By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee County will send a total of 44 wrestlers to Friday and Saturday's boys state tournaments after wrapping up a strong performance in regional competition on Saturday.
Defending state team champ Washburn Rural claimed a Class 6A regional team championship and qualified 11 wrestlers for the state meet at Hartman Arena in Park City while Shawnee Heights finished second in 5A regional competition and will take 12 competitors to the state meet.
Seaman will be well-represented in 5A with seven qualifiers while Topeka High in 6A and Highland Park in 5A both qualiified one wrestler apiece.
Silver Lake finished second in its 3A-1A regional tournament while Rossville finished fourth as the Eagles and Bulldawgs combined for 12 state qualifiers for the 3A-1A state tournament at Hays.
Here's a school by school look at the state qualifiers:
Class 6A
WASHBURN RURAL -- The defending state champs emerged from an extremely tight team race at Wichita Southeast with the team title by a 205-203 margin over Dodge City, with Derby third with 196 points and Manhattan fourth with 193.
Washburn Rural senior Aidan Boline won a Class 6A regional title on Saturday, improving to 30-6 on the season. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural senior Austin Fager, a state finalist a year ago, won an 182-pound regional title Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior regional champions Aidan Boline (160 pounds) and Austin Fager (182) led the Junior Blues, with Boline improving to 30-6 and Fager, a state finalist a year ago, improving to 39-2.
The Junior Blues got second-place finishes from freshman 106-pounder Easton Broxterman (36-5) and senior 126-pounder Jacob Tangpricha (31-6) and thirds from sophomore 113-pounder Jonathan Morrison (35-6), senior 120-pounder Henri McGivern (18-7) and senior 145-pounder Nick Vincent (5-1).
Tangpricha is a two-time state champion while Morrison was a state champ last season as a freshman.
Also qualifying for state were sophomore 132-pounder Brody Byrne (fourth), freshman 195-pounder Ford Brandt (fifth), freshman 152-pounder Kristjan Marshall (seventh) and sophomore 170-pounder Chase Calhoon (eighth).
TOPEKA HIGH -- After not getting the opportunity to wrestle as a junior, Trojan 285-pounder Jahmari Pleasant will wrestle at state this weekend after punching his ticket to the state meet with a fifth-place regional finish in the Wichita Southeast West regional.
Pleasant will take a 22-10 record into state competition.
Class 5A
Shawnee Heights -- The T-Birds finished second in the 5A East regional at Blue Valley Southwest, with Southwest taking the team crown by a 269.5-218 margin.
Garrett Peery
Junior Garrett Peery won the 220-pound regional championship to improve 40-5 on the season while the T-Birds got runner-up finishes from senior 120-pounder Brock Ferguson (40-4), senior 138-pounder Ty Lewis (37-8), senior 145-pounder Joey Hilton (35-8) and junior 195-pounder Sean Wunder (37-8).
Shawnee Heights senior Caden Walker (top) will be looking for his third Class 5A state medal this weekend in Park City. [Submitted]
Heights sophomore 132-pounder Andrew Bonebrake (34-3) and senior 160-pounder Caden Walker (27-2) posted third-place regional finishes while senior 170-pounder Cole Manrose (37-12) and sophomore 285-pounder Rykan Carver (15-9) posted fourth-place finishes.
Also qualifying for state were junior 152-pounder Nick Freeland (fifth), freshman 106-pounder Carson Anderson (seventh) and senior 182-pounder Preston Hartman (seventh).
Seaman -- The Vikings will send seven competitors to the 5A state tournament, led by junior 195-pounder Jaxson Thomas, who posted a third-place regional finish while improving to 43-9 on the season.
Sophomore 132-pounder Colin Little (31-17) finished fourth at regionals while senior 120-pounder Justin Kruse (28-22), freshman 113-pounder Jayden Foster (18-19) and junior 126-pounder Draven Bennett (13-20) finished fifth, junior 138-pounder Lain Anderson (9-17) seventh and junior 285-pounder Tyler Brown (12-19) eighth.
Highland Park 285-pounder Morgan Dean (right) and Topeka High's Jahmari Pleasant battle in the Centennnial League tournament. Both Dean and Pleasant earned berths in the state tournament. . [Photo by Rex WolfTSN]
Highland Park -- Morgan Dean, a Centennial League champion, will represent Highland Park in the 5A state meet with a 7th-place finish in regional competition.
Dean, who did not get the opportunity to compete last season, will take a 29-9 record into the state meet.
Class 3A-1A
Silver Lake -- Senior regional champions Daigan Kruger and Tristan VandeVelde led Silver Lake to a second-place team finish at regionals.
Kruger won the 170-pound title to improve to 28-2 this season while VandeVelde took the 182-pound championship to improve to 34-4.
The Eagles got runner-up regional finshes from 138-pound senior Justin Rakestraw (35-4), 145-pound sophomore Blake Redmond (33-12), sophomore 152-pounder Chase Root (29-10) and 220-pound junior Kaden Walker (28-11), a third from 126-pound freshman Trenten Harris (22-12) and a fourth-place finish from freshman 113-pounder Parker Gillen (17-16).
Kruger finished third in 3A-1A last season.
Rossville -- The Bulldawgs had fourl state qualifiers out of the Silver Lake regional, with all four winning individual regional championships.
Rossville got titles from 138-pound senior Colby Hurla (40-5), 160-pound senior Sam Twombly (37-2), 220-pound sophomore Barrett Lietz (29-5) and 285-pound junior Jacob Carver (31-3).
The Bulldawgs finished fourth as a team in the Silver Lake regional with 123 points.
