
Great Bend Post Sports
Many of the best wrestling teams and individual wrestlers converged on Dodge City Friday and Saturday. The top three teams were separated by a single point with Class 3-2-1A's Hoxie and Class 6A's Manhattan both scoring 221 points. Goddard, the No. 1 team in Class 5A, finished second with 220 points. Eighth-ranked Great Bend scored 96.5 points to finish 10th in spite of some unfortunate circumstances.
Junior Triston Tomlinson was impressive in pool matches with a 7-0 record and five wins by fall. Ranked No. 5 at 138 pounds, he lost an 11-5 battle to Ulysses' Sebastian Heredia, ranked No. 6 in 4A, in the semifinals. Tomlinson rebounded to beat fifth-ranked Wesley Gill of Blue Valley (6A) 8-1 in the consolation finals for third.
Junior Trenton Kern finished fourth at 215 pounds after forfeiting his final two matches. Kern, ranked No. 6, returned from an injury to pin his Pratt opponent in dual action Thursday. He was 5-0 with five pins in Dodge City before forfeiting his final three matches. Top-ranked Preston Hagel of Goddard was leading Kern before the forfeit and went on to win the bracket.
Freshman Cal Schartz, ranked No. 2 at 113 pounds, finished fifth in that bracket. Schartz went 3-2 in pool matches with a pair of tech falls and a 54-second pin. He lost a 5-2 decision against Newton's Wade Stubbs and lost in sudden victory to fourth-ranked Cruz Cannon of Hutchinson. Schartz closed out the tournament with a tech fall and 9-6 decision against Tonganoxie to secure fifth.
Hayden Kelly was another fifth-place finisher at 150 pounds. He finished pool matches at 4-2 with three wins by fall and a loss to top-ranked Logan Lagerman of Manhattan (6A). He also lost a 6-5 battle to Tonganoxie. Kelly was able to win decisions over Ulysses and Newton in bracket competition to come away with fifth place.
Trevin Maciel finished sixth at 144 pounds. He finished pool action at 4-3 with four pins and a pair of losses against ranked 6A wrestlers. In bracket action, Maciel tech-falled No. 6 Giovanny Gomez of Hoxie (3-2-1A) before losing another match to No. 5 Taggart Murphy of Olathe North (6A).
Blake Stein strung together a nice day at 157 pounds for eighth place. He won his first three matches and finished pool action at 4-3 with losses against the No. 1 wrestler in 4A and the No. 4 wrestler in 6A. The tough day continued in the brackets as Stein went the distance in a 10-2 loss to No. 2 Max Harris of Hutchinson. Stein was defeated for a second time by Newton's Kane Wise in the seventh-place match. Top-ranked Jacob Goodwin of Goddard won the bracket.
Brady Mendez finished ninth at 190 pounds. Mendez was 2-1 with a pair of pins before running into top-ranked Samuel Watkins of Hoxie. Mendez finished pool action at 2-3 and pinned his Blue Valley opponent to reach the ninth-place match where he won by injury default. Watkins went on to win the bracket.
Ryder Morris was another ninth-place finisher at 285 pounds. He went 1-3 in pool matches that included a loss to the No. 5 wrestler in Class 6A. Morris finished his day with a bye and medical forfeit in bracket action to secure ninth. Josue Bustamonte was wrestling unattached and was sitting a 2-1 before an injury ended his day early.
Hayden Liles finished 14th at 126 pounds. He finished pool matches a 1-6 with losses to ranked wrestlers from Hoxie, Newton, and Goddard. Max Steffan also finished 14th at 175 pounds. He ran into the No. 1 wrestler in 3-2-1A and the No. 2 wrestler in 6A to start his day before picking up a win by fall. He pinned a Goddard wrestler to reach the 13th-place match.
Braxton Richter lost nine matches at 120 pounds to finish 20th. Hoxie's top-ranked junior Ian Giancola defeated Lou Elsten of Lawrence, ranked No. 2 in 6A, in the finals.