LKWC sends 14 wrestlers to districts

DE SOTO – The Louisburg Kids Wrestling Club began its journey to the state tournament Saturday and a lot of wrestlers went along for the ride.

At the subdistrict tournament in De Soto, Louisburg qualified 14 wrestlers for the district tournament after a strong performance. The Wildcats finished with five subdistrict champions and had 11 in the championship finals.

Tyson Blancarte (8-and-under, 46 pounds), Jay McCaskill (8-U, 64), Traden Noll (8-U, 67), Brandon Doles (10-U, 110) and Austin Moore (14-U, 145) all brought home top honors.

Kaden Allen (8-U, 52), Ashton Moore (8-U, 80), Harrison Kalinka (10-U, 90), Ryan Owens (12-U, 68), Brayden Dame (12-U, 92) and Blue Caplinger (14-U, 135) finished runner-up.

Also advancing to the district tournament are Brayden Yoder (8-U, 67) and Gage Gilliland (8-U, 73) as each finished third overall. Bronc Noll (8-U, 49) also advanced to the district tourney after his fourth-place finish.

Blancarte and Doles had an easy time of it — each wrestler received two byes in their bracket to move on to the district round. McCaskill and Noll each picked up three victories on their way to first place.

McCaskill opened with a pin of Kansas City’s Jack Helgerson in just 15 seconds. He followed that up with a pin of De Soto’s Braeden VanDonge in 53 seconds and ended his day with an 11-1 major decision over De Soto’s Jacob Cavendar.

As for Noll, he won an 8-2 decision over Legacy’s Dalton Bollinger and then captured a 5-3 decision over East Kansas’ Jackson Bell. Noll then finished with a close 4-3 decision over Lennox Vann from ATTHD.

Austin Moore cruised to his title at 145 pounds by recording three pins. Moore pinned Kansas City’s Spencer Ralston in 53 seconds and then pinned Linn County’s Bryan Troutman in 1 minute and 15 seconds. In the championship match, Moore pinned Turner’s Shay Stroble in1:09.

The Wildcats will make the trip to district Saturday at Blue Valley Southwest High School.

Minor second at middle school state

Louisburg’s Bret Minor ventured to Lindsborg on Sunday to compete at the Kansas Middle School State Wrestling Championships.

Minor finished second overall in the 90-pound bracket as he finished the tournament with a 3-1 record. He lost a tough championship match to Keegan Slyter by a 6-4 decision.

To start the tournament Minor pinned Fort Scott’s Ty Davison in just under two minutes and then pinned Garden City’s Alexander Herrera in 1:25. In the semifinals, Minor followed that up with an easy 12-2 major decision over Team Lightning’s Adam Whitson.