Garden Girls’ wrestlers claim 6A West regional

Story Credit: GCHS Athletics

While the Garden City Lady Buffaloes’ wrestling team came home with the Class 6A West Regional team championship, there is still work to be done if they want to defend their 2025 title.

The Lady Buffs held off a gallant effort by Manhattan, securing the team title with 247.5 points to Manhattan’s 239.0.

Head coach Paul Lappin saw his squad roll into the championship matches with eight in the finals but could only secure two wins against six losses.

“I would say we had a good day at regionals, but I also know we can wrestle better,” Lappin said. “We wrestled some of the top wrestlers that we had seen earlier in the season and thought we closed the gap on some of those.”

The Buffs will get that opportunity in less than two weeks on Feb. 27-28 at the AdventHealth Activity Center in Overland Park.

“We’re pretty close on some of those matches that we could have won,” Lappin said.

His two triumphant wrestlers came from junior Nicole Abrego at 100 pounds when she earned a decisive 9-0 major decision over Eva Lucios of Manhattan.

After suffering title bout setbacks at 105, 110, 115 and 120, it was junior Marina Loera who captured the other gold medal for the Buffs when she pinned Manhattan’s Evelyn Thornburg, at 3:07 of the second period.

If either of those matches goes the other way, Manhattan likely would have taken the team title from the Buffs. The head-to-head matchups had made the difference in the team race.

Between the 100 and 125-pound victories, though, the Buffs came up empty-handed against some of the state’s top-ranked wrestlers.

“We had seen a couple of those earlier in the season, and these matches were much more competitive,” Lappin said. “We’ve closed the gap on them, so we will work on cleaning up the little things that make a difference.”

Abrego got things going right out of the gate in the title bouts, getting 3-point takedowns in each of the three periods to secure a 9-0 major decision.

“She had a great match and controlled it and never let her opponent get into position to secure points,” Lappin said.

From there, however, the matches became more difficult.

At 105-pounds, Emjay Marez took on No. 1-ranked Elizabeth Ramirez of Dodge City (36-1) and dropped a 7-3 decision where she trailed most of the match.

In the 110-pound final, Kaira Acosta met No. 3-ranked Alayah Losey of Maize and in a tightly contested match, went up 1-0 with an early escape in the second round. In the third, Acosta was up 2-1, but Losey got a 3-point takedown to finish ahead 4-2.

At 115 pounds, Crystal Loera (who won 125 pounds at state last year), met up with undefeated Juliane Villaneuva of Junction City (last year’s champion at the same weight) and suffered a takedown and then was pinned at 0:33 of the first period.

Julissa Rodriguez, the Buffs’ runner-up a year ago at 120 pounds, also came up against the top-ranked wrestler in Derby’s Presley Beard, a freshman, who is 28-0. Beard got an early takedown, then another before getting a pin at 3:55 of the second period.

Marina Loera broke the losses when she dominated her match at 125 pounds with a pin of Evelyn Thornburg of Manhattan at 3:07 in the second period. Loera improved her season record to 37-4.

A pair of underclassmen also competed for titles at 135 and 145 pounds in Kylie Huber and Aria Cordes. Huber took on defending state champ Alayna Slifer of Manhattan (35-1) and nearly made it through the first period before being pinned at 1:51.

The last of the finalists was Cordes where she met up with No. 2-ranked Emme Blanco of Topeka-Washburn Rural. The match was a battle that went back and forth as Cordes got a first period takedown only to have Blanco earn a 2-point reversal.

In the second period Blanco had a 3-point takedown while Cordes then reversed her that resulted in a 5-5 tie at the end of the period. Just past the halfway point of the final period, Blanco was warned for stalling but then with Cordes in the top position, got a 2-point reversal for a 7-5 lead and just seconds later pinned Cordes (there were 25 seconds left in the match).

Meanwhile, 130-pound Aaliah Garza had reached the semifinals only to get pinned at 2:22 of the second period by Elizabeth Edgerton-Diaz of Junction City. Garza, though, came back strong on the consolation side of the bracket to win two more matches and claim the third-place bronze medal.

“She could have won the match she lost and very well could have been in the finals,” Lappin said. “But she wrestled well all day.”

Two other wrestlers also qualified for state (an 8th place finish was required) as 140-pound senior Raygen Meza-McDermott and 155-pounder Olivia Dunlap each placed fifth in their respective divisions.

Meza-McDermott, who has been a key reserve for the Buffs while filling in for the injured Maggie Guzman, went 4-2 during the day’s competition and provided the Buffs with important points.

“She did a great job for us, and we think she had a couple of matches that were winnable, and we just need to see her finish matches strong,” Lappin said. “Olivia also did a good job for us, and those points all make the difference.”

Two wrestlers did not make the qualifying top eight as freshmen Arianna Serrano (170) and Amri Guerin (235) went 0-2.

The Buffs were without their highly ranked sophomore 190-pounder in Mary Condo, who suffered an injury the day before the Rocky Welton Invitational two weeks ago.

“Certainly, we miss Mary, but we knew going in we didn’t have her,” Lappin said. “It is what it is and we just have to be mindful that every match, every point matters.”

So, with two weeks between regional and state, Lappin said the team would be focusing on the little things that they saw in the matches.

“It will be a competitive state tournament, but I believe with a deeper tournament (East Regional qualifiers), that we will be in a better position,” Lappin said. “I like the fact that our quality is deeper that most of the other teams.”

Indeed, while the Buffs had eight finalists, Manhattan had three. From the East Regional, Gardner Edgerton is the top-ranked team with 13 state qualifiers, the same as Manhattan, while the Buffs have 11.

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KSHSAA Class 6A West
Girls Regional Championship
Saturday, Feb. 14
At Wichita South High School
Team Scores

1. Garden City, 247.5; 2. Manhattan, 239.0; 3. Topeka-Washburn Rural, 221.5; 4. Junction City, 206.5; 5. Dodge City, 177.5; 6. Haysville-Campus, 146.5; 7. Derby, 99.0; 8. Wichita-Northwest, 91.0; 9. Liberal, 74.0; 10. Wichita-North, 70.0; 11. Maize/Maize South, 60.5; 12. Wichita-East, 58.0; 13. Lawrence-Free State, 50.0; 14. Wichita-West, 42.0; 15. Wichita-South, 40.5; 16. Wichita Heights, 33.0; 17. Wichita-Southeast, 21.5; 18. Topeka High, 19.0.

Garden City Results
(Weight classes listed with final standing, tournament record, season record and final match of the tournament)
100—Nicole Abrego, 1st, 4-0 (32-8). Finals: def. Eva Lucios, Manhattan, 9-0 maj. dec.
105—Emjay Marez, 2nd, 3-1 (26-8). Finals: lost to #1 Elizabeth Ramirez, Dodge City, 7-3 dec.
110—Kaira Acosta, 2nd, 3-1 (33-9). Finals: lost to Alayah Losey, Maize/Maize South, 4-2 dec.
115—Crystal Loera, 2nd, 3-1 (36-6). Finals: lost to #1 Juliana Villaneuva, Junction City, fall, 0:33.
120—Julissa Rodriguez, 2nd, 3-1 (27-5). Finals: lost to #1 Presley Beard, Derby, fall, 3:55.
125—Marina Loera, 1st , 4-0 (37-4). Finals: def. Evelyn Thornburg, Manhattan, fall, 3:07.
130—Aaliah Garza, 3rd, 4-1 (38-10). Third Place: def. Karen Gonzalez, Wichita-Southeast, fall, 1:40.
135—Kylie Huber, 2nd, 3-1 (32-11). Finals: lost to #1 Alayna Slifer, Manhattan, fall, 1:51.
140—Raygen Meza-McDermott, 5th, 4-2 (29-8). 5th-6th: def. Alejandra Delarosa, Dodge City, fall, 2:09.
145—Aria Cordes, 2nd, 3-1 (31-8). Finals: Lost to #2 Emme Blanco, Topeka-Washburn Rural, fall, 5:35.
155—Olivia Dunlap, 5th, 4-2 (21-10). 5th-6th: def. Nayomey Jennings-Smith, Wichita-South, fall, 1:42.
170—Arianna Serrano, DNP, 0-2 (4-12).
235—Amri Guerin, DNP, 0-2 (12-13).