Regional wrestling preview

The Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association released their final rankings Tuesday as regionals begin throughout Kansas this weekend. In many cases, regional championship matchups will also be repeated as state title matchups, but for most wrestlers, their focus in regionals is just to qualify for the state tournament.

Regional tournaments begin Friday afternoon and continue into the evening with remaining rounds on Saturday.

Regional host sites include Garden City High School and Blue Valley High School (Overland Park) in class 6A; Bonner Springs and Arkansas City in class 5A; Chanute, Smoky Valley (Lindsborg), Paola and Pratt in class 4A; and Beloit, Fredonia, Rossville and Trego Community (WaKeeney) in class 3-2-1A.

In classes 5A and 6A regionals will feature 36 total schools each and the top eight placers in each weight class will qualify for state. Class 4A includes 59 total schools and 3-2-1A has wrestlers representing 89 total schools. At those regionals the top four placers in each weight class will qualify for state.

State competition takes place next weekend, February 22-23, with classes 5A and 6A wrestling at Hartman Arena in Park City, class 4A at Tony’s Pizza Event Center in Salina and 3-2-1A at Fort Hays State University’s Gross Memorial Coliseum in Hays.

6A

Garden City - Garden City may be host to the most challenging wrestling regional in the state as seven of the top 10 teams, including the top four, will be in attendance. The Garden City Regional is headlined by top-ranked Derby, but don’t count out Manhattan, Washburn Rural, or the host school. Campus, Dodge City, and Lawrence Free State will also carry a state ranking into regionals, which should make for an extremely entertaining and well-balanced fight to state.

Blue Valley - Fifth-ranked Mill Valley looks like the early favorite for the Blue Valley Regional, but Olathe North and Olathe South will challenge for a regional championship as well. The 120 pound weight class could see the top two wrestlers in 6A face off in the championship in Mill Valley’s Zach Keal and Olathe Northwest’s Caden Howard.

5A

Arkansas City - Host Ark City will be in the mix for a regional championship, but they’ll have to go through top-ranked Goddard and third-ranked Maize in order to do so. Great Bend, Newton, and Salina Central are also ranked teams in this regional, but four-time defending state champion Goddard will be the heavy favorite. The 160 pound division should be a battle as four of the top six wrestlers will be in action.

Bonner Springs - The Bonner Springs Regional is up for grabs. The host team has a legitimate shot at winning its regional, but fourth-ranked Blue Valley Southwest might be the favorite. Bonner Springs and Blue Valley Southwest have ranked wrestlers in 106 and 113, which could help decide a regional champion. St. Thomas Aquinas and Lansing, ranked sixth and eighth respectively, will also contend for a regional championship.

4A

Chanute - The Chanute Regional is Chanute’s to lose. The Blue Comets boast six ranked wrestlers who all hope to qualify for state. Fourth-ranked Frontenac, sixth-ranked Burlington, and seventh-ranked Winfield will make sure that Chanute does not have an easy road to a regional championship. Frontenac has the top-ranked wrestler in 138 (Riley McDaniel) and 145 (Mason Jameson), while top-ranked Owen Braungardt of Winfield (182) and Braden Morgan of El Dorado (220) will also be in action.

Smoky Valley - No. 3 Marysville is the only team in the top-10 at the Smoky Valley Regionals. The Bulldogs have four ranked wrestlers led by top-ranked Noah Ackerman at 160 and second-ranked Garron Champoux at 195. The Smoky Valley regional will also feature the No. 1 wrestlers at 113 (Will Stroda of Abilene) and 120 (Christian Rowe of Santa Fe Trail). Smoky Valley’s Jon Burks will be a fan-favorite at 220.

Paola - The Paola Regional will feature fifth-ranked Tonganoxie, eighth-ranked Prairie View, and ninth-ranked Ottawa and anyone of them could walk away as regional champions. Tonganoxie has three dominate wrestlers in Grayson Sonntag (106), Korbin Riedel (152), and Connor Searcy (195). Riedel and Searcy are the top-ranked wrestlers in their respective divisions, while Searcy is ranked second. Prairie View has a pair of second-ranked wrestlers in Gavin Cullor (160) and Wyaitt Cox-Halliburton (285), while Chanz Gerleman is ranked third at 195. Ottawa has three ranked wrestlers led by second-ranked Collin Creach at 126.

Pratt - Pratt finds themselves just inside the latest rankings at No. 10, but it’s top-ranked Scott City that will make most of the noise at the Pratt Regional. Scott City has five ranked wrestlers including top-ranked Justus McDaniel (132) and Wyatt Hayes (170). However, Pratt boasts No. 1 Devon Weber at 106.

3-2-1A

Beloit - The only regional in any classification without a ranked team is in Beloit. This could make for competitive and unpredictable results. The regional will not be low on talent, however. Perennial power Philipsburgh will be looking to make some noise, led by fourth-ranked Jacob Sisson at 126. Smith Center will also be in the hunt for a regional championship, led by top-ranked Jaden Atwood at 138 and second-ranked Colton Shoemaker at 113.

Fredonia - The Fredonia Regional is headlined by second-ranked Eureka. The Tornadoes have four ranked wrestlers including the top-ranked wrestler at 113 (Kendall Beitz) and 120 (Kolby Beitz). The host school features two ranked wrestlers in Hunter Reddick at 120 and Matt Weilert at 145.

Rossville - Including the seventh-ranked host school, the Rossville Regional features four ranked teams. No. 4 Sabetha has four ranked wrestlers including top-ranked Elliot Strahm at 285. Eighth-ranked Riley County features a dynamic duo in Luke Richard and Mikey Waggoner, who are the top ranked wrestlers in 145 and 170, respectively. With three ranked wrestlers, including No. 1 Ethan Ewing at 132, No. 9 Wellsville will also compete for the regional championship.

Trego Community - No. 1 Colby, No. 3 Plainville, and No. 6 Hoxie make the Wakeeney-Trego Community Regionals one of the best in Class 3-2-1A. Colby has five wrestlers ranked headlined by No. 1 Tyler Voss at 106. Plainville is not that far behind with four ranked wrestlers. Hoxie has three ranked wrestlers but boasts the top-ranked wrestler at 160 in Dayton Porsch.

Gallagher Martin is a sportswriter for the McPherson Sentinel and Kansas Pregame. He can be reached by email at gmartin@mcphersonsentinel.com. Kansas Pregame covers high school sports in the Sunflower State. Know of a great story that needs to be told? We want to hear from you! Email us the next great story or video focused on Kansas high school sports at kansaspregame@gmail.com.