Jim Ramirez Just last week, Hoxie managed to put 9 wrestlers in the Finals of their District 1 Tournament and came away with 7 Champions and 2 Runner-Ups, thus qualifying all their finalist to represent their entire team in the next round of regional competition. Now skip forward to this past weekend at their Regional 1 Tournament in Wakeeney, and Hoxie managed to duplicate that same identical achievement and results with utilizing those same 9 wrestlers to provide the spark to easily walked away with another team title scoring 208 points. Winning individual titles for the Indians included Carson Ochs @ 120, Dayton Bell @ 126, Drew Bell @ 132, Drew Bretz @ 138, Derek Johnson @ 145, Aidan Baalman @ 160, and Brandon Baker @ 285. Finishing second for the Indians were Tate Weimer @ 106, and Wayne Shepard @ 113.
Finishing a very respectable second was Hill City scoring 145.5 points that included 2 champions Carter Underwood @ 106, Aiden Amrien @ 152 and 3 Runner-Ups. Collectively, Hill City will be sending 8 qualifiers on to Sub-State. Hoisington meanwhile, was the only other team that managed to crown 2 champions in Josiah Ball @ 113 and Joshua Ball @ 182. Other teams rounding out the field with individual champions included Konnor Pfeifer @ 170 lbs for Ellis, Tate Seabolt @ 195 for Cimmaron, and Gavin Sproul @ 220 for Norton.
In Region 2, the team race was a bit closer as two teams battled it out throughout the day with Belleville Republic County finishing first scoring 174 points with 5 champions and 1 Runner-Up, That effort was followed closely by Minneapolis finishing second with 160 points and 4 champions along with a Runner-Up finisher. Both of the top 2 teams took more than their fair share of the winnings with Republic County crowning champions with AJ Polansky @ 113, Kaleb Talkington @ 126, Jonathan Dyke @ 138, Andrew Hubert @ 160, and Quinton Beeson @ 220 while qualifying 6 wrestlers for Sub-State. Meanwhile, Minneapolis got in on the hunt and managed to get their share of the lions den too, with capturing individual titles with Chase Johnson @ 106, Gage Carlson @ 120, Adam Reed @ 132, and Keyon Baccus @ 195 and likewise qualified 8 for next weeks tournament. Beloit had a good showing as well as they ended up with a champion of their own in Brennan Walker @ 152 lbs and 3 Runner-Up place winners to finish in third with 147.5 points, but more importantly qualifying 8 to next week’s Sub-State. Other regional champions included Kingman’s Colby Schreiner @145 lb, Tristan Rathbone from Hillsboro @ 152, Matthew Rogriguez 170 pounder from Gypsum-Southeast, and Tra Barrientes @ 285 lbs from Sylvan-Grove.
Region 3 witnessed two teams qualifying 8 wrestlers a piece to next weeks Sub-State, but the biggest difference in team scoring came from Wellsville scoring a 140 points by putting 6 wrestlers in the Finals and crowning 2 champions in Cruz Farley @ 195 and Colby Stephens @ 285. To make things a little interesting, the Runner-Up team, the Douglas Bulldogs, finished with 125.5 points, putting two wrestlers in the Finals but crowned only one champion in Matthew Reynolds @ 138 lbs. Where Douglas gained valuable team points to make themselves a legitimate title contender was by having 6 wrestlers capture third place. Eureka meanwhile, certainly made some noise of its own with crowning 4 champions in a row with Brody Harrison @ 145, Brent Escareno @ 152, Brennan Lowe @ 160, and Garrison Spoonts @ 170.
The rest of the field in Region 3 saw seven other teams sharing the spotlight with capturing individual titles with Corbin White from Mound City-Jayhawk Linn @ 106, Jake Stanton, Caney Valley @ 113, Wyatt Wright, Whitewater-Remington @ 120, Trint Rogers, Cottonwood Falls @ 126, Quinten Heady, Erie @ 132, Buddy Clairbourn, Fredonia @ 182, and Gavin Girty, Rosalia Flint Hills @ 220.
Sabetha won their Region 4 Tournament with 169.5 points and is the lone team in Class 3-2-1A that’s sending the most wrestlers to Sub-State with qualifying ten. In winning their regionals, Sabetha unranked in the final coaches standings, sent 4 to the finals and captured two titles with Kellen Menold @ 106 and Kaden Dillon @ 160. However, a critical point to consider, is that the ten wrestlers Sabetha qualified, five of their wrestlers finished 4th place which understandably they realize in order to stay in contention for a possible top ten finish at State, their qualifiers have got to duplicate their efforts with placing once again in the top four of their respective weight classes in this coming weeks Sub-State Tournament. Silver Lake meanwhile, was on the heels of Sabetha and finished 2nd in the team race with scoring 159 points, and sent 5 to the finals crowning 4 champions in Kai Allen @ 138, Daigan Kruger @ 170, Tristan VandeVeide @182 and Preston Gillen @ 195. Not to be outdone with joining the winners circle, three other teams crowned two champions a piece with Gable Fredrickson @ 113 and Jack Lott @ 220 winning titles to help Marysville finish 3rd,, Layne Hurla @ 145 and Sam Twombly @ 152 won titles to help Rossville place 4th.. Last but not least, Osage City @ 6th place crowned their two champs Connor Collins @ 126 and Dane Whalen @ 285. The other two champions rounding out the field of champions included Tom Van Valkenburg @ 120 for Council Grove, and Mason Scholtz @ 132 for Effingham-Atchinson,
One thing for certain, is the competition will get just a bit more intensified with a nail-biting experience at this coming week’s Sub-State Tournament in Minneapolis once Region 2 Teams meet up with Region 1 Teams. It’ll be interesting due to the fact, there will be eight teams that recently finished being ranked in the Top Ten in Class 3-2-1A. To add additional suspense with previewing what to expect, look at weight classes that feature 4 or more ranked wrestlers in a particular weight and someone unfortunately will have to be eliminated. It’s all getting ready to throw down on the mat, so keep your fingers crossed for a particular team your rooting for.
