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Baldwin’s Finnley Kellerman pins an opponent during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

Finnley Kellerman needed a grand total of 96 seconds on the mat to punch her ticket to the upcoming Class 4A girls wrestling state championship meet.

The Baldwin senior entered Friday’s 4A East Regional tournament in Tonganoxie as the No. 1 seed in the 235-pound bracket, and proceeded to steamroll the competition with lightning-quick victories in each of her three matches.

Kellerman was idle on Friday after receiving an opening-round bye. She opened on Saturday with a 51-second victory over Perry-Lecompton’s Taylee Williams and then knocked off Coffeyville Field Kindley’s Mayela Franco in 24 seconds in the semifinals. In the title bout, Kellerman toppled Girard’s Chloe Pope in 21 seconds.

“I was just focused on setting up angles and not forcing positions,” Kellerman, who improved to 30-3 overall, said. “I felt like I did a good job of staying confident and in control.”

Kellerman enters the postseason with an unblemished record against the 4A field of wrestlers in the 235-pound division. Two of her three setbacks came against 6A foes, while her lone 4A loss was against Bishop Miege’s Brooklyn Davis, who competes at 190 pounds. Davis earned a 16-8 major decision victory over Kellerman during a mixer event at Eudora back in December.

After not wrestling as a freshman, Kellerman took sixth at state as a sophomore. Last year, she improved her state performance by taking fourth in that same 235-pound weight class.

Kellerman added that she is not too concerned about her potential opponents, but is instead “focused on wrestling my style” at the state tournament in Salina.

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Baldwin’s ElliAnna Lisher smiles as she rises to her feet following a victory during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

With the top eight finishers in each bracket qualifying for the showcase event, Baldwin sophomore ElliAnna Lisher punched her ticket to state with a seventh-place finish in the 170-pound division after going 3-2 on the day.

Lisher opened with a win over Frontenac’s Taylor Holt. She was then upended by two-time defending state champion Kiley Dillow, the top-ranked wrestler across all weight classes. Lisher quickly rebounded with a victory over Field Kindley’s Melissa Escudero. That set up a rematch with Holt, but Lisher found herself on the losing end this time around.

Lisher once again displayed her resiliency, securing a 9-1 major decision victory over Jefferson West’s Lennox Dooley in the seventh-place match, closing out her performance at regionals on a high note.

Lisher said that qualifying for the state meet was extra sweet after competing in relatively few matches her freshman campaign. She used her time wisely, gaining invaluable experience as Kellerman’s practice partner.

“It signifies personal growth and shows how I kind of just stuck with it,” Lisher said, adding that she’s elated to be making the trip to Salina as a qualifying entrant as opposed to a team manager.

Baldwin freshman Haylee King punched her ticket to state by placing eighth in the 110-pound division. King recorded victories over Prairie View’s Brilee Shrum and Perry-Lecompton’s Riley Warner — eventually falling to Chanute’s Jarynn Hockett in the seventh-place match.

Baldwin took nine wrestlers to the regional meet, which also included a scratch in the 115-pound division.

“I’m proud of the effort, but we definitely should have had more girls who punched their ticket to state,” first-year Baldwin coach Zachery Flowers said.

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Baldwin’s Haylee King awaits a restart in the action of one of her matches during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

Flowers also expressed some disappointment that his squad didn’t notch more qualifiers. He provided a specific example with Troth’s conclusion to her regionals performance.

After winning her first two matches of the tournament via pin, Troth faced the inverse result in her quarterfinal match against Nemaha Central’s Autumn Feldkamp. Hoping to bounce back on the backside of the bracket, Troth instead suffered another quick defeat. Independence’s Bailey Henderson replicated Feldkamp’s opening-minute pin over Troth.

Flowers noted that Troth could have been a bit more aggressive in that last match.

“She just got caught in a bad position right off the bat and had her arms stuck,” Flowers said. “I think she could have pummeled through that and gotten out of it. But she did really well in her matches before that.”

Lillian Crites gave the Bulldogs one more wrestler who picked up a win, earning a victory on the backside of the 120-pound bracket before ultimately getting sent home early. Brynn Drummond at 125, Ivy Holloman at 130, Keziah Moses at 140, Charlie Crites at 155 lost both of their matches at regionals.

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Eudora’s Abby Fager hugs one of her coaches after winning her semifinals match during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

Eudora’s Fager earns runner-up finish, leads trio of Cards heading to state

By Matt Resnick

As a freshman two years ago, Eudora’s Abby Fager entered that season’s regional tournament facing an uphill battle in her pursuit of punching a ticket to state.

“I was actually looking at my career records earlier, and I was like 12-15 as a freshman,” Fager said.

Now fast forward to Saturday’s 4A East Regional at Tonganoxie and Fager not only clinched her second straight trip to state, the Cardinals’ lone senior and team leader lived up to No. 2 seed in the 140-pound division.

Fager emerged victorious in her first three matches to reach the championship final.

She secured pins against Labette County’s Rhyan Cochran and Prairie View’s Lauren Steenburgen, followed by a 7-3 decision over Wellsville’s Tommi Shuey in the semifinals.

In a matchup of the division’s top two seeds, Fager squared off with Paola’s Jade Willard in the championship bout. But Willard ended up putting on a clear display of why she entered as the top wrestler at 140. She delivered a 15-1 major decision over Fager, leaving the latter to settle for a runner-up finish.

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Eudora’s Clara Peterson shakes hands with Chanute’s Kiley Dillow following their semifinals match during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

Despite that result, Fager managed to keep her finals loss in perspective and maintain a positive outlook by looking at her progress in reaching this point.

“I’ve improved throughout the years, especially with my confidence,” Fager said.

Eudora girls wrestling coach Miles Cleveland holds a strong confidence in Fager as well. Cleveland called Fager the “perfect senior leader” and a true mentor to the underclassmen.

“She has taken that core freshman group under her wing and kind of set the bar for them,” he said. “Without Abby, I don’t know where they would be right now.”

Eudora freshman Clara Peterson won four of five matches for a third-place finish in the 170-pound division. After opening the tournament with back-to-back wins, Peterson ran into a buzzsaw when she matched up with Dillow, the Chanute juggernaut, in the semifinals. Peterson was pinned in 43 seconds, accounting for the only blemish on her otherwise sparkling outing.

“I wrestled some girls that beat me earlier in the season, and I came in and pinned them today,” Peterson said.

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Eudora’s Addie Tharp awaits the restart in action of one of her matches during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

Freshman Addie Tharp placed eighth at 115 pounds to qualify as Eudora’s third entrant to state. Tharp finished 2-3 overall as she was bested by Burlington’s Jaylin Reppert in the seventh-place match.

With Cleveland’s squad facing a little bit of roster attrition this season, the fourth-year head coach said he’s still thrilled to have three state qualifiers. Now that trio can turn their attention to one last tournament this season.

“The nerves of not making it to state have gone away,” he said. “They’ve qualified, so now it’s time to focus on what the seeding is going to look like going into the state tournament.

Emma Reed at 125 pounds and Macie Thill at 135 pounds also competed at regionals, with Reed winning one of the duo’s four combined matches at the tournament.

Cleveland still lauded Reed and Thill for giving it their all.

“Things didn’t go their way, but I was also really proud of the way they wrestled today,” he said.

Cleveland expressed confidence that the program is well-positioned for the future.

“We have a great core of freshmen and a couple of sophomores, “ he said. “The program is in a good place, and will only continue to get better.”

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Perry-Lecompton’s Jolie Corcoran watches another match as she awaits the start of her semifinal match during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

Perry-Lecompton’s Corcoran earns 3rd-place finish at regionals, leads youthful Kaws squad sending 3 wrestlers to state

By Mac Moore

Perry-Lecompton’s girls wrestling team entered this year’s 4A East Regional with a roster that was not only short on supply, but also short on high school experience.

The Kaws traveled to Tonganoxie with a squad comprised of one senior, one junior, one sophomore and four freshmen. Even amongst those non-freshmen, the team’s junior is in her first year of wrestling.

And yet, Perry-Lecompton’s youthful crew still found a way to advance three wrestlers to the state tournament, led by freshman Jolie Corcoran’s third-place finish in the 115-pound division.

Perry-Lecompton head coach Elise Howard said she was incredibly proud of how her team finished the season and performed at regionals.

“All the girls performed exceptionally well on Friday and Saturday,” Howard said. “They came prepared to demonstrate the hard work and dedication we’ve put in throughout the season.”

Corcoran has been the team’s prime example of what can be achieved with hard work and dedication, as well as being a big reason for optimism around the future of this Kaws’ girls wrestling program.

In addition to her role on the wrestling team, Corcoran has also spent this winter being a starting guard on the Kaws girls basketball team. She plays alongside her sister, junior Macie Corcoran, on a squad that currently sits a 10-11 on the year.

While she’s already proven to be a factor on the basketball court, the younger Corcoran has truly stood out on the mats. She will enter state with a 19-6 record and a Big East League title to her name.

At regionals, Corcoran made quick work of her first two matches to reach the semifinals. She took a commanding 5-0 lead early in her opening match against Columbus’ Amory Neely, ultimately securing a pin late in the first period.

She took a little longer to get the first takedown against Jefferson West’s Sophie Waters, but Corcoran wasted no time sticking her opponent for the pin a little over midway through the opening period.

But Corcoran could not replicate those results in the semifinals. Instead, Wellsville’s Jazz Kirk earned the takedown on Corcoran midway through the first period of their match, with the latter unable to prevent Kirk from securing the pin. Kirk would ultimately win the regional title.

Corcoran almost found herself losing back-to-back matches for the first time since dropping her first two matches at the Goodland Holiday Classic tournament back in December during the team’s second event of the season.

After going through a scoreless stalemate in the opening period of her consolation semifinals match against Wamego’s Rachel Barber, Corcoran found herself in a tough spot when she started on bottom in the second period.

Barber worked her way into putting Corcoran into a nearfall position, first earning four points with 1:16 remaining in the period before gaining another two points with 48 seconds to go. But Barber also gave up two penalty points as Corcoran narrowly avoided her shoulders getting pinned down. Shortly after the second penalty, Corcoran flipped the entire situation with a reversal. She needed just 20 seconds on top to secure the pin and erased what at one point had been a 6-2 deficit.

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Perry-Lecompton’s Samantha Hutton walks off the mat following one of her matches during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

Howard credits Corcoran’s double-booked winter schedule as being a key to her quick success on the mat as a freshman.

“She utilized her strength and conditioning from both basketball and wrestling to her advantage, while also putting in the extra work outside of her practices,” Howard said, also noting how Corcoran had fewer matches this season than many of her opponents.

Howard added: “Jolie’s performance at the regional tournament is truly impressive.”

Howard said that Corcoran remains “calm and focused” during her matches, along with having a great instinct as a grappler.

“Jolie has a great ability to anticipate her opponents’ moves and throws, effectively utilizing them as opportunities to catch them off guard and execute takedowns or reversals,” Howard said.

Samantha Hutton finished seventh in the 105-pound division. Hutton lost her opening match by 5-3 decision against Holton’s Haley Jennings. Hutton had previously defeated Jennings by pin at Holton’s Sadowski Tournament on Jan. 23.

With a spot at state on the line, Hutton entered into a back-and-forth battle with Tonganoxie’s Eliza Troyer-Partridge.

Hutton found herself in trouble early, trailing 3-1 through one period and starting the second period on bottom. But she ended up securing a reversal, followed by a four-point nearfall in the waning seconds to take a 7-3 advantage in the third. However, Troyer-Partridge nearly mirrored that scoring sequence from Hutton, with the former’s reversal and three-point nearfall putting the latter back on bottom and down 8-7 with just 1:20 to go.

With the time dwindling and the pressure on, Hutton pulled off a reversal once again. This time she secured the pin, as well as her spot at state.

Previously, Hutton had defeated Troyer-Partridge by 15-5 major decision two weeks before at the Baldwin Invitational Tournament.

Hutton had a chance to position herself for top six finish, but ended up dropping a 9-3 decision against Burlington’s Nevaeh Myers.

In the seventh-place match, Hutton closed out her regionals performance with a victory as she pinned Chanute’s Esperanza Cuin in the opening period.

“Sam had to fight her way up the backside of the bracket,” Howard said. “She is very dedicated to the sport and continues to reach her goals every year. She came out with a 7th place finish,

“Despite facing tough matches, she refused to give up points and fought until the very end, securing her spot at state with an amazing last-second reversal.”

Although she never got an opportunity at a rubber match against Jennings, Hutton ultimately got a tiny bit of indirect redress for that loss via her final opponent of the tournament. Cuin had also lost her opening match, interestingly against Troyer-Partridge. Cuin bounced back, even more interestingly against Jennings, earning a second-period pin to end the latter’s day.

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Perry-Lecompton’s Taylee Williams, seated fourth from left, cheers on one of her teammates during the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.

Taylee Williams went 0-3 on the day, but still earned an eighth-place finish. Although her No. 8-seed entering the tournament guaranteed her a spot at state in the nine-person field of the 235-pound bracket, Williams still received one tough aspect in her draw. After an opening-round bye, her first match ended up being against the top seed — one who very clearly deserved that spot.

Baldwin’s Finnley Kellerman defeated Williams via pin just 51 seconds into their quarterfinal bout. While Williams could not hold off Kellerman for long, she fared better than the rest of the opponents Kellerman rolled through to earn the regional title. Kellerman wrapped up her other matches in a combined time of 45 seconds.

But Williams was unable to parlay that moral victory into literal victories in her other matches on Saturday. She lost to Iola’s Kailyn Rodriguez in her first match on the backside of the bracket for both wrestlers, with the latter securing the pin late in the first period.

Williams held out longer in her seventh-place match against Santa Fe Trail’s Gabrielle Succhi. Both wrestlers battled to a stalemate through the first period, only for Succhi to take a one-point lead by escaping from bottom to start the second period. Williams hoped to even the score by starting from bottom in the third, but Succhi quickly took advantage of that situation to secure the pin.

Although Williams is a junior, this is her first season competing on the wrestling team.

“(Williams) always brings such positivity and serves as a great leader for the team,” Howard said.

Now Williams, Corcoran and Hutton will turn their attention to the state tournament. Howard said she’s excited to see if that trio can continue to surpass previous expectations.

“I am excited about the three of them who will be representing us at state and showcasing their talents further,” Howard said. “Despite being a young team with new coaches, these girls have consistently exceeded my expectations throughout the season.

“They’ve been a lot of fun to coach, and I’m excited to see how they perform at state and in the years to come.”

Riley Warner and Amanda Helm were both able to pick up a victory at regionals, but neither was able to reach the top eight of their bracket to qualify for state.

In the 110-pound bracket, Warner lost her opening-round match via first-period pin against Ottawa’s Violet Parker. She rebounded on the backside of the bracket, earning a pin late in the second period against Santa Fe Trail’s Kaydee Whitaker. But Warner lost her next match as Baldwin’s Haylee King pinned her in the opening period.

Helm also lost her opening-round match in the 155-pound division. Wellsville’s Natalie Peel pinned her in 44 seconds into their bout. Helm responded on the backside of the bracket with a decisive victory over Tonganoxie’s Josie Owens. Helm took an early lead with a first-period takedown. She duplicated that in the second period to go up 6-0 before quickly turning that takedown into a pin.

Helm could not keep her momentum going as she lost to Louisburg’s Leola Eslinger by second-period pin.

Alaina Rhoads at 120 and Isabella Ross at 145 rounded out the Perry-Lecompton wrestlers at regionals, but both wrestlers lost two straight matches to send them home early.

All nine of the state qualifiers between the Baldwin, Eudora and Perry-Lecompton teams are slated to compete at the Class 4A girls state meet Feb. 27-28 at Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina.

Courtesy of Elise Howard

Perry-Lecompton’s Jolie Corcoran, Taylee Howard and Samantha Hutton pose for a photo after the 4A East Regional girls wrestling tournament on Feb. 14 at Tonganoxie High School.