HAYS – Russell coach Luke Keller avoided discussing the team title race with his five state finalists heading into the championship round of the 3-1A girls wrestling tournament, but he knew the Broncos’ magic number. 

Entering the finals, Russell held a 10-point lead over Norton, though the defending champion Bluejays still had four wrestlers competing for titles.

The Broncos left no doubt, emphatically wrapping up the team title thanks to a 4-1 showing in the title matches on Saturday at Gross Memorial Coliseum. 
Arianna Weigel (120), Averie Counts (130), Kinsey Zorn (145) Aaliyah Trevino (155) all captured individual titles to finish off a 156-point showing, securing
Russell’s first team state championship, girls or boys, since the Bronco boys basketball team won state in 1979. 

Zorn delivered the championship clincher when she defeated Ellsworth’s Sophie Homolka by an 8-0 major decision to become the program’s first two-time champion. 

“The magic number was 149 points and we were at 147 before Kinsey's match,” Keller said. “I told my AD [Jay Sanders], ‘Who would you rather have out there closing the championship for you than Kinsey Zorn?’ ”

It was the culmination of a banner season that saw the Broncos maintain the No. 1 ranking in 3-1A throughout the season, thanks in large part to a stellar freshman class that included champions Trevino and Weigel. 

“When I took over four years ago, we had four girls (out for wrestling),” said Keller, who was named 3-1A coach of the year by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association. “We steadily grew our numbers out. It's really just a credit to what they've built. I can preach all the things I want all the time and what I want them to do, but they go out and do it.

“I challenged them this season to live a championship lifestyle. They did that in their school work, their personal lives and in their wrestling lives. They did all those things that make champions, and that’s why we won this trophy.”

Weigel got the Broncos started in one of the most anticipated bouts of the championship round, facing Mid-Continent League rival Josie Bell, a returning state champ from Hoxie.

Weigel capped her dominant tournament by securing a pin over Bell at the 1:30 mark of the title match, her fourth fall of the tournament. 

“I just tried to wrestle my match, not get in my head and do what I can do best,” Weigel said. “I was just trying to take any chance I could get, go with the flow.”

“That's just the kind of wrestler she is,” Keller said of Weigel. “She's pretty explosive in her hips. And when she senses blood in the water, she's not afraid to attack, and we needed that. I think that kind of got all the other girls excited and going.”

Weigel (43-3) went 3-1 on the season against Bell, last year’s 115 champion who finished with a 45-4 mark this year as a junior. 

“I've been working really hard, so I'm really proud of myself for making it this far,” Weigel said. “It was unreal. 

“[Bell] is a really fun girl to go against. It's really fun wrestling her.”
 

Counts finished off a 44-0 sophomore season by controlling her title match against Rawlins County’s Maggie Holle (34-3). Counts found the pin at the 5:35 mark for her fourth pin of the tournament. 

“Averie did what Averie does,” Keller said. “I was really never worried at any time in her match. I knew Averie had it under control. I just trust the wrestler she is.”
 

Zorn, the 135-pound champion last year, was a late addition to the team this season, joining at the holiday break after initially playing basketball. She helped bolster an already impressive squad. 

“Ever since we've gotten Kinsey back, we've clicked,” Weigel said. 

Zorn, a junior, joined Counts as undefeated state champ, finishing 30-0. 

“Kinsey was a hammer all weekend,” Keller said. “She just put on a clinic. She's an amazing part of our team.”
 

Like Weigel, Trevino had to go through a returning state champion to win her title. Her final with Oakley’s Cali Wagoner went down to the wire. 

Trevino (39-5) trailed 1-0 heading into the third period before scoring a reversal midway through the third period and staying in control. Trevino won four of five matches on the season against Wagoner (37-5), who finished her career as a four-time state placer with one title and two runner-up showings.

“[Trevino is] fine wrestling a match when she has a big lead and pins somebody, and she's fine wrestling the match where it's close,” Keller said. “She's just tough between the ears. She really improved as the season went on.  I'm so proud of her.”
 

Russell’s other state finalist was freshman Karsyn Hamlin, who reached the 125 title match. She lost by second-period fall to Norton’s Kaison Miller, who captured her second straight title and finished her sophomore season 44-0. 

Hamlin’s runner-up showing came despite missing a good chunk of the season with an injury. She finished 18-3. 

“She missed all of January with a back injury,” Keller said. “She was hurting all tournament long. She is a gutsy kid. She gritted out some really tough matches against some really good quality wrestlers on the way to the championship match. Kaison Miller is just a really good wrestler, and Karsyn didn't wrestle bad that match. I told her, ‘Karsyn, we don't get a state championship trophy without you in this tournament.’ ”

Other state qualifiers from Russell were freshman Camry Ney, junior Chaysie Bachman and senior Mya Trevino. 

“In the opening round, we went eight for eight,” Keller said. “I think the girls set the tone from that first round and we just built on it.”

Norton finished 13 points back of Russell to take second place after last year’s team title. Miller, Halle Pfannenstiel (140) and Cadence Greeson (190) all repeated as state champions fpr the Bluejays while Adriana Winters (235) added a runner-up finish.