By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Five state champions, 41 state medalists, and 34 more state qualifiers. Those are just some of the accomplishments of Nathan Broeckelman's wrestlers in his eight seasons as head coach of the Great Bend High School programs. Now he's moving on. At Tuesday's Barton Community College board meeting, Broeckelman was approved as the new Cougar wrestling coach.
"We were perfectly happy at the high school," Broeckelman said. "An opportunity presented itself, and I just decided to take on a new challenge and have a little more flexibility of time with family. Having six kids, there are a lot of family dynamics there. I think the flexibility of time will help benefit my immediate family."
Broeckelman was a two-time individual state champion at Norton High School. Before arriving in Great Bend, he coached at Greeley County in Tribune and Manhattan. Along with all the state qualifiers, Broeckelman's Panthers posted an 86-59 dual record in eight seasons. He ranks third on the school career list for dual wins. The Lady Panthers finished second at state in the first girls' state tournament in 2020, and the Panther boys have finished in the top five at state in three of the last four years, with a sixth-place finish in 2019.
Broeckelman expects that success to continue after the Great Bend boys recently qualified 10 to state and finished fourth overall in the notoriously tough Class 5A. The Lady Panthers will return three state qualifiers.
"I feel like, overall, it's set up for a championship run on the boys' side," he said. "They're only losing Skyler McMullen. They're returning nine of their 10-state team. They've got some good freshmen coming up, and even more down the pipeline when you start looking at our Kids Club. On the girls' side, too, we've got an All-American entering in. Camdyn Post was a 16-and-Under All-American right before Kids State. She went to girls' nationals in Omaha, mostly wrestling against freshmen and sophomores, and she's just an eighth grader."
Broeckelman is ready for the challenge of competing at the next level. He's excited about the opportunity to choose some of the top wrestlers from around the region, but also knows there is competition from more than a dozen collegiate wrestling programs in Kansas alone.
"It's just going to be a challenge I haven't had to do yet," he said. "In high school, you recruit the hallways and get as many kids out as you can. Instead of recruiting the hallways, I'll be recruiting the highways, I guess you could say."
Broeckelman has been active with the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association throughout his tenure, and he takes over as KWCA President for a two-year term in October. During his time at GBHS, Broeckelman also helped create one of the state's largest girls' tournaments in the Christmas Clash, and helped create The Lair, a standalone wrestling facility at the new USD 428 property.