Corbin Nirschl holds pretty lofty status in Basehor-Linwood wrestling history.
 
Maybe the loftiest as one of the program’s two two-time state individual champions along with Jon Trowbridge, taking Class 4A titles at 132 pounds in 2017 and 106 in 2014 – the titles sandwiching runner-up finishes in 2015 and 2016.
 
“I looked up to Corbin as a kid when I started wrestling,” said current Basehor-Linwood senior Evan Vielhauer. “He was pretty much ‘The Guy’ at Basehor.”
 
While Vielhauer hasn’t yet joined Nirschl as a state champion for the Bobcats, he did put his name alongside his idol this past weekend at the Bobcat Classic. In winning the championship at 132 pounds, Vielhauer became just the third ever Bobcat to capture a title at Basehor’s prestigious home tournament, joining Nirschl and Cody Phippen, who spent one year at Basehor before becoming a three time state champion at Platte County (Mo.).
 
“It’s pretty surreal for me to think about that I’m one of the few names to be up there to do that, being right there with guys that went D-I and won state titles,” Vielhauer said. “It’s pretty cool and I didn’t even know about it until after I won. It really meant a lot to me.”
 
Vielhauer had never advanced past the semifinals at the Bobcat Classic in his first three years and seeded fourth going into this year’s tournament, the road to get to the finals and win a title was as tough as ever.
 
He opened with a 15-0 technical fall win over Eudora’s Newt Schreiner and then pinned Tonganoxie’s Blake Riedel in the third period in the second round before taking a 6-2 win over 5A No. 6 Will Burchard of St. James Academy.
 
That set up a semifinal showdown with Carson Thomsen, the tourney’s No. 1 seed from Iowa powerhouse Underwood. Neither Viehlauer nor Thomsen could work much action with the only points scored in the first three periods being escapes by each.
 
 But in overtime, Vielhauer fought off a takedown attempt by Thomsen and counted with one of his own for a 3-1 upset victory.
 
“He was really good at scrambling and was really hard to finish on,” Vielhauer said. “I hit a little sweet shot in overtime and I told myself I just had to finish it there. Beating him in the semifinals, the emotions just flowed out. After that match, I was sitting there and realized, ‘I’ve still got a finals match ahead of me.’ I got fueled up and calmed down and got a good warmup in.”
 
In the finals, Vielhauer faced Burlingame’s Logan Courtois, last year’s state runner-up at 113 pounds in Class 3-2-1A who brought an undefeated record into the Bobcat Classic. 
 
“I’ve wrestled him before in the past and I knew how he wrestled and his style,” Viehlauer said. “I think our styles match up pretty well against each other so it was going to be a low-scoring match.”
 
Indeed it was. The two were scoreless going into the third period with Courtois riding out Vielhauer from the top position in the second period. The Bearcat then got an escape in the third period for a 1-0 lead.
 
But with 30 seconds left, Vielhauer got in quick to a shot and finished for the winning takedown, setting off a raucous celebration from the hometown crowd.
 
“Everyone went crazy,” Vielhauer said. “Losing in the semifinals the past two years, I made it a goal this year I was going to make the finals and this was going to be my year. It worked out for me I guess.”
 
Vielhauer improved to 23-2 on the season and moved from No. 3 to No. 2 in the latest KWCA Class 5A rankings at 132 pounds behind Andover’s Luke Potter. His only losses this season came at the mid-December KC Stampede to out-of-state wrestlers.
 
Coming off a fifth-place showing at last year’s state tournament, Vielhauer has his sights set on a state title this year and the Bobcat title certainly is a major boost of confidence in reaching that goal.
 
“I hear a lot of people saying the Bobcat is as tough or harder than state,” Viehlhauer said. “There are a lot of good teams that come there from out of state that makes it so tough. Winning that tells me I have a pretty good shot this year.”
 
“Evan is an outstanding wrestler and an even better person,” Basehor coach Jason Puderbaugh said. “He is a team captain and our team looks up to him. He wrestled great this weekend and ‘pulled the trigger’ when he needed to in matches which made the difference. I joke with him on occasion that I wish he would ‘pull the trigger; more often because when he makes the decision to score points, not many, if any, will stop him. I’m super happy for him because it’s always a great feeling to see guys like him have success.”
 
Vielhauer also credited his workout partners for his success. Those guys also showed up big last weekend in helping Basehor-Linwood finish third in the team standings and tops among Kansas teams.
 
Trevor Christenson (106) and Cael Puderbaugh (126) each finished third after losing in their respective semifinals. Jet Millison (113) and Brody Ballard (138) both finished fifth and Caden Puderbaugh (157) took sixth.
 
“We have a lot of talent at the lower weights,” Vielhauer said. “We drill pretty hard and really push each other. We got at it pretty hard. I’m excited to see how we can do at state this year.”
 
Also at Basehor, De Soto’s Emerson Tjaden suffered his first losses of the year in taking fourth at 144 pounds. Both losses came to out-of-state competition by a total of three points in a pair of tight decisions.
 

 
 
MANHATTAN, RURAL SHINE AT NEWTON TOC
 
Look no further than how returning state champions from both Manhattan and Washburn Rural fared at the Newton Tournament of Champions to know just how hard a title is to come by at that tournament.
 
Last year, the Centennial League rivals combined for four Class 6A state champions, all of whom returned this season – Easton Broxterman and Landen Kocher-Munoz for the Junior Blues and Caeleb Hutchinson and Jameal Agnew for the Indians.
 
Of those four, only Broxterman even made the finals at Newton last weekend.
 
But that hardly made it a lost weekend for the potential contenders for the 6A title. The two combined for three champions overall to finish second (Manhattan) and third (Rural) in the team standings behind Rose Hill.
 
Broxterman did his thing in taking the title at 132 pounds, improving to 29-1 on the season. The junior pinned four of his five opponents at the tourney, including a second-period fall over Rose Hill’s Jonny Leck, a 2022 state champion who was a state runner-up last year.
 
While Kocher-Munoz suffered a 7-2 semifinal loss to Andover’s Adam Maki and finished third at 138 – pinning Manhattan’s Agnew in the consolation finals – Rural did come away with a second champion at the tourney.
 
Kristjan Marshall earned the No. 1 seed at t150 pounds at the tourney and upheld that distinction. The junior survived a tough second-round match with Maize’s Braden Salsbury, taking an 8-6 win in that match, but then pinned his way into the finals where he took a 5-3 win over Pratt’s Blake Winsor for the crown.
 
Marshall improved to 21-4.
 
Manhattan, meanwhile, also had a pair of finalists, but neither were Hutchinson nor Agnew, who each lost in the semifinals. Hutchinson fell 5-4 to Newton’s Lucas Kaufman at 120 but bounced back to finish third. Agnew was pinned by Rose Hill’s Damon Ingram in their 138 semifinal and finished fourth.
 
Senior Ezekiel Witt continued his undefeated season for the Indians at 113 pounds, improving to 27-0 with his title. Witt pinned all four opponents, needing just 28 seconds to pin Lawrence’s Lou Elsten in the finals.
 
Logan Lagerman made the finals at 144 with three straight pins before getting pinned by Andrew Manley of Seneca (Mo.).
 
In the Newton girls’ tourney, Manhattan’s Sage Rosario was named the outstanding wrestler of the meet after dominating the field at 155 pounds. Rosario, now 16-0 on the season and still undefeated in her career, pinned three foes in the first period to get into the finals where she pinned Derby’s Veronica Madrid in the third period for the title.
 
She was one of two champions for the Indians with Alayna Slifer joining her with a title at 140 pounds. Slifter also pinned her way into the finals and then topped Eureka’s Lyndsey Escareno 7-2 to improve to 14-4 on the season.
 
Kayla Cramer suffered just her second loss of the season, falling to Josaline Blevins of Stilwell (Okla.) in the semifinals before bouncing back to take third.
 
Manhattan finished third as a team behind Garden City and Emporia with the Buffaloes scoring 221 points, Emporia getting 178 and the Indians 165.
 
Emporia was led by a 135 champion Virginia Munoz, who pinned her first three foes in the first period before taking a 7-5 overtime win over Stilwell’s Adrianna Chronister in the finals. Alexis Castillo (235) and Kensley Medrano (130) each lost in the finals to place second.
 
OTHER WRESTLING STANDOUTS
 

• Junction City had a trio of champions at the girls’ Prairie Classic in Hays with two of them staying undefeated on the season. Jaidyn Alvarado improved to 21-0 at 100 pounds, pinning Stockton’s Carolina Northup in the finals while teammate Julianna Villanueva moved to 22-0 on the season at 155, pining Hays’ Madison Polson in the finals. Charly Goodwin claimed the 110 title with a 28-second pin of Colby’s Cora DeGood in the finals.
• Council Grove’s boys took the team title at the Topeka High Invitational, getting individual titles from Bradley Doornbos (120), Mason Wilkens (132), Hadley Smith (144), Ace Monihen (190) and Tyler Hutchinson (215). Host Topeka High had a pair of champions in Rehabiah Williamson (150) and Nick Davis (165) to finish second as a team and Highland Park’s Adrian Burney won at 175.

• Wellsville had a pair of champions at its home Aaron Patton Memorial Tournament as Carter Willmarth won at 215 pounds and Chris McClendon won at 175. Other area winners included Osage City’s Gavin Ericson (285), Burlington’s Aden McManus (138), Jefferson West’s Karson Kahler (126) and Central Heights’ Baker Moore (113).
• In the girls tourney at Wellsville, the host Eagles narrowly missed out on a team title, taking second to 6A Gardner Edgerton by two points. Wellsville had xxx champions as Vivy Saylors (100), Jazlene Kirk (110) and Olive Dubois (125) all won their brackets. Kynlie Stevenson (115), Lainey Farley (130), Tommi Shuey (135) and Dayja Eiche (170) all finished second.
• Rossville’s Keera Lacock and Kendra Hurla continued their undefeated seasons with titles at Wellsville as Lacock improved to 22-0 at 115 and Hurla improved to 20-0 at 120. Hailey Horton added a title at 155 for the Bulldawgs.
• Burlington had a pair of champions at Wellsville as well as Johanna Carrasco won at 190 and Haylei Potter won at 135. Prairie View’s Shawna Case (145) and Iola’s Zoie Hess (170) also were champions.
• Herington picked up two champions at the Halstead Invitational with Cameron Svitak winning at 150 and Reid Griffiths taking the title at 138. Wabaunsee’s Alex Beggs (175) and Chase County’s Micah Cauthers (190) also brought home titles.
• In girls action at Halstead, Wabaunsee’s Sophia Castillo (100) and Sienna Jones (170) and Chase County’s Kinzie Rogers (105) claimed titles.
• At the girls’ Best of the West tournament at Wichita West, Basehor-Linwood finished third as a team behind Dodge City and Olathe Northwest. The Bobcats had six top-four finishers led by 145-pound champion Makayla Faulkner, who pinned Dodge City’s Yareli Garcia in the finals. Miley Locke took second at 105.
• Piper had a pair of champions at the Blue Valley West girls tournament with Malia Martin winning at 170 and Maia Dolinar winning at 125. Topeka High’s Ingrid Cabrera won at 100 and De Soto’s Gabby Chaney was the 235 champ.

 
 
BASKETBALL STANDOUTS
 

• Silver Lake’s McKinley Kruger went over the 1,000-point mark for her career in the Eagles’ 62-30 rout of Riley County last week. Kruger is averaging 17.9 points per game this season for the undefeated Eagles.
• Brax Fisher is averaging 20.3 points, 7 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game in leading Abilene’s boys to a 7-0 mark going into this week’s Salina Invitational Tournament.
• In a win over Marysville last week, Wamego’s Spencer Hecht went for 20 points and 7 rebounds.
• Santa Fe Trail’s girls knocked off previously unbeaten Anderson County 49-38 last Friday night. Kaelee Washington averaged 27 points per game over the Chargers’ last three games and is averaging 21.6 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.4 steals per game overall. Braegan Buessing has added 12 points, 3.4 assists and 5.3 steals per game.
• Burlington’s Sage Fefjar came up just short of matching the school record for rebounds in a game with 20 boards against Osawatomie last Tuesday. He also scored 16 points in the game. The 20 rebounds are 6 off the school record set by Grant Hegg last season.
• Highland Park’s girls stayed unbeaten as Amelia Ramsey scored 21 points and had 13 rebounds, 3 steals and 3 blocked shots against Sumner Academy. Pearmella Carter added 22 points and 7 rebounds as the Scots improved to 4-0.
• Seabury’s Jace Smith had 18 points and 10 rebounds and Chase Honarvar had 12 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 7 blocked shots in a game last week.