PAOLA — Falling just out of first place by 19 points, the Great Bend High School wrestling team finished second behind Derby on Saturday at the Paola Invitational.
According to Panthers head coach Norbert Muth, it came down to one bad round.
“I thought we had a good tournament,” Muth said. “It’s just that I don’t think first place was out of the question. We had a lead for a good part of that tournament, and we just had one bad round.”
The Panthers, who are ranked No. 9 in Class 5A in the latest Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association poll, did have three first-place finishers — Chris Burley (126-pound weight class), Greg Burley (132) and Justin Henry (195).
Chris Burley pinned Blake Stovall of Olathe North at the 4:49 mark to take the gold.
Greg Burley beat two wrestlers before his first-place match opponent had to forfeit due to medical reasons.
Henry beat Derby’s Blake Bradford with a 3-2 decision.
Gunar Brewer (220) finished second for Great Bend, getting pinned one minute, 31 seconds into his match against Pittsburg’s Gershom Avalos.
Muth said he saw some areas to improve on, including mental toughness.
“We need to keep pushing and get better,” Muth said. “Other than technique and skills, we need to get mentally tougher. When you lose on the front side of the bracket, you have to fight back into it. You can’t let one setback in the front end of the bracket track over into your next match, which is something I thought I saw a lot of last weekend.”
Great Bend competes at Garden City on Saturday and Sunday, starting at noon on Saturday.
“There’s going to be about 30 teams, with some out of state teams from New Mexico and Colorado,” Muth said. “If you place at this tournament, you’ve accomplished something.
“This is definitely a place to work on mental toughness.”

                                                             — Kevin Price

HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING

Saturday

At Paola

Team results
1. Derby, 216.5; 2. Great Bend, 197.5; 3. Fort Scott, 111.5; 4. Olathe North, 110; 5. Shawnee Mission East, 103; 6. Atchison, 86; 7. Pittsburg, 80; 8. ACCHS, 78; 9. Paola, 76; 10. Bishop Miege, 63; 11. Summer Academy, 52; 12. Lawrence Free State, 55; 13. Basehor Linwood, 51; 14. Topeka Highland Park, 29; 15. Eudora, 21

Great Bend results
106 — Ryan DesLauriers def. Smith, unattached, pin; def. Stewart, Fort Scott, decision; lost to Morris, Basehor Linwood, decision; def. Aldrich, Shawnee Mission East, pin
113 — Arturo Sanchez def. Boyd, Summer Academy, major decision; lost to Adrian, Atchison, decision; lost to Brocker, Paola, decision; def. Kennedy, Eudora, pin; def. Miller, Lawrence Free State, decision
126 — Chris Burley def. Holub, Paola, pin; def. Brown, Bishop Meige, technical fall; def. Heckman, Fort Scott, decision; def. Stovall, Olathe North, pin
132 — Greg Burley def. Peusser, Paola, pin; def. Wells, unattached, decision; def. Hollingsworth, Shawnee Mission West, medical forfeit
138 — Kade Sander def. Reiss, ACCHS, pin; def. Jorns, Shawnee Mission East, decision; lost to Hughes, Fort Scott, decision
145 — Zach Schridde def. Noll, ACCHS, decision; lost to Durossette, Fort Scott, pin; lost to Steele, Lawrence Free State, decision; def. Mason, Atchison, pin
152 — Emerson Campbell def. Powell, Atchison, pin; lost to Mitchell, Shawnee Mission East, technical fall; lost to McCleary, Basehor Linwood, decision; def. Callier, Summer Academy, decision
160 — Bryce Hofmeister lost to Hughes, Fort Scott, decision; def. Dettenwanger, Shawnee Mission East, pin; lost to Ayer, Derby, decision; lost to Hughes, Fort Scott, decision
170 — Darion Yager def. Mengarelli, Pittsburg, pin; lost to Santillan, Derby, decision; def. Boyd, Eudora, pin; lost to Madrigal, Bishop Meige, pin
182 — Joe Lindenberger def. Pickman, Atchison, pin; def. Manley, Eudora, pin; lost to Reuter, Shawnee Mission East, major decision; def. Haggerty, Paola, pin; lost to Santillan, Derby, decision
195 — Justin Henry def. Medina, Summer Academy, pin; def. Pence, unattached, major decision; def. Bradford, Derby, decision
220 — Gunar Brewer def. Wilikins, Eudora, pin; def. Chau, unattached, pin; def. Wilson, Fort Scott, pin; lost to Avalos, Pittsburg, pin
285 — Jacob Crane def. Cox, unattached, pin; def. Ozark, Lawrence Free State, tiebreaker; lost to Cohu, Olathe North, ultimate tiebreaker; def. Hoffman, ACCHS, decision; def. Smith, Basehor Linwood, pin