By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Senior 285-pounder Dustin Zahn can break a drought for both the WaKeeney-Trego Community and Quinter High School wrestling programs at the Class 3-2-1A Regional Championships Friday and Saturday in Lakin.

Zahn is a Quinter student, but the school doesn't have a wrestling program. Instead, Quinter has a cooperative agreement with Trego for the last five seasons and Zahn has wrestled for the Golden Eagles for the last two.

Zahn is expected to be the third-best 285-pounder in the regional behind Scott City's senior Luke Hayes and Plainville junior Bradey Chard.

The top four finishers in each weight class qualify for state next week at Fort Hays State University's Gross Memorial Coliseum.

"I expect to be a qualifier at least," Zahn said. "It's been a goal since the end of last year."

If Zahn reaches state, he would be the first Quinter wrestler to qualify since Chris Mader went at 160 pounds in 2007.

No Trego wrestler -- or a wrestler associated with the WaKeeney program, like Zahn -- has reached the state meet since 2008.

"It's a neat thing," Trego assistant coach Jeremy Samson said. "It does bridge the two communities and he is a good kid. Great representative of his school in Quinter, and when he has represented Trego the last two years on the mat, he has represented us very well. He is a quality kid. ... and is a great example for our young kids in the room."

Zahn will wear a Quinter singlet but have WaKeeney's coaches at Lakin.

"It's going to mean a lot to me," he said.

Zahn is part of a strong regional that features Goodland, Hoxie, Scott City, Oberlin and Phillipsburg ranked 1-2-3-5-7 in the statewide team rankings. Samson calls the regional the toughest in the classification and believes the team state championship will come from the Lakin regional. Western Kansas has long dominated the 3-2-1A ranks, including winning the last 10 team crowns.

"The rich tradition in this area -- there are great kids in all these schools," Samson said. "Coming down, I think by far this western regional will be the toughest one in 3-2-1A to get some kids through."

Trego has historically had a good wrestling program, including a state championship at 189 pounds by Michael Malay in 2007. But the Golden Eagles have had low numbers, multiple injuries and several wrestlers that fell one match short of state the last couple seasons. The Golden Eagles have 11 wrestlers this winter, but lost two for the season because of injuries. This year, Zahn is 14-8, including three losses to Chard.

Zahn started wrestling in second grade, but couldn't compete in high school as a freshman or sophomore because he wasn't able to drive to WaKeeney. Last year, he was one of three Bulldogs to compete for the Golden Eagles.

Because he had missed two seasons, Zahn said he was "behind a little bit" compared to the other wrestlers, but just tried to work hard in practice to "compensate."

"We adopted him as our boy," Samson said. "He did a great job the last couple of years. It took him awhile to get rolling, but when he got to rolling, you could tell, he hadn't taken any time off."

Zahn is the only one from Quinter this year. He and 215-pounder Ethan James formed a strong tandem on a small Golden Eagle team, but James is no longer with the team and won't compete at regional.

"Dustin has really picked up his want to, his will to win more this year than last year," Samson said. "He is a little hungrier. He has got something invested in this season with him having to drive over here everyday. He doesn't want this season to be a failure for him. He is a pretty self-motivated kid, obviously by the fact that he is willing to drive 20 miles a day to get to practice. He has done a great job with picking up his leadership in the room especially here as we have made our push towards the regional tournament."

Zahn's season turned at the Bob Kuhn Senior Prairie Classic on Jan. 20-21 at Hays High School. He competed against a loaded field that included Class 4-5-6A wrestlers and finished fourth. The next week, Zahn took second behind Chard at the Western Kansas Tournament of Champions.

"I really started to push harder in practice trying to make that goal come true," Zahn said of state. "The tournament was good. I wrestled 4-5-6A kids that were pretty tough."

Zahn has worked on improving his takedowns in last several weeks and focused on different holds, throws, tie-up and speeds. He is planning on using those moves this weekend - and look to reach the state meet.

"Hopefully Dustin can be our guy," Samson said.

Stockton looks to qualify Winters

Like Trego, Stockton has battled low numbers this season. They will take two wrestlers to regionals, including senior 195-pounder Connor Winters, a Fort Hays State University football signee. Winters is 17-5 this season, including a second-place finish at the Western Kansas Tournament of Champions.

Winters has lost twice to Smith Center's Josh McDowell, ranked third, and once to Hoisington's Clayton Janousek, ranked fifth. Smith Center and Hoisington will be at the Russell regional. Goodland junior Laine Herl, ranked second in the weight class, and Winters are considered the top-two wrestlers.

"Definitely Connor is the one that has the best chance to qualify," first-year coach Clint Bedore, a former Stockton great and FHSU football standout said. "We have had a really good season, got off to a pretty strong start. Our losses have been to pretty solid kids. I think we are sitting pretty well for regionals."

Bedore, a former state placer for Stockton, taught at Sterling and coached in Nickerson for 10 years before he and his family returned to his hometown. Bedore estimated that the Tigers have had three years since 1972 that Stockton hasn't qualified any placers for state. One of those seasons happened last year when Stockton didn't qualify anyone.

"It would mean a lot to me personally and it would mean a lot to the school, I think to get us back on the radar and hopefully get some kids in Stockton interested in the program and hopefully our numbers can go up," Bedore said.

Ellis looks to break through

Ellis has two ranked wrestlers in junior Gage Younger, ranked No. 3 at 145 pounds, and senior Riley Hunsicker, ranked No. 5 at 152 pounds. Both are returning state placers and are 19-3 this season. Freshman 126-pounder Jared Pfeifer (16-7), senior 138-pounder Austin Lopez (11-3), sophomore 152-pounder Landon Younger (13-10), and sophomore 220-pounder Skyler Tebo (11-11) are also in position to qualify for state.

Other regionals

The Lakin regional will include multiple area schools, including two-time defending state champion Norton. The Bluejays have a young team this season with one ranked wrestler, junior John Risewick, ranked No. 2 at 120 pounds, and likely are not in contention for a team championship. As well, the regional includes Atwood, Hill City, Oakley, Plainville and St. Francis from the area.

The Russell regional includes area schools Kensington-Thunder Ridge, Osborne, Russell, Smith Center and Sylvan-Lucas Unified. Smith Center is ranked No. 10 in Class 3-2-1A.