By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
This year's Christmas Clash hosted by Great Bend High School featured 370 female wrestlers representing 37 schools from three corners of the state. Former GBHS and current Barton Wrestling Coach Nathan Broeckelman helped bring the rare two-day girls' tournament to Great Bend last year. Gannon Reichert, who took over at GBHS for Broeckelman, said the tournament grew from 29 schools last year as one of the biggest girls' tournaments in Kansas.
"Girls' wrestling, just as a sport, is growing almost exponentially if you look at the numbers," said Reichert. "Having something like this in our backyard is just awesome. It brings in so many people staying, going out to eat, looking at local businesses, all of that."
Action began just after 1 p.m. Friday and went well into the evening. The brackets resumed Saturday morning at 9 a.m. With teams like St. Francis from the far northwest, Olathe West from the far northeast, and various teams from the southwest corner of the state, many wrestlers remained in town overnight. The community event continued inside as members of the Panther and Barton wrestling teams ran the score tables and clocks.
READ MORE: Lady Panthers finish fourth in second Christmas Clash
"That's great to have our boys there supporting the girls, helping them run the table and putting it on," said Reichert. "Huge shout out to Coach Broeckelman and his Barton wrestlers for helping. Broeckelman was still the tournament director in all of it. That was definitely handy being my first year here and not having to go through all that rigmarole."
In turn for helping out at the high school tournament, Broeckelman's Cougar wrestling team hosted its first Cougar Open at the Panther Athletic Center on Sunday. That tournament featured even more over-night visits with teams from Pratt, Labette County, and Colorado.