Chieftain girls wrestling battles at Christmas Clash; KC Stampede next
Jo Wilson
Tonganoxie High’s Kaylee Pankey wrestles during the Christmas Clash this past weekend at Great Bend. Pankey placed third in the 115-pound division.Autumn Wilson and Kaylee Pankey led the Tonganoxie High girls wrestling team with second- and third-place finishes respectively Saturday at the Christmas Clash in Great Bend.
Tonganoxie placed 12th overall out of 34 teams overall as a team with 108 points. Manhattan won the team title with 268.5.
Wilson took silver at 120, while Pankey earned bronze at 115.
Overall, Tonganoxie had seven other wrestlers place in Great Bend. Katy Duncan took ninth at 190, as did Riley Crookham at 100 and Ava Anderson at 110. Olivia Butler finished 10th at 145.
Charlee Nehl (125) and Eliza Troyer-Partridge (105) each placed 11th. Also placing was Kenzi Underwood. She took 16th at 110.
THS coach Adam Ludwin said the Great Bend tournament started out well, but the squad stumbled a bit on the second day.
“The girls wrestled pretty decent Day 1 but Day 2 was not in our favor,” Ludwin said. “We have a young lineup and some corrections to make as we prepare for the second part of the season. “Lots of work to be done if we want to give ourselves a chance at another trophy and will need some younger girls to step up.”
Tonganoxie does have one more competition left before the new year. THS is competing in the Kansas City Stampede tournament, which is Friday and Saturday, which is in Hale Arena in downtown Kansas City, Missouri.
The tournament will have 67 teams on the girls side, with programs coming from Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas. Colorado and Iowa. Basehor-Linwood is the lone local team competing in the boys tournament. Tonganoxie has the Randy Starcher Memorial Invitational on Saturday at THS.
CHRISTMAS CLASH
Team scores
1. Manhattan, 268.5; 2. Dodge City, 199; 3. Russell, 170; 4. Junction City, 167.5; 5. Norton, 167; 6. Great Bend, 139; 7. Oakley, 127.5; 8. Liberal, 121.5; 9. Hoisington, 117; 10. (tie) Santa Fe Trail and Emporia, 116; 12. Tonganoxie, 108; 13. St. Francis, 99.5; 14. Goddard, 94; 15. Scott City, 81; 16. Wakeeney-Trego, 77.5; 17. Hays, 77; 18. Cimarron, 70; 19. Plainville, 65.5; 20. Woodland, 63.5; 21. Olathe East, 62.5; 22. Holcomb, 59; 23. Valley Center, 54; 24. Salina Central, 52; 25. Hutchinson, 51.5; 26. Nickerson, 47; 27. Salina South, 46; 28. Larned, 44; 29. Stockton, 43; 30. Ellinwood, 42.5; 31. (tie) Buhler and Bishop Carroll, 38; 33. Ell-Saline, 18; 34. Atwood, 0.