state runner-up.
Triston Tomlinson was one of five Panthers to reach the semifinals in Friday's action. Ranked. No. 4 at 106 pounds, Tomlinson was sitting at 2-0 before a 9-2 loss to top-ranked Talon Verbeck of Maize, who finished second in the bracket. The freshman won a decision on the back side, then pinned second-ranked Taylor Rickard of Newton in the consolation finals. Tomlinson ends his freshman season at 34-12 as the third-place finisher.
Junior Matthew Johnson was highly ranked early in the year but entered the state field unranked at 175 pounds. He pinned his first opponent before losing a 7-5 decision to the eventual runner-up from Lansing. Johnson pinned his next two opponents in the consolation bracket to secure a state medal, then pinned his Andover opponent to advance to the third-place match. There he lost a 5-3 decision to fourth-ranked Adrian Turner of Kapaun to finish fourth. Johnson ends his season with a 36-13 record.
Sophomore Jace Schartz, ranked No. 3, finished fifth at 144 pounds. He was sitting at 2-0 before a loss to top-ranked and eventual champion Jacob Goodwin of Goddard in the semifinals. Schartz went the distance against second-ranked Camden Padgett of Maize on the back side but lost 3-0 to fall to the fifth-place match. He defeated Bishop Carroll 7-3 in round two Friday, but got the pin against the same wrestler Saturday to capture fifth and end his season at 41-10.
Fourth-ranked Cooper Liles had a similar tournament to Schartz at 150 pounds. The junior was 2-0 with a tech fall and pin to reach the semifinals where he lost an 8-0 decision to second-ranked and eventual runner-up Clayton Bowers of Maize. A loss to fifth-ranked David Sample of Goddard put Liles in the fifth-place match where he needed just 29 seconds to pin his Shawnee Heights opponent. Liles ends his season at 37-10.
Freshman Trenton Kern had the toughest road to a medal after a first-round loss to the eventual state champion at 190 pounds. Kern pinned his next two opponents, including the No. 5 wrestler from Pittsburg, then won a 10-4 decision against Bishop Carroll to secure a medal. After a loss to third-ranked and third-place finisher Ronan Wunsch of Maize, Kern defeated fifth-ranked Logan Buchanan of Newton 6-4 to secure fifth place. Kern ends his first varsity season with a 31-22 record.
Fifth-ranked Skyler McMullen used a pin and sudden-victory win to reach the semifinals where he was pinned by second-ranked and state runner-up Nakaylen Shabazz of Maize. After a 6-5 loss to the sixth-ranked wrestler from Emporia, McMullen's tough draw continued with a loss by fall to third-ranked Corbin McIntier from Pittsburg in the sixth-place match. McMullen ends his final prep season with a 34-14 record.
At 132 pounds, freshman Hayden Kelly opened with a loss to the eventual state runner-up. He stayed alive with a win over Bonner Springs, but lost to the eventual sixth-place finisher from Topeka Seaman to end his season at 19-23.
After a round-one loss at 215 pounds, junior Keyven Schroeder pinned his Bonner Springs opponent to stay alive on the back side. Schroeder bowed out with a loss to fifth-ranked and fifth-place finisher Omari Elias of Kapaun to finish his season at 38-13.
Sophomore Brody Schnoebelen had a tough draw against second-ranked Jaxson Thomas of Topeka Seaman, who pinned his way to a state championship. Schnoebelen stayed alive with a pin against Spring Hill but made a quick exit in the next round against Hutchinson to end his season at 26-21.
Great Bend saw a wrestler advance to the state finals for the fifth-straight year, and the Panthers tied a school record with seven state medalists.