Great Bend’s wrestlers meet No. 7 ranked 6A Dodge City High School in Thursday’s dual meet that starts with junior varsity matches at 6 p.m.
Great Bend’s No. 4 state-ranked Drew Liles (113) and No. 3 state-ranked George Weber (132) placed runner-up and Jacob Meeks (182) finished fourth at last week’s Douglas Wrestling Tournament.
Newton’s No. 1 ranked 5A Grant Treaster edged Liles 4-2 in overtime in the championship match. Treaster placed third at 5A (106) last year.
Andover Central’s No. 1 ranked 4A Gunnar Gentzler defeated Weber 8-4 in the championship match. Gentzler placed as 132-pound 4A state runner-up last year. Weber pulled the biggest upset by pinning No. 2 ranked 6A Brandon Becker of Derby in 2:23.
The Dodge City dual will start at 120 pounds and finish at 113 pounds to feature Liles against No. 4 ranked 6A Anthony Mariche in the final match.
“It’s always nice to feature the best match at the end of the day,” said Great Bend coach Nathan Broeckelman. “The last match has decided the dual the past two years. The last two Dodge City matches have been crazy duals down to the wire.”
The Panthers will compete at Friday’s Hoisington Round Robin.
The Great Bend girls featured champions Natalie Garza and Mady Bittner and second-place finishers Sienna Serna (113) and Linzie Miller (132) at last week’s girls tournament. McPherson has 16 girls and Great Bend, Spring Hill and Wichita South each have nine girls wrestling.
“It was nice to see our girls wrestle girls,” Broeckelman said. “We’ll see a girls division in the next year or two. It will happen quicker than we thought.”
STATE RANKED RED DEMONS
106—Anthony Mariche, fourth
120—Couy Weil, fourth
195—Ansony Quezada, second
220—Marcos Fisher, first
STATE RANKED PANTHERS
113—Drew Liles, fourth
132—George Weber, third
152—Gage Fritz, second
GREAT BEND vs. DODGE CITY
106—Brantley Baldwin, GB vs. Andrew Rodriguez, DC
113—Drew Liles, GB vs. Anthony Mariche, DC
120—Carsyn Schooler, GB vs. Couy Weil, DC
126—Skylar Burkes, GB vs. Daniel Rojas, DC
132—George Weber, Gb vs. Aiden Hurtado, DC
138—Braxton Schooler, GB vs. Garrett Edwards, DC
145—Alex Randolph, Gb vs. Carlos Marquez, DC
152—Gage Fritz, GB vs. Preston Moon, DC
170—Eli Witte, GB vs. Jason Taylor, DC
182—Jacob Meeks, GB vs. Julian Galindo, DC
195—Ever Chavez, GB vs. Ansony Quezada, DC
220—Andrew Wettengel, GB vs. Marcos Fisher, DC
285—Barrett Lutt, GB vs. Evan Darville, DC
