Great Bend’s Kern voted WOY award
For the four decades-plus that the Western Athletic Conference has existed, there is one winter sport that has been dominated by one school.
When people in the WAC talk about boys’ wrestling, the Garden City Buffaloes have been the standard to which other schools try to emulate.
That’s because in 40 seasons, the Buffs have won 19 outright WAC championships, shared in six others while the remaining four schools combined have totaled just 15 outright titles while sharing with the Buffs on the other occasions.
Thus, it would come as no shock that the 2026 WAC title remained in Garden City for the fifth consecutive year as the Buffs went 4-0 in the dual match schedule.
They opened the dual season in mid-January with a 54-21 victory over rival Dodge City, followed it with a 56-19 triumph over Liberal a week later and then capped it off with back-to-back wins on consecutive days against Hays (40-32) and Great Bend (39-34).
Those last two duals came in early February when the Buffs were battling some sickness and injuries while head coach Paul Lappin and his staff were diligently working toward the bigger goal of Class 6A regional and state tournaments toward the end of February.
“January is such a hard month on us,” Lappin said. “The duals are during the week, and we have big weekend tournaments on both ends of those duals. We had to adjust our lineup when we didn’t have everybody available, so I thought the kids we put on the mat did a good job.”
For decades, and more recently in the last 15 years, the Buffs have scheduled difficult tournaments out-of-state in Colorado, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Missouri and this year New Mexico.
It’s a formidable challenge, and while the Buffs’ individual records might not be the most impressive, that meat-cutter schedule prepares them for the final month of the season.
“I thought we did a good job taking care of business in the WAC,” Lappin said.
The Buffs’ regular season started with a 7-0 dual record in Colorado Springs, Colo., at the Battle of the Best.
“At the time, I thought, ‘Holy smoke, maybe we’re better than I thought,’” Lappin said.
He was trying to be realistic with a young team that had lost nine seniors from a Class 6A state runner-up finish in 2025.
“January rolled around, and I think we kind of got knocked around,” Lappin said. “All the way back to the summer, I knew we needed to grow up a little bit with so many young guys. We had to find new leadership and we had several step up and show those signs.”
They took their late December and January lumps at the Mid-America Nationals in Oklahoma, the Kansas City Stampede and then in January at the Conflict in Cleveland (Rio Rancho, N.M.), followed by the Geary (Okla.) Invitational, the Top of the Rockies in Denver and then hosting the always tough Rocky Welton Invitational the final weekend of January.
“The Stampede by far was the toughest tournament of the year,” Lappin said. “It’s a whole different level of wrestling. Day 1 there I thought we looked bright-eyed and didn’t compete well. Day 2, we competed and I think they started to believe that they could wrestle. You just must believe in yourself.”
So, for a team that began the season ranked No. 9 in Class 6A, the Buffaloes answered the call at regionals, where they were fifth behind every other ranked team ahead of them, and then moved up one notch at the state tournament, finishing a solid fourth.
“We have a great group of kids returning, so there is a lot of excitement about next season,” Lappin said.
He will lose senior 126-pound state champion Zach Long and Isaiah Ayala, fifth place at 138 pounds. His anchors will be 120-pound state champion Pace Plankenhorn and freshman third-place finisher Myles Garza at 132, and fourth-place finishers 144-pound junior Romeo Garcia and 106-pound sophomore Izaac Gonzalez.
Lappin has just completed his second season as the head coach after serving nearly a decade as assistant, but the program hasn’t missed a beat.
“The program is in great shape,” Lappin said. “I think one thing I’ve tried is to do a little more work on the mental side of things. We work on a lot of different ways to think and operate in certain situations.”
The Buffs led the way on the first-team all-WAC selections with five – Gonzalez (106), Plankenhorn (120), Long (126), Garza (132) and Garcia (144). Hays was close behind with first-team selections at 165, 175, 190 and 285. Great Bend had three, including state champion Trenton Kern (215, see story below), who was voted Wrestler of the Year in winning his 3 WAC matches and then taking 5A state honors. Liberal (113) and Dodge City (150) had one each on the first team.
Great Bend’s Kern caps off prep career with State 5A title; WAC award
There might have been moments during his senior year that Great Bend’s Trenton Kern wondered if he would ever win a state championship in any sport – team or individual.
That’s because his Panthers had suffered heart-breaking losses for two years in football (2024 and 2025), in baseball in 2025 and then he had to endure injuries that limited his winter wrestling.
But he persevered through it all and finally reached the pinnacle in wrestling on Feb. 28 by winning the Class 5A state title at 215 pounds. His victory sealed the vote of the Western Athletic Conference coaches by being named the 2026 WAC Boys Wrestler of the Year.
“That’s pretty amazing because I didn’t wrestle much in January or early February,” said Kern, who rehabbed a strained LCL (lateral collateral ligament) by taking three to four weeks off and giving it some rest. “
In his WAC competition, he pinned Emilio Sandoval of Liberal (1:26) and won a major decision over Guillermo Morales of Dodge, 13-3. He finally met Jaxson Chartier of Hays in the 5A regional and pinned him at 3:39 in the second period. He did not wrestle Garden City’s 215-pounder.
“Wrestling is a long, grueling sport, and I actually believe the rest during January helped me be more healthy and more rested for regional and state,” Kern said. “The thing I had to worry about was getting back in shape and I did a lot of conditioning.”
Kern had finished fifth as a freshman and then in his sophomore year suffered a tear of his LCL, and yet he managed a sixth-place finish at state. In his junior year, it was another disappointment, placing fifth.
“The biggest improvement I had this year was getting more aggressive in the lower body,” Kern said. “I had been pretty much upper body throws my junior year, so I opened up more and it really helped.”
By missing January, Kern finished his season wtih a 19-1 record, losing only to a wrestler from Nixa, Mo., at the Rose Hill Invitational when he had just returned to the mat.
“Honestly, if I could wrestle him (Weston Weldon) I believe I could win,” Kern said.
In his four matches at state, Kern pinned his first three opponents before the 9-3 decision in the title bout.
“When I returned, I was excited to wrestle again, and I think the layoff actually helped,” Kern said. “It was a great feeling to win. I’m a big team player so I have to give credit to my teammates and my coaches. Without all their help, I wouldn’t have accomplished this.”
Western Athletic Conference Boys Wrestling
2026 Team Standings
| 1 | Garden City | 4-0 |
| 2 | Hays | 3-1 |
| 3 | Great Bend | 2-2 |
| 4 | Dodge City | 1-3 |
| 5 | Liberal | 0-4 |
All-Conference Selections
| WT | FIRST TEAM | CLASS | SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 106 | Izaac Gonzalez | 10 | Garden City |
| 113 | Brian Casas | 12 | Liberal |
| 120 | Pace Plankenhorn | 11 | Garden City |
| 126 | Zach Long | 12 | Garden City |
| 132 | Myles Garza | 9 | Garden City |
| 138 | Cal Schartz | 10 | Great Bend |
| 144 | Romeo Garcia | 11 | Garden City |
| 150 | Oakley Rich | 9 | Dodge City |
| 157 | Tristan Tomlinson | 12 | Great Bend |
| 165 | Brian Prough | 10 | Hays |
| 175 | Archer Amrein | 10 | Hays |
| 190 | Jonathan Rigler | 12 | Hays |
| 215 | *Trenton Kern | 12 | Great Bend |
| 285 | Tanner Geist | 11 | Hays |
Coach of the Year: Paul Lappin, Garden City
| WT | SECOND TEAM | CLASS | SCHOOL |
|---|---|---|---|
| 106 | Gaven Deneault | 10 | Hays |
| 113 | Ethan Branaman | 11 | Hays |
| 120 | Declan Keller | 9 | Dodge City |
| 126 | Roberto Casasola | 10 | Dodge City |
| 132 | Westyn Cook | 9 | Hays |
| 138 | Cayson Rohr | 9 | Dodge City |
| 144 | AC Gomez | 10 | Liberal |
| 150 | Cade Lind | 12 | Hays |
| 157 | Isaac Guerrero | 11 | Garden City |
| 165 | Aiden Stacey | 11 | Great Bend |
| 175 | Addison Velador | 11 | Dodge City |
| 190 | Landry Fitzgerald | 10 | Liberal |
| 215 | Guillermo Morales | 11 | Dodge City |
| 285 | Josue Bustamante | 11 | Great Bend |
