SALINA — It was truly a rough and rugged Class 5A regional wrestling tournament on Saturday at Salina South High School.
Of the eight teams in attendance, four were ranked in the top 10 in the latest Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association poll — No. 3 Andover Central, No. 4 Newton, No. 8 Hays and No. 9 Wichita-Kapaun Mt. Carmel.
“Well, we knew it was probably the toughest regional in the state, so we knew that we’d need to make a lot of progress through the back door, and that’s pretty much how it’s shaping out,” GBHS head coach Norbert Muth said. “Anything can happen at regionals.”
Great Bend had eight wrestlers qualify for the state tournament, which is at Wichita’s Hartman Arena on Feb. 24-25. 
“Well, out of this regional, having eight kids going to state is pretty good,” Muth said. “I was happy with everybody’s effort.”
The Panthers had one regional champion.
It was a Burley brother, but not the returning state champion.
Greg Burley, a GBHS sophomore ranked No. 6 in the 132 weight class, beat Kade Baker of Andover by fall and Dayton Will of Salina Central by a 6-2 decision to make it to the regional championship against No. 3-ranked Luke Lee of Andover Central.
He ousted Lee with a 6-4 decision.
“Greg wrestled good, smart matches,” Muth said. “He just got in there and did what he needed to do to win.”
Chris Burley, who won the state title in the 112-pound weight class as a sophomore, will be returning to the state meet to compete in the 120 class.
He got a first-round bye and faced down No. 6 Ben Lightfoot of Andover Central. Burley beat Lightfoot by fall, clinching another trip for him to the state tournament.
“I knew the guy was ranked in the state,” Chris Burley said of Lightfoot. “I knew he was good, but I knew that if I kept my speed up and kept moving, I thought I could beat him. Just outwork him.
“With that win, I made it to the finals and back to state. It definitely feels good to make it back to state. You got to be there to win it.”
That win also set up a rematch between Burley and the wrestler that he beat for the state championship last year — No. 3-ranked Quinton Harrison of Hays.
“I’d already seen him once this year, and I beat him by one point in the last six seconds, so yeah, I was looking forward to this match,” Chris Burley said.
Burley won 3-2 earlier this season, but fell by the same margin in a decision at the regional.
Ryan DesLauriers (106), Brett Roberts (126), Darian Yager (160) and Bryce Hofmeister (170) each finished in third place to move on to the state tournament.
Brodie Bretz (138) and Emerson Campbell (152) took fourth place to move on to next week’s competition.
Arturo Sanchez (113), Joe Lindenberger (145), Ivan Prieto (220), Justin Henry (182) and Jacob Crane (285) each fell in the consolation bracket.
Ramon Garcia (195) missed the regional after injuring his elbow during practice on Friday.

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING
Class 5A Regional Tournament

At Salina South

Saturday

Great Bend results
106 — Ryan DesLauriers lost to Tyler Irwin, Salina South, major decision 10-0; def. Deven Keplar, Andover Central, by fall; def. Russ Kohl, Hays, by fall
113 — Arturo Sanchez lost to Andrew Egan, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, by fall; lost to Earnest Johns, Newton, decision 4-2
120 — Chris Burley def. Ben Lightfoot, Andover Central, by fall; lost to Quinton Harrison, Newton, decision 3-2
126 — Brett Roberts def. Gabe Torres, Newton, decision 8-1; lost to Lukas Maki, Kapaun Mt. Carmel; def. Brandon Jost, Salina South, by fall; def. Gabe Torres, Newton, decision 2-1
132 — Greg Burley def. Kade Baker, Andover, by fall; def. Dayton Will, Salina Central, decision 6-2; def. Luke Lee, Andover Central, decision 6-4
138 — Brodie Bretz def. Trace Butbirth, Salina Central, by fall; lost to John McNabb, Salina South, decision 4-1; def. Caddie Albert, Hays, by fall; lost to Paul Suhr, Andover Central, decision 4-2
145 — Joe Lindenberger lost to Jay Page, Andover Central, decision 15-9; def. Tre Ponting, Salina Central, by fall; lost to Luke Wilson, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, by fall
152 — Emerson Campbell def. Ben Parks, Salina Central, decision 13-6; lost to Ethan Deterding, Hays, decision 8-6; def. Trey Strecker, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, decision 9-5; lost to Heydon Mock, Newton, decision 8-3
160 — Darian Yager def. Brew Brittain, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, by fall; lost to Kyler Meyers, Hays, decision 6-5; def. Corbin Niemtschk, Andover Central, decision 9-0; def. Ryah Hutton, Newton, decision 9-5
170 — Bryce Hofmeister def. Tom Hand, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, major decision 17-8; lost to Preston Weigel, Hays, T-fall 15-0; def. Forrest Scott, Andover, decision 10-7; def. Mike Shirk, Salina South, injury default
182 — Justin Henry lost to Brand Weigel, Hays, decision 9-3; lost to Ethan Harp, Kapaun Mt. Carmel, decision 5-1
195 — open
220 — Ivan Prieto lost to Raymond Gallegos, Newton, by fall; lost to Alex Parker, Salina South, major decision 11-1
285 — Jacob Crane lost to Garret Lee, Newton, by fall; def. Lucas Berndt, Salina Central, decision 4-0; lost to Luke Madden, Hays, by fall

Team scores
Newton 192, Andover Central 154, Hays 144, Salina South 126 1/2, Great Bend 108, Wichita Kapaun 95, Andover 27, Salina Central 10.
State qualifiers
Championship

106 — Howell, Wichita Kapaun, dec. Irwin, Salina South, 0:39.

113 — Gentzler, Andover Central, dec. Vieyra, Salina South, 11-4.

120 — Harrison, Newton, dec. Burley, Great Bend, 3-2.

126 — Stiles, Hays, dec. Maki, Wichita Kapaun, 5-3 (ot).

132 — Burley, Great Bend, dec. Lee, Andover Central, 6-4.

138 — McNabb, Salina South, dec. McEachern, Newton, 4-2 (ot).

145 — M.Johns, Newton, dec. Franco, Hays, 11-4.

152 — Bontz, Andover Central, pinned Deterding, Hays, 1:38.

160 — Meyers, Hays, dec. McGaha, Salina South, 4-1.

170 — P.Weigel, Hays, won by technical fall over Langley, Newton, 15-0.

182 — Weddington, Andover, dec. Rodd, Andover Central, 3-1.

195 — Archer, Newton, pinned Solomon, Andover Central, 1:51.

220 — Bean, Wichita Kapaun, dec. Drylie, Hays, 13-5.

285 — Hendrickson, Andover Central, pinned Flemming, Salina South, 0:48.

Third place

106 — DesLauriers, Great Bend, pinned Kohl, Hays, 0:38.

113 — E.Johns, Newton, dec. Egan, Wichita Kapaun, 10-0.

120 — Burruss, Wichita Kapaun, dec. Lightfoot, Andover Central, 5-4.

126 — Roberts, Great Bend, dec. Torres, Newton, 2-1.

132 — Monares, Newton, pinned Will, Salina Central, 2:57.

138 — Suhr, Andover Central, dec. Bretz, Great Bend, 4-2.

145 — Page, Andover Central, dec. Wilson, Wichita Kapaun, 9-7.

152 — Mock, Newton, dec. Campbell, Great Bend, 8-3.

160 — Yager, Great Bend, dec. Hutton, Newton, 9-5.

170 — Hofmeister, Great Bend won by injury default over Shirk, Salina South.

182 — McConnell, Newton, dec. Munsch, Salina South, 6-4.

195 — O’Donnell, Salina South, pinned Rule, Hays, 0:31.

220 — Gallegos, Newton, pinned Arndt, Andover Central, 4:33.

285 — Lee, Newton, pinned Madden, Hays, 0:30.