Great Bend Post Sports
Area wrestlers had plenty of success Friday at Hoisington's Corner Classic. Unranked Concordia scored 181 points points for the upset. Great Bend scored 170 points for second, and Hoisington finished third with 116.5 points to beat Liberal.
Panther senior Jace Schartz entered Friday's 165-pound bracket ranked No. 3 in Class 5A. He turned in another dominating performance with a 4-0 record. All of his wins came by tech fall, including a pair of 15-0 wins. He defeated Ellinwood's Gabriel Martinez 18-2 in the finals. Martinez reached the finals by pinning his first four opponents.
Great Bend freshman Cal Schartz moved up to No. 3 in the Dec. 17 Class 5A rankings. He followed that with a win at 113 pounds Friday. Schartz tech-falled all three pool opponents 15-0, then defeated Hoisington's Kalob Lamb by a similar score to open bracket matches. Schartz needed just 39 seconds to pin Eureka's Mason Hughes (13-3) in the finals. Lamb finished third for the Cardinals with a win over Larned's Brayden Smith.
Panther freshman Hayden Liles won the bracket at 120 pounds. He pinned both pool opponents then followed suit in bracket competition with wins by fall against Holcomb and Concordia. Larned senior Jai-Sean Phillips finished fourth.
Cardinal senior Teron Kraft moved up to No. 4 at 175 pounds in the latest Class 3-2-1A rankings. He had no trouble Friday, pinning his first two opponents in 11 and 79 seconds, respectively. He pinned Ellinwood's Nathan Hammeke in 56 seconds to advance to the finals where he defeated Concordia by tech fall 16-1. Great Bend's Maxx Steffan pinned Hammeke in the consolation finals.
Larned's Landon Haney won an all-area finale at 190 pounds. Haney snuck by Great Bend's Brady Mendez in his first contested match before pinning his final two pool opponents. He pinned Ellinwood senior Cooper Gunn for the title. Mendez picked up a pair of sub-minute pins in pool matches but was pinned by Stafford's Dylan Brozek in the third-place match.
Panther sophomore Blake Stein made the finals at 157 pounds. He went 3-0 in pool matches with a pair of pins and a major. Stein needed just 39 seconds to pin Hoisington's Knoxly Nettleingham in the semifinals. Stein was pinned by Concordia's one-loss Drake Blochlinger in the finals. Nettleingham placed fourth for the Cardinals.
Larned freshman Konner Mills moved to 11-1 on the season with a win a 106 pounds. He pinned all four opponents with three wins in 63 seconds or less. Stafford freshman Jayce Feril placed second.
Great Bend sophomore Josue Bustamante nearly had a perfect day at 285 pounds. He was sitting at 4-0 with four wins by fall, including a pair of sub-minute pins. Concordia senior Tracer Murdock, ranked No. 5 in Class 4A with just one loss on the season, pinned Bustamante in 54 seconds. Murdock won all five matches on the day in 54 seconds or fewer, including three in 25 seconds or less. Larned's Joseph Wilder placed third in the round-robin bracket.
Hoisington junior Jhadyn Turner made the finals at 126 pounds, where he lost a 12-5 decision to Liberal's one-loss Julian Orrantia. Great Bend senior Ambrose Kramer was pinned by Orrantia in the semis but went on to finish third in the bracket.
Larned's Asher Alexander wrestled in the championship match at 132 pounds, getting pinned by Holcomb's Haegen Hartman. Alexander pinned his first three opponents before losing an 11-0 match against Liberal to close out pool competition. Great Bend's Caleb Mulligan went 3-1 in pool matches with a 13-second and 57-second pin and a loss to Alexander. Hoisington's Jaxson Henry pinned Mulligan in the third-place match.
Landon Beaver was a finalist for Hoisington at 144 pounds. He pinned all three pool opponents before losing an 8-3 decision to Concordia in the championship match. Great Bend senior Luis Gonzalez rebounded from a loss to Beaver to pin his next two opponents. He was pinned by his Liberal opponent in the third-place match.
Great Bend's Trevin Maciel finished third at 138 pounds. After a loss, Maciel pinned his next two opponents in a total of 49 seconds, then added a third pin against Hoisington. Maciel pinned his Liberal opponent in the consolation finals.
Panther junior Ethan Stegman lost all four matches at 215 pounds. Stafford sophomore Jackson Mead placed fourth in the bracket.