By Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow – With the big bad snowstorm scheduled to hit later this week, the Chaparral Tournament is set to begin tonight. The Colby Tournament will start on schedule on Thursday. Plus, updates on the SCBL Tournament, which will start its second-round games tonight.

Chaparral Roadrunner Classic 

Three Sumner County boys’ teams will be embarking on the Chaparral Tournament. Wellington is squaring off at 3:45 p.m. today against Mulvane. Conway Springs will be playing Circle in a few hours, or already, depending on when you are reading this. Belle Plaine will play tonight at 7:15 p.m. against host Chaparral.

The Chaparral Tournament has traditionally been a hard one to figure and this year is no exception. The host Roadrunners are most certainly the favorite, currently on an eight-game winning streak. Wellington saw that same team in a third-place game at the Cheney Tournament in December, when Chaparral won convincingly, 60-32. But one could argue that it was probably the worst game Wellington has played this season.

If the Crusaders and Roadrunners square off again, then chances are things went pretty well for Wellington in the first two rounds. Mulvane, at 6-3, will be problematic for the Dukes today starting at 3:45 p.m. The Wildcats have played .500 ball since Christmas break, beating Winfield 46-38 on Jan. 6, a team Wellington just lost to last Friday, 75-64

It will be interesting to see how Conway Springs will finish in the tournament. It is sitting at 6-5, losers of four-of-five games. But every loss was competitive, including a 59-53 loss to Chaparral on Jan. 9.

Colby Tournament

Wellington will be putting its No. 1 ranking on the line again when it travels to Colby in the northwest corner of Kansas. This marks the third consecutive season that Wellington is making the plus-200-mile trip. Hays, as you may remember, handed the state championship Crusaders their only loss in the second round a year ago. That was an overtime barnburner – one of the best high school games played in 2024-25.

Hays will be good again – sitting at No. 3 in Class 5A. The Indians have lost once, only to Silver Lake, the No. 1 team in 3A, 62-41. Wellington should not have any trouble getting through Ulysses on Thursday in the first round, which has lost seven straight. Hays plays a tradition-rich Goodland team that could give it trouble. But the Cowboys are 8-4 and aren’t expected to beat Hays.

The other teams will consist of Beloit (9-1), ranked No. 4 in Class 3A; Colby (5-4), Concordia (5-4), and Standley Lake, Colo. (8-1), which comes from Broomfield.

SCBL Tournament

Updated scores from last night:

Boys:
#1 Central 58 #8 Sedan 52
#4 Cedar Vale/Dexter 61 Argonia 37
#2 Flinthills 66 #10 South Haven 26
#3 Oxford 74 Udall 53.

The updated tournament bracket is as follows: