By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural, coming off a third-place team finish in last year's Class 6A state tournament, placed third Saturday in the Garden City 6A West regional, with the Junior Blues qualifying 10 wrestlers for Friday and Saturday's state meet at Overland Park.
Washburn Rural senior Easton Broxterman (top) will be aiming for his third straight Class 6A state wrestling championship this weekend in Overland Park. [File photo/TSN]
Rural, which scored 218.5 points to finish behind Manhattan and Garden City, was led by individual champions Landen Kocher-Munoz, Easton Broxterman and Kristan Marshall.
Washburn Rural senior Kristjan Marshall (top) enters this weekend's Class 6A state wrestling tournament as a defending state champion. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior Landen Kocher-Munoz is a two-time state finalist and a former Class 6A state champ. [File photo/TSN]
Broxterman, a 144-pound senior, will be shooting for his third straight 6A state title this weekend while Marshall, a 157-pound senior and 138-pound junior L. Kocher-Munoz will be looking for their second state championships.
Broxterman will take a 37-2 record into the state tournament while Marshall is currently 33-5 and L. Kocher-Munoz 30-3.
Rural sophomore 190-pounder Jadyn Baum, 31-7 on the season, also advanced to the regional championship match, finishing second.
The Junior Blues also got third-place finishes from junior Cooper Stivers (132) and sophomore Brodye Kocher-Munoz (150), fourth-place finishes from junior Ryder Harrison (120) and senior Walker Doyal (126), a fifth from freshman Kaiden Marshall (215) and a sixth from sophomore Gavin Homeyer (175).
Topeka High qualified four wrestlers for state, led by senior 165-pounder Nick Davis (38-5), who posted a fourth-place regional finish.
The Trojans got a fifth-place finish from sophomore Landon Snyder (175), a sixth from senior Cooper Martin (190) and an eighth-place finish from sophomore Jose Gomez (106).
Friday and Saturday's state meet will get under way at 9 a.m. at the AdventHealth Sports Park.
Hayden junior Jude Krentz won the 175-pound title in Saturday's Class 4A regional at Tonganoxie. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden's Krentz, Silver Lake's Clelland win 4A regional titles
Silver Lake sophomore Kayden Clelland and Hayden junior Jude Krentz won regional championships in Saturday's 4A tournament at Tonganoxie as Silver Lake posted a third-place team finish and Hayden finished sixth.
Krentz won the 175-pound championship while improving to 38-0 on the season while Clelland won the 165-pound title, improving to 32-11.
Silver Lake got runnerup finishes from junior Jayden Waterer (144) and senior Trent Rollenhagen (175), thirds from freshman Carter Spreer (215) and senior Trent Harris (157) and fourths from junior Garrett Holmes (132) and freshman Kendrick Vande Velde (285).
In addition to Krentz, Hayden got second-place finishes from sophomore Caleb Menke (157) senior Broderick Desch (190) and a third from senior Hunter Diederich (285).
The 4A state tournament will be held Friday and Saturday at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina (9 a.m. starts both days).
T-Birds sending eight to 5A state
Shawnee Heights placed ninth in the 5A regional at Basehor-Linwood with 92 points, qualifying eight competitors for Friday and Saturday's state meet (9 a.m. both days) at the Park City Arena.
Leading the T-Birds' regional performance was sophomore 138-pounder Brody Brown (33-9), who placed third.
Heights also got a fourth-place finish from senior Kael Westgate (165), sixths from sophomore Dallas Owens (132) and junior Evan Johnson (157), sevenths from freshman Urijah Seel (106) and freshman Reid Niedfeldt (120) and eighths from senior Carson Anderson (144) and sophomore Jevon Williams (190).
Highland Park will be represented at state by senior 175-pounder Adrian Burney, who posted a fourth-place regional finish.
Vikes have four 5A state qualifiers
Seaman qualified four wrestlers out of the Newton 5A regional for Friday and Saturday's state meet at the Park City Arena (9 a.m. start both days).
Senior 175-pounder Samson Tootle paced the Vikings with a fourth-place regional finish, while Seaman also got a sixth-place finish from junior Brennen Bowers (157) and seventh-place showings from senior Jayden Foster (126) and sophomore Deegan Frazier (138).
Seaman finished 15th as a team in the regional meet with 51 points.
Two Bulldawgs to compete in 3A-1A state meet
Rossville will be represented by sophomore Remington Droegemeir and freshman Ryder Foster in Friday and Saturday's 3A-1A state tournament at Hays.
Droegemeir placed third in the 138-pound division in the Council Grove regional while Foster finished fourth at 106 pounds.
The Bulldawgs finished ninth as a team at regionals with 50.5 points.
