Jim Ramirez Just as anticipated, both Andale, Chanute and Tonganoxie, the number ranked 1, 2 and 4th place teams in Class 4A are simply dominating their opponents and are headed for a head-on collision in two weeks. However, there are a couple other teams out there with some quality wrestlers of their own that can play a major spoiler role should they be overlooked. At this stage of the game heading in to the third round of post-season tournaments, upsets can occur and often do, so nothing is a guarantee or taken for granted.
In Region 1, Andale stood heads and tails above its competition with scoring a whopping 203 points with crowning 7 champions and 1 Runner-Up in addition to qualifying 10 wrestlers to Sub-State while easily outdistancing its nearest competitor in Pratt who finished with 150 points. So dominant was Andale’s performance that it almost seemed like the Indians were in a dual match against the rest of the field. Taking titles for the regional champions were Colton Miller @ 106, Owen Eck @ 120, Hector Serratos @ 126, AJ Furnish @ 132, Ian Aouad @ 152, Elijah Aouad @ 170, Riley Marx @ 195, and Cayden Winter @ 220. Pratt likewise had a good tournament with putting six in the finals and winning 2 titles with Dalton Weber @ 113 and Iziah Cook @ 182, but more importantly qualified 9 wrestlers for next weeks Sub-State to stay within fighting distance of Andale. Only Scott Community who finished third in the tournament with scoring 128 points was able to match Pratt’s 9 qualifiers for next week.
Both Colby and Goodland qualified 7 wrestlers each, but Colby was able to crown two champions in Tyler Voss @ 138 and Declan Ryan @ 285, while Goodland on the other hand, managed to crown its own champ with having the arm raised of Mason Hernandez @ 145. Defending State Champion Sam Elliot @ 160 for Buhler rounded out the list on championship row.
In one of the closest tournament finishes, Region 2 saw four teams all within several points of one another to make this an exciting start to finish ending. Augusta came out on top with scoring 111 points, followed by Clay Center with 110, Rose Hill with 107.5 and Mulvane with 103.5. Ironically, the order of team finishes saw the complete opposite of crowned champions where Mulvane who finished fourth crowned 4 champions in Chadrick Stahl @ 132, Trent Moses @ 138, Chris Dietrich @ 160 and Hunter Scott @ 285. Crowning 3 champions and finishing 3rd was Rose Hill with Braden Tatum @ 106, Keagan Beavers @ 145 and Tommy Rogers @195. Second place went to Clay Center with two champions in Tucker Jackson @ 152 and Kergan McDonald @ 220. Meanwhile, Augusta the tournament winner, settled for two champions as well with Grady Fox @ 120 and Garrett Davis @ 170. Two other champions not affiliated with any of the name schools above was Braden Ledford from Winfield @ 126 and Tucker Cell from Abilene @ 113 who were both named the Co-Outstanding Wrestlers of the Tournament.
In Region 3, Tonganoxie the number 4 ranked team in Class 4A is playing for keeps as well with finishing first scoring an unbelievable 225 team points. In doing so, they crowned 5 champions in Brock Coleman @ 106, Braeden Moore @ 113, Grayson Sonntag @ 126, Gabriel Bailey @ 152 and Branden Martin @ 195. Likewise the Chieftains qualified 10 wrestlers to Sub-State with all their wrestlers placing 3rd place or better. Ottawa unranked, continues to be the surprising team on the mat this year with finishing second and qualifying 10 wrestlers as well with a champion in Kael Lane @ 170. Nevertheless, the Cyclones will need to have their 6 wrestlers who finished third and fourth at regionals to step it up on the mat once more with a top four finish this week at Sub-State to keep pace for a top ten finish at state. Holton no stranger to winning, finished 3rd with a 171.5 points and a champion with Jake Barnes @ 120. They too, qualified 9 wrestlers to next weeks Sub-State. Louisburg with finishing 4th, did end up having the second most champions in the tournament with Cade Holtzen @ 132, Alden Barker @ 182, and Alec Younggren @ 220. In addition, both Perry-LeCompton and Eudora ended up with 2 champs of their own with the Kaws Thad Metcalfe @ 160 and Hayden Robb @ 285, along with Eudora’s Cael Lynch @ 138 and Holden Andrews @ 145.
In Region 4, Chanute is just wrestling on another planet right now with scoring 232.5 points with completely manhandling its competition with placing 7 wrestlers in the finals and winning 4 individual championships with Kolton Misener @ 113, Trent Clements @ 120, Trey Dillon @ 126 and Tuker Davis @ 220. In second place well behind with 143 points was Fort Scott who ended up having a respectable tournament itself with managing to crown 4 champs with Jasper Allison @ 106, Coby Burchett @ 132, Jacob Stinnett @ 152, and Malachi Vann @ 170. Fort Scott certainly is commended for having just as many champs as the first place Blue Comets team, but where they fell short was just not having enough depth throughout their entire line-up to make the team race a bit closer. But then again, who does?
Both Frontenac the third place finisher, and Coffeyville placing 4th made their presence known with having two champions as well with Dawson Lapping @ 145 and Dylan Ensch @ 182 and the Tornadoes crowning Matt Redden @ 195 and Brady White @ 285. Not to be left out of the winners circle with having a champion were two other teams with Bodi Isenhower @ 145 for LaCygne-Prarie View and Damon Hoback @ 160 for Burlington.
All in all, Class 4A is gearing up for a big time dog-fight that’s actually going to occur at Sub-State this weekend when Region 3 teams meets up with Region 4 Teams. Something’s gotta give, so until then, we’ll just wait for the rest of the story.
