Over the weekend Winfield sent 6 wrestlers to the Kansas State Wrestling Championships at Kansas Coliseum in Wichita. Out of the 6 state qualifiers, 4 medal led, including Garrett Harding, so. , Dan Pipes, sr. , Damien Annuschat, sr. , and Derrick McCreary, jr. Sophomore Garrett Harding placed first in the 103- pound weight class going undefeated over the weekend and 41-3 overall.
Garrett manhandled his opponents reaching the championship and went on to beat Liberal’s Ryan Madden 9-5. The second state placer was Dan Pipes in the 135- pound weight class, who prior to the regional meet had been out of Winfield’s lineup since suffering an injury on Jan. 4, returned with power. Pipes nearly won a state title before losing a hard-fought 6-4 decision to Mulvane’s Kyle Breese.
Another placer was Damien Annuschat, sr. , who missed nearly a month of the season due to a knee injury. Annuschat picked up a third-place medal in the 152-pound weight class with an 8-6 win over Paola’s Kai to Miller. Finally, there was Derrick McCreary, jr. , who was the fourth Winfield wrestler to medal. With his 3-1 victory over Kansas City’s Caleb Hulse he earned a fifth-place finish in the 125-pound weight class.
Zack Burgess, sr. (24-15), and Josh Burgess, jr. (27-18) also competed at the state meet. Zack went 0-2, and Josh finished with a record of 1-2. Overall in the State competition, Winfield placed 6 th behind Bishop Carroll, Ark City, Mulvane, Paola and Goddard and will most likely return more state competitors next year. Winfield will lose 8 seniors to graduation including Zack Burgess, Annuschat, Pipes, Jeremy Reid, Noah M orford, Tim Live say, Will Purcell and Miguel Ne grete..