Powerhouse Lady Buffs sweep WAC wrestling

Dodge’s Ramirez claims WAC wrestler award

If it had been possible to simply mail in the Western Athletic Conference girls’ wrestling team championship, it might have alleviated the other four teams from suffering lopsided losses to Garden City’s Lady Buffaloes during the 2026 dual-match schedule.

A preview of how the four WAC matches might go should have been abundantly clear in December when the Lady Buffs’ tournament schedule saw them capture team titles in Colorado Springs, Colo., (Ice Queen) and the Wrestle Like a Girl at Cache, Okla. They followed that with a runner-up at the Kansas City Stampede just before Christmas minus two starters and losing only by four points to Missouri power Nixa.

The month of January interspersed two WAC duals against Dodge City and Liberal that resulted in match scores of 59-24 and 57-15. On the weekends the Buffs were playing wrecking crew by winning the Conflict of Cleveland in Rio Rancho, N.M., the Newton Tournament of Champions, the Les Mattocks Invitational in Denver and the Rocky Welton Invitational in Garden City.

The first week of February on back-to-back nights, the Buffs then rolled over Great Bend, 66-12, and then nearly blanked WAC runner-up Hays, 72-6. 

“I think coming into the season we knew we had a chance to have a pretty good team, and I think we proved it,” said GCHS head coach Paul Lappin, who finished his second season at the helm with back-to-back WAC, 6A Regional and 6A state titles. “The biggest challenge we had was finding the right lineup because we had several girls in the same weight areas and had to decide who would go up and who would go down in weight.”

That decision didn’t crystalize until the middle of January and then got even more cloudy when two of Lappin’s starters were injured the day before the Rocky Welton Invite at home at the end of January. 

Still, the Lady Buffs proved that they had a daunting lineup by placing 10 wrestlers on the first team all-WAC squad. The rest of the WAC schools were left for the other four, and three of those were from Dodge City.

The WAC champions earned first team picks at 100, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145 and 235 pounds. Dodge City had selections at 105, 155, and 170 while Hays took the lone remaining spot at 190 pounds.

“One thing that came out of our roster choices is that it gave us additional depth and brought in another talented wrestler that might otherwise not have been on the varsity,” Lappin said.

By traveling to five states and competing against talented wrestlers every weekend, Lappin firmly believes it prepares his team for the rigors of the regional and state tournaments.

“We compete in a lot of big venues, where there are a lot of mats, a lot of people, and we see really good competition every weekend,” Lappin said. “I think it relieves the pressure on the girls when we get to state because we wrestle in those big arenas every weekend.”

At the same time, Lappin acknowledges that the WAC provides tough competition for his squad during the season.

“The WAC is one of the toughest conferences in the state of Kansas,” Lappin said. “Dodge City took fifth in 6A and yet was third in the WAC standings.”

To add more fuel to the WAC fire, in Class 5A, Great Bend and Hays finished sixth and seventh in the team standings with both schools getting four wrestlers on the podium for medals. 

In the 6A state tournament, Dodge City had two state champions (105/155) and three other medalists while Liberal had two including a runner-up at 190. The 105-pound finalists were Dodge City’s Elizabeth Ramirez, the WAC Wrestler of the Year (40-1) and Emjay Marez of Garden City.

That leaves the Lady Buffs’ medal haul at state where 10 of their 11 entrants came home with medals including two champions (Nicole Abrego at 100 and Marina Loera at 125). They had three runner-ups (105-Marez, 115-Crystal Loera and 135-Kylie Huber). They added in a trio of thirds (110-Kaira Acosta, 130-Aaliah Garza and 145-Aria Cordes). Julissa Rodriguez took fourth at 120 and Raygen Meza-McDermott was fifth at 140.

McDermott road to the state was made possible when senior Maggie Guzman was injured the day before the Rocky Welton and the usual 130-pounder filled in the remainder of the season and was rewarded with a spot on the medal stand. One other missing piece was 190-pound sophomore Mary Condo, who also was injured the day before the Welton. She was 24-5 at the time and ranked No. 2 in 6A. She had pinned both Dodge City and Liberal No. 1-ranked wrestlers in the first two WAC duals.

The Buffs will return wrestlers at 100, 115, 125, 130, 135, 145, 155, 190 and 235.

Dodge City’s Ramirez earns second state title, WAC Wrestler of Year honor

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Western Athletic Conference Girls Wrestling
2026 Team Standings

1	Garden City	4-0
2	Hays	3-1
3	Dodge City	2-2
4	Great Bend	1-3
5	Liberal	0-4

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All-Conference Selections

WEIGHT	FIRST TEAM	CLASS	SCHOOL
100	Nicole ABrego	11	Garden City
105	*Elizabeth Ramirez	12	Dodge City
110	Kaira Acosta	12	Garden City
115	Crystal Loera	11	Garden City
120	Julissa Rodriguez	12	Garden City
125	Marina Loera	11	Garden City
130	Aaliah Garza	11	Garden City
135	Kylie Huber	10	Garden City
140	Raygen Meza-McDermott	12	Garden City
145	Aria Cordes	9	Garden City
155	Yareli Garcia	12	Dodge City
170	Naomi Orozco	12	Dodge City
190	Eleanor Stoffel	11	Hays
235	Amri Guerin	9	Garden City

WEIGHT	SECOND TEAM	CLASS	SCHOOL
100	Briana Garcia	10	Dodge City
105	Emjay Marez	12	Garden Cty
110	Miranda Alvarez	11	Dodge City
115	Yesenia Castro	12	Dodge City
120	Kenlee Vehige	11	Hays
125	Brooklynn Kelly	10	Great Bend
130	Micah Ellegood	10	Great Bend
135	Rierdyn Baalman	9	Hays
140	Alejandra Delarosa	11	Dodge City
145	Timber Lovewell	11	Hays
155	Lexi Barnett	12	Hays
170	Rydlie Swanson	9	Great Bend
190	Aileen Figueroa	11	Liberal
235	Yaritza Rosas	10	Liberal