The Smoky Valley girls wrestling team made the quick jaunt south to compete in the KSHSAA 4A West Regional at McPherson over the weekend. In the end, four Viking wrestlers qualified for the 4A State Tournament which will be held on February 28 and March 1 at Tony’s Pizza Event Center in Salina.
At 190#, sophomore Kate Griffin was the regional runner-up. She won her first two matches by fall over Skylet March of Clay Center and Miranda Radenberg of Abilene. In the championship bout, she suffered her first loss of the season to Winfield’s Abby Bren by fall. Griffin is 25-1 on the season.
Senior Kenzlie Crain moved to 32-3 on the season, picking up wins by fall in her first two matches to move to the semis where she was defeated by Gracelyn Hembree of Pratt. Crain bounced back with two straight wins by fall over Ali Wilcoxson of Rock Creek and Jeymi Rosales of Ulysses for 3rd Place at 125#.
At 135#, freshman Gracie Brady finished in 6th Place for the Vikings. After a loss in the quarterfinals, she picked up two straight wins to get into the consolation semis and qualify for State. Brady is 30-12 going into state.
The final state qualifier for the Falcons was freshman Jaycie Falcon at 110#. She picked up two wins on the weekend, including taking the 7th Place match by fall over Isabella Stream of Wamego. Falcon is 17-10 on the season.
In all, 22 wrestlers from the Ad Astra Radio areas qualified for the 4A State Tournament from the west regional. You can see all of those qualifiers and full results for the meet below.
4A West Regional @ McPherson
Regional Champion: Pratt
Regional Runner-up: Colby
Area Individual Regional Champions
235#: Ciara Rawson, McPherson (d. Natalie Burnett, Wellington by fall in 0:41)
Area Individual State Qualifiers
100#: 3. Teagan Walker, Larned, 8. Alix Wilson, McPherson
105#: 5. Miranda Nolde, Larned, 6. Mercedes Ladwig, McPherson
110#: 5. Lexi Patterson, McPherson, 7. Jaycie Falcon, Smoky Valley
115#: 7. Tylee Wilson, McPherson
125#: 3. Kenzlie Crain, Smoky Valley
130#: 2. Kahlyn Davis, Halstead
135#: 3. Cara Herbert, Larned, 4. Lillie Ledford, Buhler, 6. Gracie Brady, Smoky Valley
140#: 3. Mia Munden, Larned, 6. Sydney Cummins, McPherson, 8. Maliyah Jackson, Buhler
145#: 4. Macey Parks, Buhler
170#: 5. Ava Armstrong, Halstead
190#: 2. Kate Griffin, Smoky Valley, 3. Paisley Weizbrod, Larned, 8. Riley Sanchez-Fogarty, McPherson
235#: 1. Rawson, McPherson, 3. Elizabeth Dick, Nickerson
