Great Bend Post Sports
The 66th Rocky Welton Wrestling Invitational in Garden City Friday and Saturday featured 40 teams from four states. The sixth-ranked Great Bend boys scored 121 points to finish eighth overall. Top-ranked Rose Hill (4A) scored 176.5 points to beat Pueblo East (Colo.) by 14 points for the title.
Third-ranked Cooper Liles finished third at 150 pounds. He was pinned by second-ranked Brady Mason of Mill Valley (6A) in the semifinals, but rebounded to pin top-ranked Wyatt Gardner of Wichita County (3-2-1A) in the consolation finals. Andale sophomore Ethan Eck defeated Mason 17-6 in the finals.
Third-ranked Trenton Kern came up just shy of third place at 190 pounds. The sophomore lost an 8-7 decision to fifth-ranked Isaiah Wilson of Andale (4A) in the consolation finals. Kern fell to the backside with a quick pin against fourth-ranked Preston Hagel of Goddard. Top-ranked Ayden Flores of Maize (6A) edged Hagel 6-5 in the finals.
Fourth-ranked Kaiden Hoffman placed eighth at 132 pounds with a 9-1 major decision loss against Pine Creek (Colo.) in the seventh-place match. Top-ranked Johnny Leck of Rose Hill made it to the finals where he lost a 3-1 decision against Pueblo East.
Aiden Davidson finished eighth at 175 pounds. He lost an 8-4 decision against fifth-ranked Jonathan Rigler of Hays in the seventh-place match. Second-ranked Cooper Reves of Salina Central won a major decision against Scottsbluff in the finals.
Third-ranked Jace Schartz brought home a ninth-place finish at 157 pounds. He defeated his Pueblo West (Colo.) opponent 7-5 in that ninth-place match. Top-ranked and unbeaten Owen Eck of Andale (4A) pinned top-ranked Kade Smith of Hutchinson (5A) in the finals. Schartz dropped to the backside with a loss to fifth-ranked Tyren Emberson of Rose Hill. Emberson went on to place sixth.
Hayden Kelly also made it to the ninth-place match at 138 pounds where he lost a 9-3 decision against fourth-ranked Joshua Kerr, a freshman from Maize South. Second-ranked Damon Ingram of Rose Hill won the bracket.
Michael Montoya was another Panther wrestler to advance to the ninth-place match at 165 pounds. There, he lost an 11-0 major against Scott City to finish 10th. Top-ranked Colin McAlister of Mill Valley (6A) tech-falled third-ranked David Sample of Goddard (5A) for the championship.
Fifth-ranked Matthew Johnson placed 11th at 215 pounds. He picked up a forfeit win against third-ranked Carmelo Orosco of Ulysses (4A) in the 11th-place match. Johnson was pinned by second-ranked MJ Wash of Mill Valley (6A) in the quarters. Top-ranked Ronan Wunsch of Maize (6A) needed sudden victory to get by second-ranked Dai'Mont Mucker of Valley Center in the finals.
Fifth-ranked Triston Tomlinson placed 16th at 120 pounds. That bracket featured many premiere wrestlers as top-ranked Matt Long of Garden City finished third behind two Colorado wrestlers.
The Panthers wrestle at home against Liberal on Thursday.