VALLEY CENTER, Kan.—
Ark City trailed Goddard by a half-point entering the finals of its regional tournament in Valley Center. Ark City placed eight wrestlers in championship matches, five of the matches were against Goddard.Ark City edged Goddard 207-198 for the regional title. Valley Center rounded out the top three with a score of 178.
“I didn’t think we wrestled our best today,” said Ark City coach Greg Buckbee. “We came out flat. We’re going to have to wrestle a lot better to win a state championship.”
That must be good news for the Bulldogs. It didn’t wrestle its best, and still won a regional championship.
The only weight class that will not be represented by an Ark City wrestler will be 285. The Bulldogs will see 13 wrestlers at the state tournament.
With just one weight class not being represented, Ark City has a shot at the state title.
“We’ve got a lot of specific things to work on this week to win a state title,” said Buckbee. “I’m not as pleased as one would think (with the win).”
Ark City won five different weight class regional titles, as did Goddard. A Goddard wrestler was represented in nine different final matches. The Lions will see 11 wrestlers at the state tournament.
Goddard’s Dakota Leach got things going for the Lions by defeating Ark City’s Logan Terrill 10-2 in 106 lbs. But Marco Perez got it back for Ark City with a pin on Devin Ortega of Goddard in 113 lbs.
At 120 lbs., Ark City’s Dalton Dietrich was forced to forfeit when he went down in the first period with a knee injury against Carroll’s Eric Santiago. Dietrich spent the rest of the evening on crutches.
Colby Watters of Ark City pinned Joel Sponsel of Carroll in just under four minutes. Ark City and Goddard traded blows the rest of the night, but the Bulldogs were able to come up with seven more points to come away with a regional tournament win.
For complete results, click here.
