How unranked Newton wrestling stunned 5A’s dynasty to win loaded regional title
The Newton boys high school wrestling team wasn’t on anybody’s short list of favorites entering the postseason.
Before the Class 5A West regional tournament in Hays this past weekend, the Railers weren’t among the 10 teams ranked in 5A by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association.
That didn’t stop Newton from authoring the weekend’s biggest surprise by winning the team title with 178 points, just enough to edge Goddard (172.5), Hutchinson (161), Bishop Carroll (155), Arkansas City (152), Hays (147.5) and Maize South (137) in a field loaded with ranked programs.
“It just goes to show you that you don’t have to be ranked to win,” Newton coach Tommy Edgmon said.
It was the kind of upset that lands with some weight extra because of who Newton beat for the title: Goddard, the No. 1-ranked team in 5A and a dynasty that has won 10 state championships in the last 11 seasons.
While Goddard flexed its star power with three champion and five finalists, the most of any team in the tournament, Newton won the meet with its depth. The Railers crowned two champions, put four into the finals and had eight wrestlers finish in the top five, the most of any program in the regional.
Considering Newton had just three wrestlers ranked in the top six of their respective weight classes entering the weekend, it was a massive victory.
“I think it maybe took some of the pressure off,” Edgmon said of Newton’s unranked status. “They were just able to go out there and wrestle and do what they know how to do. I don’t think we pay too much attention to the rankings anyway. We just control what we can control.”
While Newton was unranked, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. The Railers have earned plenty of respect in recent years, including a runner-up finish as a team at the 2023 state meet, but this regional title still carried a jolt. Edmon admitted he wasn’t even sure when the last time Newton won a regional championship.
And the way Newton did it mattered. This wasn’t one or two wrestlers going supernova. This was the kind of grind-it-out team perspective where every backside point felt like gold.
Consider senior Trevor Beyer, seeded eighth at 144 pounds. He lost his first-round match, but responded with five straight wins in the consolation bracket to take third. Beyer punctuated the run with an 11-2 major decision over the No. 2 seed, a pin over the No. 3 seed and a 4-1 decision over the No. 4 seed. Then, with Newton needing every last point, he turned his third-place match into a rally that felt like a snapshot of Newton’s day: down 7-1 entering the third period, Beyer exploded for 10 points in the final two minutes to steal an 11-9 win over Great Bend’s Trevin Maciel.
At 120, sophomore Wade Stubbs delivered one of the weekend’s signature finals. Facing Maize South’s Gavin Munoz, the same opponent who beat him 7-0 just two weeks prior, Stubbs flipped the script with an 11-7 victory, scoring three takedowns to avenge one of his four in-state losses this season.
“Wade was just calm and cool like he always is,” Edgmon said. “He was able to get to his attacks and get his takedowns. The pressure doesn’t really ever get to him.”
Sophomore Exavier Torres entered unranked at 132, then navigated a wide-open bracket to reach the finals after pinning Emporia’s Bryan Cubias in the semifinals. Torres ultimately claimed the title via medical forfeit in the final against Goddard’s Matthew Martinez, another swing that helped Newton win the team race.
At 165, sophomore Nikko Hinojos, also unranked entering the tournament, continued a breakout season by finishing second. He beat Hutchinson’s Karson Etienne 10-4 in the semifinals, then finished runner-up to Kapaun Mt. Carmel’s Adrian Monaco in the finals. Junior Cason Horton, seeded fifth at 215, placed third and capped his day with a 3-0 win over Arkansas City’s Exavier Martin, the No. 2 seed.
Senior Noah Vela, who placed sixth at state last year, showed he belongs in the title conversation again with a second-place finish at 106, highlighted by a 7-0 decision over Hutchinson’s Dion Brown before falling to Bishop Carroll’s top-ranked Parker Landers. Newton also got key scoring efforts from senior Major Giles (fifth at 157) and senior Emrik Torres (fourth at 190).
It should be pointed out that regional math and state math are two different languages, especially once the East side enters the equation. Winning the regional title was a valid accomplishment, but Newton knows that doesn’t suddenly make the Railers the favorite entering the Class 5A state tournament on Friday and Saturday at Heartland Credit Union Arena in Park City.
What it did do was inject the Railers with confidence and, more importantly, a better path in the state brackets. And now that Newton has proof that it doesn’t need a number next to its name to compete with the best, Edgmon is excited to see what his wrestlers can do in Park City.
“The higher place you get at regional, the better path you’re going to have at the state tournament,” Edgmon said. “Not only does this give them confidence, but it’s really going to set them up well for next week in the brackets.”
Wichita-area Class 5A wrestling state qualifiers
Andover: Dresden Beard, so., 175, first; Gunner Davis, sr., 285, fifth; Ian Pierce, jr., 132, fifth; Evan Hartman, sr., 157, sixth; John Martinez-Goodman, jr., 126, sixth; Jace Dryden, so., 120, eighth.
Andover Central: Ethan Worthington, jr., 126, fifth; Tyler Ven, jr., 113, eighth; Bobby Sands, so., 215, eighth.
Arkansas City: Teague Munson, so., 120, third; Zackry Mosier, so., 126, third; Briggs Terrill, so., 138, third; Landon Bedolla, so., 132, fourth; Exavier Martin, so., 215, fourth; Nate Munson, sr., 190, fifth; Jack Richardson, so., 113, fifth; Tucker Sparks, jr., 144, seventh; Talen Daily, sr., 150, eighth; Hayden McCorgary, fr., 285, eighth.
Bishop Carroll: Parker Landers, fr., 106, first; Connor Landers, jr., 138, second; Owen Newell, sr., 150, third; Campbell Denton, sr., 157, fourth; Jackson Hermann, jr., 126, fourth; Charles Kissling, jr., 175, fifth; Turner Gilman, sr., 190, sixth; Cage Hatcher, fr., 132, sixth.
Eisenhower: Malachi Rothenberger, sr., 150, fifth; Abe Starnes, sr., 165, fifth; Blayre Cline, jr., 175, sixth; Osten Kuehn, sr., 113, seventh; Eli Tornquist, jr., 157, eighth.
Goddard: Nick Miller, sr., 138, first; Kolton McElwain, sr., 157, first; Oscar Gauna, jr., 113, first; Harrison Glover, sr., 126, second; Matthew Martinez, fr., 132, second; Easton McElwain, jr., 120, fourth; Thomas Walter, fr., 150, sixth; Micah Mayer, sr., 190, seventh.
Hutchinson: Cruz Cannon, jr., 126, first; Jackson Anderson, sr., 190, second; Max Harris, jr., 175, third; Dion Brown, so., 106, third; Cooper Harris, jr., 150, fourth; James Hill, so., 215, fifth; Karson Etienne, jr., 165, sixth; Zach Allen, jr., 120, seventh; Jair Maciel, sr., 138, eighth.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel: Adrian Monaco, jr., 165, first; Bennet Lerch, jr., 144, second; Eli Koster, jr., 157, third; Nathan Huff, fr., 285, fourth; Esteban Aranguiz, fr., 120, fifth.
Maize South: Josh Kerr, jr., 144, first; Max Kerr, jr., 150, second; Gavin Munoz, sr., 120, second; Canon Husen, so., 113, third; Nathan Russell, fr., 106, fifth; Cooper Orr, sr., 175, seventh; Gavin Axtell, jr., 157, seventh; Aaron Acosta, so., 132, seventh.
Newton: Wade Stubbs, so., 120, first; Exavier Torres, so., 132, first; Noah Vela, sr., 106, second; Nikko Hinojos, so., 165, second; Trevor Beyer, sr., 144, third; Cason Horton, jr., 215, third; Emrik Torres, sr., 190, fourth; Major Giles, sr., 157, fifth.
Valley Center: Gavin Saner, sr., 190, third; Colton Long, so., 144, sixth; Demarcus Rojas, sr., 138, seventh; Beau Young, sr., 285, seventh; Jack Lampe, sr., 165, eighth; Brody Hunter, so., 126, eighth; Jameson Blackwell, so., 132, eighth.
This story was originally published February 24, 2026 at 5:03 AM.
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