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Silver linings: Tonganoxie High wrestlers just miss individual gold, but boys win trophy, take 3rd for best finish in school history

By Shawn Linenberger - | Mar 3, 2021

Tonganoxie High boys wrestling team members celebrate late Saturday night at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina after winning third place in Class 4A at the state tournament. The third-place finish marked Tonganoxie’s highest team finish in program history.

Tonganoxie High wrestlers just missed out on continuing its recent trend of nabbing individual state championships in Class 4A, but THS grapplers persevered and managed to set a different school record this past weekend in Salina.

THS won individual state titles for the first time in program history in 2019 (Korbin Riedel and Connor Searcy) and then duplicated that in 2020 (Searcy and Grayson Sonntag).

Sonntag lost his first match of the season in the state semifinals, but didn’t lose sight of still finishing strong. Though he wasn’t able to win back-to-back state titles, won third for the second time (he also earned bronze as a freshman) on his way to finishing 26-1 on the season. He defeated Winfield senior Braden Ledford (35-5), 6-3, in the consolation finals at 126. Like Sonntag, Ledford was a state champions a year ago.

Oh, and as for that new state record, Sonntag was one of three bronze medalists at state for the Chieftains, joining two silver medalists as THS won its first team trophy in school history. The Chieftains placed third at state as a team.

THS junior Gabe Bailey, reached the championship match against Fort Scott junior Jacob Stinnett (25-1) at 152. Stinnett slipped past Bailey, 3-1, in the finals and Bailey finished the season with a state silver medal.

THS senior Branden Martin also won silver. He fell to Holton senior Konnor Tannehill in the 195 title match. Martin took second after falling, 4-2, to Tannehill (30-1). Martin finished the season at 28-4.

Fellow senior Derek Duffett (21-7) won bronze at 145. He took third with pin of Rose Hill junior Keegan Beavers (46-4) early in the second period (2:39) for his first state medal.

Tonganoxie High freshman Braeden Moore also won bronze at 113. He placed third after his opponent bowed out of the consolation finals due to injury default. Moore finished the season at 17-3.

THS freshman Noah Bailey, younger brother of Gabe, had two hard-fought matches, but lost both at state, including an 8-6 loss to Pratt senior Kaiser Pelland (31-9) in the 132 elimination round. He finished the season 24-8.

Brock Coleman finished the season 16-6 after losing both of his state matches. He had a lead in the 106 elimination round, but Holton’s Tucker Gilliland won by fall with 12 seconds left in the first period.