GCHS girls breeze to win over Great Bend, go to 3-0 in WAC

Story Credit: Brett Marshall/GCHS Athletics

Garden City High School wrestling coach Paul Lappin knew well ahead of the start of Wednesday night’s Western Athletic Conference dual with Great Bend, that the visiting Panthers were going to be a little short-handed for the 14 weight divisions.

That turned into Great Bend forfeiting six matches as their roster is smaller than in recent years, Lappin said.

That left eight weight divisions with the Lady Buffs, ranked No. 1 in Kansas for Class 6A and all classes, won five of those matches by pinning their respective opponents. There was one Garden City forfeit at 100 pounds, a double forfeit at 135 pounds and one victory by Great Bend.

The result was a 66-12 victory that improved the Buffs’ WAC dual record to 3-0. They will take on Hays (also 3-0) on Thursday at 6 p.m. at The Garden with the winner claiming the conference title.

“There’s bigger goals down the road than WAC, but we’ll tweak our lineup a little for Hays and see how things map out,” Lappin said. “The girls who wrestled tonight did a good job. It was a weird night with all the open weights.”

Nicole Abrego didn’t wrestle at 100 pounds; Emjay Marez drew a forfeit win at 105.

Then, Kaira Acosta and Crystal Loera posted wins by fall at 110 and 115 over Camdyn Post and Kayle Baldwin at 1:35 and 3:54. Post came in as the No. 1-ranked wrestler in Class 5A.

Julissa Rodriguez won by forfeit at 120 pounds and then Marina Loera pinned Brooklyn Kelly as did Aaliah Garza over Micah Ellegood at 125 and 130. Ellegood was the No. 6-ranked wrestler in 5A.

Senior Raygen Meza-McDermott, filling in for Maggie Guzman at 140 pounds, also got a pin in her match over Shartarah Newton at 1:06 of the first period. Meza-McDermott has been the next wrestler up with the Buffs’ loaded lineup and with Guzman out, she moved up from 130 to 140 and took third at the Rocky Welton on Saturday.

“Raygen can wrestle and she’s shown that she can compete,” Lappin said. “I’m glad she has the opportunity to do this and she’s capable of starting on almost any other team. She’s doing a great job for us.”

The only weight where the Buffs didn’t cash in was at 170 where Ari Serrano was subbing in for Jarica Hutcheson and lost her match by a fall.

After Thursday’s dual with Hays, the Lady Buffs will have nine days to prepare for the Class 6A regional at Wichita South on Feb. 14. The top eight wrestlers at regional will advance to the State tournament on Feb. 27-28 in Overland Park. The Buffs will be looking to repeat as state champs.

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Western Athletic Conference

Dual Match No. 3

Wednesday, Feb. 4

At The Garden

GARDEN CITY 66, GREAT BEND 12

100–Garden City open forfeit to Hays (Sophia Bauer)

105–Emjay Marez won by forfeit

110–Kaira Acosta won by fall over Camdyn Post, 1:35

115–Crystal Loera won by fall over Kayle Baldwin, 3:54

120–Julissa Rodriguez won by forfeit

125–Marina Loera won by fall over Brooklynn Kelly, 3:08

130–Aaliah Garza won by fall over Micah Ellegood, 1:50

135–Double forfeit

140–Raygen Meza-McDermott won by fall over Shatarah Newton, 1:06

145–Aria Cordes won by forfeit

155–Olivia Dunlap won by forfeit

170–Arianna Serrano lost by fall to Rydlie Swanson, 0:57

190–Mary Condo won by forfeit

235–Amri Guerin won by forfeit