By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' boys and girls wrestling teams opened the 2023 portion of their schedule on Saturday with a sweep of the team championships in the Wichita North Invitational.
The T-Birds won the boys team title by a 212-174.5 margin over Olathe West while the Heights girls topped Wichita North by a 159.5-147 margin.
Shawnee Heights' boys and girls wrestling teams swept the team championships in Saturday's Wichita North Invitational. [Twitter photo]
Shawnee Heights' boys got individual titles from junior 132-pounder Andrew Bonebrake, senior 150-pounder Nick Freeland, freshman 157-pounder Evan Johnson, junior 175-pound Allen Baughman, senior 215-pounder Sean Wunder and junior 285-pounder Rykan Carver.
Wunder improved to 24-1 on the season while Carver is 23-2, Freeland 21-2, Baughman 21-4, Bonebrake 18-4 and Johnson 13-10.
The T-Bird girls captured three inividual titles, with freshman Connie Burns winning in the 100-pound division, sophomore Madison Freeland winning at 135 pounds and junior McKenna Haltom taking the title at 145 pounds.
Burns improved to 14-1, while Freeland is now 15-2 and Haltom 13-3.
Washburn Rural was the top girls team in Saturday's Blue Valley Southwest Xtreme tournament. [Twitter photo]
Rural girls win BVSW Xtreme championship
Washburn Rural's girls wrestling team won five individual championships on the way to the team title in the Blue Valley Southwest Xtreme tournament by a 215-185 margin over Paola.
The Junior Blues got indiidual titles from sophomore Molly Spader at 100 pounds, junior Kristen Rezac at 115 pounds, senior Addison Broxterman at 125, senior Alexis Fredrickson at 130 and junior Laiken Clark at 140.
Rezac improved to 16-2 on the season while Spader is 16-3, Broxterman 20-3, Fredrickson 19-4 and Clark 18-6.
The Junior Blues also had five competitors post runner-up finishes.
Broxterman paces Junior Blues at Derby
Washburn Rural sophomore Easton Broxterman, a Class 6A runner-up as a freshman, captured the 113-pound championship in Saturday's Derby Invitational, leading the Junior Blues to a sixth-place team finish.
Broxterman improved to 21-2 on the season with the Derby title, capping his tournament run with a 5-1 decision over Free State senior Nolan Bradley.
The Junior Blues also got a second-place finish from senior 126-pounder Henri McGivern (18-5) while junior Brody Byrne finished third at 157 pounds and sophomore Kristjan Marshall took fourth at 150.
Maize won the team championship with 215.5 points.
Seaman sophomore Koti Best, with her father and coach, Jordan Best, was named the outstanding wrestler in last Friday's Lady Vikes Dual Tournament at Seaman. [Twitter photo]
Best named outstanding wrestler in Seaman event
Sophomore Koti Best, a returning Class 6A-5A state medalist, was named the outstanding wrestler in last Friday's Lady Vikes Dual Tournament at Seaman.
Best went a perfect 5-0 on the day, recording four straight pins before receiving a win by forfeit in her final match.
Three of Best's four pins came in the first period.
Best was joined on the all-tournament team by Seaman junior 125-pounder Madison Murray and senior 140-pounder Kaidence Heston.
Heston posted a 5-0 record with four wins by fall and a forfeit win while Murray went 4-0 with three pins and a forfeit, recording two pins in less than a minute.
Seaman defeated Lawrence 42-36, Shawnee Mission Northwest 46-30 and Lansing, 54-0, while the Vikings dropped a 54-18 decision to Hays and a 30-27 decision to Pittsburg.
Thomas leads Seaman to runner-up finish
Seaman senior 285-pounder Jaxson Thomas posted a 5-0 record on the day to lead the Vikings to a 4-1 record and a second-place finish in Saturday's Seaman Duals.
Thomas posted three victories by fall in 32 seconds, 31 seconds and 1 minute, 3 seconds and also picked up a pair of wins by forfeit.
Seaman took a 48-36 win over Lansing, a 48-27 win over Pittsburg, a 65-13 victory over Basehor-Linwood and a 55-24 win over Lawrence before the Vikings dropped a 39-33 decision to Hays.
City wrestlers win seven titles in SM South event
All three USD 501 schools earned individual championships in Saturday's Joel Rios Invitational at Shawnee Mission South.
In the girls division Highland Park sophomore Kimberly Rodriguez won the 100-pound title while Scot senior Ruby Hernandez won at 130 pounds and Topeka West junior Tristyn Johnson was the 235-pound champion and five other city wrestlers posted second-place finishes.
In the boys division, Topeka West sophomore Malachi Kuebler won the 126-pound championship, Topeka West freshman Michael Weatherly won at 132 pounds, Charger senior Mason Vickers at 144 pounds and sophomore Nick Davis at 157 pounds.
Five Bulldawgs win tournament titles
Rossville hosted its invitational tournament on Saturday, with five Bulldawg wrestlers claiming individual championships.
Rossville's girls got individual titles from 115-pounder Keera Lacock, 120-pounder Kendra Hurla and 140-pounder Reagan Wonnell while 135-pounder Cassie Fund and 155-pounder Hailey Horton finished second.
The Bulldawg boys got championships from Barrett Lietz at 215 pounds and Jacob Carver at 285 pounds.
Rural girls standouts sign college letters of intent
Three Washburn Rural senior girls standouts signed their college letters of intent last Thursday at Rural.
Hailey Beck and Mackinly Rohn signed soccer letters with Washburn University while Taylor Russell signed a volleyball letter of intent with Missouri Western.
Beck has been Rural's starting goalkeeper the past two seasons, recording 24 shutouts and allowing just 30 goals in 42 career games.
Beck earned second-team and All-Centennial League recognition last season after earning first team All-City recognition and earning all-league and All-Class 6A honorable mention as a sophomore, helping the Junior Blues compile an overall record of 34-6-2 and finish second at state last spring after a third-place finish in 2021.
Rohn has been a varsity midfielder the past two seasons, scoring 15 career goals with 18 assists.
Rohn received all-league and All-6A honorable mention last season as Rural won Centennial League and regional titles and finishing second in the 6A state tournament.
Russell registered 183 kills as a senior for the 6A state champions with .317 hit efficiency, 42 block kills, 93.4-percent serving and 44 service aces.
Russell was a first-team All-Shawnee County, All-Centennial League and All-6A pick as a senior.
Russell finished second all-time at Rural in service attempts and completions and sixth in aces and finished 15th all-time in block kills and 10th in attack kills.
