Maize leads after day one of the 66th Rocky Welton Invitational
Garden City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Over 600 matches were wrestled on the opening day of the 66th Annual Rocky Welton Invitational at Garden City High School. This year’s tournament features over 400 wrestlers and 40 teams, as the tournament continues to be one of the premiere tournaments in Kansas.
The Maize Eagles have a three-and-a-half-point lead over the Pueblo East Eagles after the first day. Maize put up 129 points, as they have two finalists for Saturday’s championship round. Pueblo East put three in the finals for Saturday. They are one of two schools with three finalists. Goddard is the other.
In all, 17 schools will be represtented in the championship matches.
From the area, Garden City would put two in the finals, with Brayden Pacheco at 106 pounds, and Sebastian Lopez at 285 pounds. Dodge City will have a finalist at 126 with Raymond Hernandez. Ulysses has their first finalist in a while at the Rocky Welton Invitational, as Braysen Salinas is in the finals at 144 pounds.
Day two of the Rocky Welton will begin at 9 am Saturday. The Third annual girls tournament will coincide with the boys tournament on Saturday.
Team Scores
Maize 129; Pueblo East, Colo. 125.5; Rose Hill 121.5; Goddard 103.5; Kearney, Neb. 100.5; Millard West, Neb. 100; Garden City 99.5; Pine Creek, Colo. 98; Mill Valley 94; Hutchinson 93.5; Andale 91.5; Valley Center 89.5; Great Bend 88.5; Scottsbluff, Neb. 88.; Randall, Tex. 86; Hays 78; Scott City 73; Newton 69.5; Salina Central 67.5; Dodge City 61; Olathe North 60.5; Ulysses 53; La Junta, Colo. 41; Mountain View, Colo. 41; Maize South 37; Woodward, Okla. 32; Liberal 31; Lewis-Palmer, Colo. 30.5; Garden City Brown 30; Pueblo West, Colo. 29; Holcomb 20; Republic County 19; Vista Ridge, Colo. 19; Wichita County 18.5; Bennett, Colo. 16; Beloit 14.5 Hugoton 13; Stockton 10; Las Animas, Colo. 7; Doherty, Colo. 6
Finalists
106: Brayden Pacheco, Garden City, (36-1) vs Oscar Gauna, Goddard, (24-4)
113: Isaiah Harrison, Mountain View, (35-1) vs Michael Ruiz, Randall, (25-0)
120: Griffin Rial, Pine Creek, vs Julian Espinoza, Pueblo East, (38-4)
126: Raymond Hernandez, Dodge City, (25-13) vs Deven Lopez, Pueblo Eeast, (37-7)
132: Johnny Leck, Rose Hill, (25-2) vs Niko Fernandez, Pueblo East, (37-6)
138: Damon Ingram, Rose Hill, (27-1) vs Nathaniel Ruiz, Randall, (20-3)
144: Harley Zimmerman, Hays, (29-0) vs Braysen Salinas, Ulysses, (27-5)
150: Ethan Eck, Andale, (7-2) vs Brady Mason, Mill Valley, (29-8)
157: Owen Eck, Andale, (15-0) vs Kade Smith, Hutchinson, (25-3)
165: Colin McAlister, Mill Valley, (37-1) vs David Sample, Goddard, (18-3)
175: Cooper Reves, Salina Central, (33-2) vs Frankie Trevino, Scottsbluff, (10-2)
190: Ayden Flores, Maize, (36-0) vs Preston Hagel, Goddard, (19-8)
215: Ronan Wunsch, Maize, (37-0) vs Dai’mont Mucker, Valley Center, (17-1)
285: Sebastian Lopez, Garden City, (20-3) vs Camden Jensen, Hutchinson, (26-4)
