By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural led the way with 12 state qualifiers for the Class 6A state wrestling tournament as all nine Shawnee County teams qualified at least one competitor for state, with 11 individual regional champions.
Leading Rural to a third-place 6A regional team finish were regional champions Landen Kocher-Munoz, a senior 144-pounder, and junior 215-pounder Jadyn Baum.
Silver Lake led the Shawnee County contingent with a county-high five regional champions and a county-best runnerup regional team finish in 3A-1A, with the Eagles getting regional titles from senior 120-pounder Bryce Cormier, senior 138-pounder Garret Holmes, senior 157-pounder Jayden Waterer, senior 190-pounder Paxton Willett and sophomore 285-pounder Carter Spreer.
Shawnee Heights qualified 10 wrestlers for the 5A state tournament, led by freshman 113-pound regional champion Jacob Bonebrake and 150-pound junior champ Brody Brown while Hayden got 4A regional titles from junior 175-pounder Caleb Menke and senior 190-pounder Jude Krentz.
Here's a look at Saturday's regional tournaments involving Shawnee County high schools:
Washburn Rural senior 144-pounder Landen Kocher-Munoz, a two-time Class 6A state champion and a three-time state finalist, won a regional title Saturday at Wichita North. [File photo/TSN]
Kocher-Munoz, Baum power Rural to third-place regional showing
Regional champions Landen Kocher-Munoz and Jadyn Baum led 12 Class 6A qualifiers for perennial state contender Washburn Rural, which finished third as a team in the 6A West regional at Wichita North.
Kocher-Munoz, a senior two-time state champion and three-time state finalist, won the regional title at 144 pounds to improve to 35-4 on the season.
Kocher-Munoz, a defending state champion, capped his regional title run with a 13-5 major decision over Manhattan senior Cameron Coonrod (42-5).
Baum, a junior 215-pounder, improved to 25-4 on the season with a 16-1 technical fall over Wichita South senior Jayden Kirk (28-5). Baum posted a third-place state finish in 2025 as a sophomore.
Washburn Rural got runnerup regional finishes from 113-pound freshman Andrew Peterson (23-10), 120-pound senior Ryder Harrison (25-6), 138-pound senior Cooper Stivers (31-6) and junior Brodye Kocher-Munoz (27-7) while Rural senior Brenner Beninga (175) qualified fourth for state, freshman Hayden Broxterman (106), junior Gavin Homeyer (190) and sophomore Kaiden Marshall (285) placed fifth, sophomore Owen Dowell (132) was sixth at regionals and sophomore Caleb Schwartz (165) seventh.
Topeka High will be represented at state by senior 157-pounder Jordan Stiner and junior 175-pounder Landon Snyder, who both posted eighth-place regional finishes.
Maize won the team title in the 6A West Regional with 272.5 points, followed by Manhattan with 251 points and Rural with 223.5 points. Topeka High placed 16th as a team with 29 points.
The 6A state meet will be contested Friday and Saturday at the Advent Health Sports Park in Overland Park.
T-Birds qualify 10 for 5A state meet
Shawnee Heights placed fourth as a team in Saturday's Class 5A East regional at Lansing while qualifying 10 wrestlers for this weekend's state tournament in Park City.
The T-Birds got regional championships from 113-pound freshman Jacob Bonebrake and 150-pound junior Brody Brown.
Bonebrake improved to 17-1 with a 3 minute, 37-second pin over Blue Valley Southwest junior Caden Magdefran (19-8) in the 113-pound regional final while Brown improved to 33-6 with a 5:27 win by fall over De Soto junior Eli Anderson (27-15).
Evan Johnson, a 175-pound senior (32-8) posted a runnerup regional finish while sophomore Mason Moore (126), freshman Markis Owens (157) and junior Jaiden Converse (165) qualified for state with sixth-place regional finishes, junior Dallas Owens (138) and sophomore Carter Kamanda (144) placed seventh and sophomore Reid Niedfeldt (132) and junior Landyn Bafford (285) qualified eighth.
Highland Park will be represented at state by senior 175-pounder Philiciono Rice (14-19) and junior 165-pounder Joshua Hernandez-Torres (15-15), with Rice placing seventh and Hernandez-Torres eighth at regionals.
Basehor-Linwood won the 5A East regional team crown with 266 points while Heights was fourth with 156.5 points and Highland Park 16th with 17 points.
The 5A state tournament will be held Friday and Saturday in Park City.
Seaman sending eight wrestlers to 5A state
Seaman placed 11th in Saturday's Class 5A West regional at Hays and will send eighth competitors to the state tournament Friday and Saturday in Park City.
The Vikings got a third-place regional finish from junior 285-pounder Henry Reichart, who improved to 37-13 on the season.
The Vikings got sixth-place finishes from junior Maddox Malone (120) and junior Ross Shipley (138) and sevenths from freshman Bennett Scheier (106), freshman Colt Heston (126), junior Deegan Frazier (150), senior Landen Miller (165) and junior Alex Huston (215).
Topeka West senior 215-pounder Cortez McCutcheon qualified for state with a sixth-place regional finish.
Hayden junior 175-pounder Caleb Menke (back) earned a return trip to the Class 4A state tournament with a regional championship Saturday in Holton. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden senior 190-pounder Jude Krentz won a Class 4A regional title Saturday in Holton, earning a berth in the state tournament after posting a fourth-place state finish in 2025. [File photo/TSN]
Wildcats' Menke, Krentz claim 4A regional titles
Hayden junior 175-pounder Caleb Menke and senior 190-pounder Jude Krentz will make return trips to the Class 4A state tournament at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina after winning regional titles Saturday in Holton.
Menke improved to 38-3 on the season with an 8-5 decision over Baldwin junior Max Harvey (31-9) in the 175 final while Krentz, a fourth-place state finisher as a junor, won the 190-pound regional crown with a 12-5 decision over Rock Creek senior Wade Rottinghaus (35-4), with Krentz improving to 37-3 on the season.
Senior 157-pounder Tyler Hopper (33-11) qualified for state with a second-place regional finish while freshman Jeremiah Lopez qualified with a fourth-place finish at 113 pounds.
Tonganoxie won the regional team title with 236.5 points while Hayden was fifth with 102 points.
Five Eagles capture regional championships
Silver Lake posted a strong second-place team finish in Saturday's Class 3A-1A regional tournament at Rossville, with eight Eagles qualifying for this weekend's state meet at Hays, including five regional champions.
Silver Lake senior Bryce Cormier (29-9) won the 120-pound title with a 10-1 major decision over Sabetha senior Korbyn Stinnett (25-10).
Senior Garret Holmes (31-10) earned a 10-0 major decision over Sabetha junior Lincoln Menold (34-3) in the 138-pound final while senior Jayden Waterer (30-9) posted a 12-2 major decision over Atchison County senior Rance Vessar (32-13) at 157 pounds.
Silver Lake senior Paxton Willett (38-10) won the 190-pound regional crown with an 8-6 decision over Atchison County junior Elijah Webb (36-8) while sophomore Carter Spreer (32-8) won the 285-pound title by fall in 4:45 over Osage City junior Camden Jackson (35-4).
The Eagles got a second-place regional finish from junior Kayden Clelland (175), a third from sophomore Chase Cormier (150) and a fourth from Jaxon Waterer (132).
Rossville will be represented at state by sophomore 106-pounder Brodyn Price (27-12) and freshman 120-pounder Creighton VanVleck (19-9).
Price posed a regional runnerup finish while VanVleck finished fourth.
