
Great Bend Post Sports
Thirty-five teams from Kansas, Nebraska, Colorado, and Wyoming converged on Garden City Friday and Saturday for the 67th Annual Rocky Welton Invitational. Great Bend missed the top-10 by just 2.5 points with 110. Nebraska's Creighton Prep won the tournament with 246 points, followed by top-ranked Garden City (6A) with 198 points, and top-ranked Goddard (5A) with 176.5 points.
Junior Trenton Kern was the lone Panther to reach the finals. Ranked No. 4 at 215 pounds, he opened the bracket with a pair of sub-minute pins, then advanced to the semis with a 12-3 major against a Colorado wrestler. There, he won a 19-9 major against a Nebraska wrestler. Top-ranked Preston Hagel of Goddard won his first four matches in 49, 26, 28, and 31 seconds, respectively. He pinned Kern in 52 seconds in the title match.
Senior Jace Schartz, ranked No. 3 at 165 pounds, tied the state record with his 52nd career tech-fall. Schartz tech-falled his first opponent and won a 16-6 major in round two. He lost an 8-5 battle to top-ranked Vance Provost in the semifinals. On the back side, Schartz tech-falled fourth-ranked Abram Owings of Salina before going into yet another overtime match against top-ranked Kade Smith of Hutchinson. Smith won the match for third place.
Sixth-ranked Hayden Kelly just missed fifth place at 150 pounds. The junior used a major and a decision to reach the semifinals where he was tech-falled by second-ranked Blake Samuelson of Olathe North. On the back side, Kelly lost 14-0 to third-ranked Saben Herrera of Garden City. Newton's Nate Barron avenged an earlier 3-1 loss to Kelly by winning the fifth-place match in the ultimate tie-break.
Fourth-ranked Cal Schartz went 0-2 in his first two contested matches at 113 pounds. The freshman was tech-falled by top-ranked Braydon Pacheco of Garden City in the quarters, then pinned by second-ranked Trenton Richwine of Rose Hill (4A) on the back side. Schartz closed out his tournament with a 39-second pin and an 8-5 decision for ninth place.
Hayden Liles worked his way through the back side of the bracket to place 11th at 132 pounds. He lost a 7-0 decision to Garden City in round one, then pinned an opponent and won an 8-2 decision before losing an 18-7 major to top-ranked Brogan Monty of Beloit (3-2-1A). After a loss to Hays, Liles pinned is Campus opponent in the 11th-place match.
Sixth-ranked Triston Tomlinson placed 12th at 138 pounds. The junior pinned his Garden City opponent before getting pinned by Creighton Prep. On the back side, Tomlinson picked up a pair of sub-minute pins before getting pinned by fifth-ranked Nick Miller of Goddard. Tomlinson lost a 5-3 battle against Maize and dropped to 12th place with a loss by fall to fifth-ranked Alex Rodriguez of Scott City (4A).
Josue Bustamante also placed 12th place at 285 pounds. He pinned his first opponent before getting tech-falled by the eventual runner-up from Nebraska. On the consolation side, Bustamante pinned an opponent and won a 1-0 decision before getting pinned by Garden City. Bustamante was pinned in his final two matches.
Maxx Steffan placed 14th at 175 pounds. He pinned his first opponent before getting pinned by Hutchinson. Steffan picked up another pin and 13-10 decision on the back side before getting pinned by Valley Center. Blake Stein placed 15th at 157 pounds. He lost in round one but pinned three of his opponents on the back side of the bracket to turn in a winning record.
Trevin Maciel posted a 1-2 record at 144 pounds. He was tech-falled by top-ranked Johnny Leck of Rose Hill in round one. Leck went to win the bracket. Ambrose Kramer went 0-2 at 120 pounds, including a round-one loss to second-ranked Braxton Moody of Valley Center. Freshman Logan Turner also posted an 0-2 record at 126 pounds.