TOPEKA – Winning her 150th career match was a pretty big deal for Stella Segura at Saturday’s Washburn Rural Invitational.
 
The milestone victory came via a dominating 15-0 technical fall victory in the 110-pound semifinals over Sumner Academy’s Angie Mensah.
 
But the victory that stood out the most for the Shawnee Mission South senior was her 151st. A week after getting upset by Gardner Edgerton freshman Brielynn Jackson in a dual tournament at Olathe South, Segura got some revenge at Washburn Rural, pinning Jackson in the second period of their 110-pound title match.
 
“Coming off 150, I knew I had to make it 151 after I lost to her last week,” Segura said. “All week I’ve been working in the practice room like I was wrestling her, practicing like I’m going to win state. I put in the work this week and I’m going to keep doing at and it paid off today.
 
“I knew 150 was in my future. But I didn’t know if that win (over Jackson) was.”
 

 
Coming off a third-place finish at 115 pounds last year’s Class 6A state tournament, Segura opened this season ranked No. 1 at 110 in Class 6A. During a two-week period when she was moved up to the 115-pound rankings, Jackson took over the No. 1 spot at 110.
 
But that top ranking was back with Segura going into last week. Originally scheduled to compete in the Southside Slam at Olathe South, weather forced the tournament to be altered and instead a dual tournament was thrown together with Olathe South, Shawnee Mission South, Shawnee Mission Northwest, Gardner Edgerton and Tonganoxie in attendance.
 
That’s when Segura got her first look at Jackson, who was ranked No. 2. And needless to say, it was a bit of an eye-opener.
 
Jackson pushed the action early to build a lead, forcing Segura to take some chances “being desperate” late in the match, ultimately suffering a 15-4 major decision loss.
 
“It didn’t bruise me because I knew I was going to see her again, a few more times actually – league, regionals, state hopefully, and here,” Segura said of the loss. “I knew I’d get maybe four more chances at her.”
 

 
Saturday’s rematch wasn’t exactly going a whole lot better. Jackson once again came out the aggressor and got a takedown 21 seconds into the match. After Segura quickly worked free, Jackson got her second takedown of the period with 36 seconds left to lead 6-1.
 
Starting the second period in the up position, Segura was right where she wanted to be.
 
“I’m a hammer on top,” she said.
 
Indeed she was. Catching Jackson with a wing late in the second period, Segura was able to turn her freshman counterpart and get the pin with 17 seconds left for the title.
 
“I tried not to get in my own head when I was on bottom, knowing that the match wasn’t over even if I’m down,” Segura said.  “A lot can happen in two periods and I just felt I needed a little something.”
 
Finishing the day with three pin victories and the technical fall semifinal victory, Segura was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler for the lower weight classes. That honor in the upper weight classes went to teammate Siobhan Flanner, who captured the title at 170 pounds.
 

 
Flanner won all four of her matches via pin, including a second-period fall of Washburn Rural’s Elia Smith in the championship match in a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown in Class 6A.
 
South finished the day with a tourney-best four individual champions and took third as a team behind Gardner Edgerton and Washburn Rural. Top-ranked 235-pounder Lulu Kirk also pinned her way to the title, getting a second-period pin of Leavenworth’s Saryja Nelson – No. 1 in Class 5A – in the finals.
 
Rachael Wilson added the other title for the Raiders, winning at 135 with a pin of Gardner Edgerton’s Saoirse McCall in the finals, her third pin win is as many matches as well.
 

 
GARDNER EDGERTON BLAZING TOWARD BIG POSTSEASON
 
Expectations were already high for Gardner Edgerton to start the season as the Trailblazers began the season ranked No. 3 in Class 6A as a team after finishing just 10th at last year’s state tournament.
 
After dipping to No. 4 early in the season, the Trailblazers have climbed back up to No. 2 in the rankings and added another statement piece to their case as serious contenders for the title this year at the Washburn Rural Invitational.
 
Gardner advanced 12 wrestlers to the tournament semifinals and put eight in the championship matches, coming away with three champions overall to take the team title. The Trailblazers finished with 273 points to easily outdistance runner-up Washburn Rural, which scored 194 points.
 
“It was a great day,” Gardner coach Tyler Cordts said. “These girls are super-close in the room, joke around and have a lot of fun. They all show up every day and work hard and compete. Wins and losses are whatever, especially this time of year, but they just compete.
 
“It’s a solid tournament and is really good for us. We have a lot of solid tournaments at the beginning of the year and this is good to have a tough one toward the end before we make that postseason push. Shawnee Mission South is going to be a great league and regional opponent so we’ll see them a bunch the next few weeks. Washburn Rural is the perennial powerhouse on the girls side since it started so they’re always a good measuring stick seeing where we’re at.”
 
Arguably the highlight of the day came in the 120-pound championship match where a pair of freshmen Trailblazers wound up meeting for the title. Aspen Walker pinned teammate Illeana Toney in the first period for the title.
 

 
The other two crowns came from the sister act of Josie and Jadyn Clouse. Josie, a sophomore, pinned Clay Center’s Evellyn Farley to win the 130-pound title and four weight classes later, Jadyn, a junior, pinned Shawnee Mission South’s Alexis Chavez for the 155 title.
 
Gardner also got runner-up finishes from Madelyn Riedinger at 100, Brielynn Jackson at 110, Toney at 120, Saoirse McCall at 135 and Camila Vazquez at 140.
 
The tourney title came on the heels of a 4-0 showing at last Friday’s dual tournament at Olathe South, a tourney that was somewhat thrown together after weather canceled the Southside Slam that was to have been held that Saturday. Gardner wasn’t slated to compete at the Slam, but when it was postponed and Olathe South was looking for participants in a dual tourney, Cordts jumped at the opportunity.
 
“We were trying to get some extra matches and it ended up being really good for us,” he said. “We had some big wins there and had some girls bumping up weight classes and doing whatever they could to help the team. And that’s what these girls are all about, what’s best for the team. What we’re trying to get to at the end of the year is get on the state trophy podium and this has been big to help us get there.”
 
In addition to Gardner’s three champions and four from Shawnee Mission South, Olathe East’s Audrey Lennard was a champion at Rural at 145, Leavenworth’s Olivia Gardner won at 125 and Columbus’ Adalynn Hutto was the 190 champion, all winning their title matches via pin. Gardner won her 125th match of her career at the tourney in the semifinals.

OTHER WRESTLING STANDOUTS:

• St. Thomas Aquinas' Keila Cisper is out to a strong start in her first ever season of wrestling. Cisper, who is currently wrestling with St. James Academy until the postseason, is off to a 14-2 record at 105 pounds. Cisper has three tournament victories on the season at Bonner Springs, Shawnee Heights and Shawnee Mission North. 
• Tonganoxie's Autumn Wilson and Kaylee Pankey have put together strong seasons so far for the Chieftains. Wilson, who is curretly ranked No. in Class 4A at 120 pounds, is 26-3 on the year with victories at Baldwin and Spring Hill, along with runner-up finishes at Great Bend and Newton. She was also third at the KC Stampede. As for Pankey, she is 31-6 on the season at 115 pounds and is ranked No. 6. Pankey won the Baldwin Invite and had a runner-up finish at Spring Hill and was third at Great Bend. 
• Pittsburg girls won the SEK Invitational last week at Chanute with 154.5 points and Fort Scott was runner-up with 148. Pittsburg juniors Kaitlyn Allen (130) and Kiana Berryman (140) each won titles. Allen, who is ranked No. 2 in Class 5A went 4-0 and pinned KC-Washington's Reddi Johnson in the finals after she was down 10-1 in the match. Washington was ranked No. 2 in Class 5A going in. As for Berryman, the No. 6 ranked wrestler in 5A, finished 3-0 with a pair of falls.

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• Labette County's Aaron Wyrick hit a big milestone after his runner-up finish at the Baldwin Invitational last week. Wyrick earned win No. 100 as is currently ranked No. 4 in Class 4A at 175 pounds.
• Pittsburg senior De'Marus Partee won the SEK Invitational for the second straight season as he won the 190-pound title with a 4-0 record with two pins and two tech falls. Partee was down 11 points in the finals, before pinning Caney Valley's Ausin Freisberg in the third period.