LKWC places four at Salina tourney
Louisburg kid wrestlers (from left) Brayden Yoder, Tyson Blancarte, Nick Beidelschies and Casen Miller pose with their trophies from the Salina Tournament of Champions. The Louisburg Kids Wrestling Club sent several to the tournament and Yoder led the way with a second-place finish.
SALINA – The Louisburg Kids Wrestling Club took some of its most experienced wrestlers to the Salina Tournament of Champions on Saturday and a few of them returned with some hardware to show for it.
Louisburg placed four wrestlers in the top five in what is considered one of the more difficult kids tournaments of the season. Brayden Yoder, Tyson Blancarte, Nick Beidelschies and Casen Miller all placed for the Wildcats.
Yoder, who wrestled in the 8-and-under, 80-pound division, got all the way to the finals and finished second overall. He was involved in two tight matches as he outlasted Salina’s Tyrus Young in the quarterfinals for a 2-0 decision in overtime.
Yoder then defeated Russell’s Brayden Suchy in a 2-1 decision in the semifinals and advanced to the championship match. He ended up falling to Isaiah Wilson of the Brawlers in a 2-0 decision.
As for Blancarte, the 49-pounder wrestled in five matches in the 8-and-under division and came away with third place. Blancarte opened with a pin of Arkansas City’s Kolby Quint and then won a 4-2 decision over Kieran Akerson of the Nebraska Boyz.
In the semifinals, Blancarte went up against Rose Hill’s Trenton Richwine and suffered his lone loss in a 4-0 decision. However, he rebounded to win a 7-2 decision over Leo Kriegler of the MWC Wrestling Academy and then defeated Akerson again for a 6-4 decision in the third place match.
Beidelschies and Miller found themselves pretty familiar with each other as both not only competed in the 6-and-under division, they also competed in the same weight class. The two squared off in the 37-pound weight class and both were able to come away with at least two wins.
After losing his quarterfinal match, Beidelschies responded to pin Fort Riley’s Cody Rich in the first round of consolation and then defeated Miller in the consolation semis in a 13-1 major decision. The win put Beidelschies in the third-place match, where he was pinned by Josiah Borge of MOKWC and went on to finish fourth overall.
Miller started off his tournament strong with a pin of Dodge City’s Maxton Roths, but would get pinned by Adin Wessley of the Kansas Young Guns and then would fall to Beidelschies. Miller wrestled in the fifth-place match and again pinned Roths to end his tournament on a good note.
Wildcats shine at Fort Scott
On Jan. 23, the Louisburg program also traveled to the Fort Scott Open/Novice Tournament and came away with several top-four finishes.
In the 6-and-under division, Casen Miller (37 pounds), Sawyer Blue (43B) and Colten Miller (46B) took first-place. Royce Ulrich (52A) came in second while Brooks Rankin (37) and Bo Ballard (43B) took third. Nick Beidelschies (40) finished fourth overall.
At 8-and-under, the Wildcats had two wrestlers finish one win shy of a title. Bronc Noll (61-64) and Brayden Yoder (80-88) both came in second, while Wyatt Tharp (61-64) and Caden Miller (55-58) took third and fifth, respectively.
The Wildcats also had a pair of wrestlers finish runner-up in the 10-and-under class. Beau McCorkendale (73) and Kaven Bartlett (76-80) took second overall. Traden Noll (76-80) came in third.
Aiden Barker (100) and Matt Madison (120-130) each finished fourth in the 12-and-under division and Hunter Millbern (130-135) was third at 14-and-under.
In the novice division, Aiden Dickey (55-58), Lucas Swartz (73) and Jonas Briley (80) all finished second in the 8-and-under class. Dakota Cummins (95-110) came in fourth.