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By Riley Bean
Springfield, MO – Members of the COC-Large gathered in the O’Reilly Family Event Center at Drury on Saturday afternoon to compete for conference bragging rights.
To nobody’s surprise, the Neosho Wildcats rolled to victory in the team standings, racking up 250 points followed by Willard (164 points), Carthage (153), Ozark (129), Branson (125), Nixa (123), Republic (107), Carl Junction (79.5) and Webb City (75.5).
CLICK HERE FOR TOURNAMENT RESULTS
Neosho had nine wrestlers in championship bouts on Saturday. Seven of those nine came away with a gold medal.
“Hopefully they’re still hungry,” said head coach Jeremy Phillips. “I believe it’s a stepping stone to being where we want to be in the end in that finish that we’re seeking. Today was an opportunity, and I told them that we still have things to tweak and test and work on. I was pleased with the way we took advantage of the opportunity.”
Among the Neosho champs are Dalton Kivett (113 pounds), Trenton Young (126), Gannon Millard (132), Braxton Barnes (138), Joey Williams (170) and Adrian Hitchcock (285), all of whom have single-digit losses this season.
(Adrian Hitchcock grapples with Zeke Wall (Carl Junction))
Five wrestlers represented Willard in title matches on Saturday, including Riley Wertz at 106 pounds and the undefeated reigning state champ Niko Chavez at 145 pounds.
Wertz won in a sudden victory over Kolton Sanders from Neosho 10-8. Chavez now stands at 37-0 after pinning Branson’s Jacob Ulrich in the second period of their championship match.
“I felt really good and I felt really relaxed,” the senior Chavez said. “I saw that he did fight really hard off his back. He’s a really good opponent. I really like Jacob. But I really focused this time on putting him on his back and holding him there longer. When I wrestled him last year, I couldn’t actually physically hold him on his back, but this year I could.”
Another wrestler completed the tournament with an unblemished season record.
Webb City senior Hunter Vanlue squared up against Neosho’s Johnny Meyer in the 182-pound championship bout. The tough match ended in a 4-1 decision in favor of Vanlue, now 42-0.
(Hunter Vanlue takes a breath during his match with Johnny Meyer)
“We wrestled once today, and so I kind of had a game plan going in,” said Vanlue. “He’s a very good wrestler and I just had to wrestle well and I feel like I got the job done… I’ll have to go back and watch film and just learn from my mistakes and just carry that into districts.”
District tournaments are two weeks away for most of these teams, and the focus will now pivot to qualifying for the state tournament at districts.
“My top goal is to be on top of the podium at the end of the year,” Vanlue said. “Right now I’m feeling good, but there’re a couple other kids out in Class 3 that are very good, so I’m going to have to stay on my game and keep working hard and not take any days off.”
Carthage came away with a couple of conference champs on Saturday. Dalen Moore (44-2) won with a 10-1 major decision over Republic’s Jonathan O’Connell in the 120-pound title match. Markkel Moore won by fall in the third period over Hunter Holderfield from Branson at 152 pounds. Markkel won each of his matches by fall in Saturday’s tournament, and Dalen won each of his matches either by fall or major decision.
Ozark and Nixa each had one individual champion. Nick Gladkov from Ozark pinned Branson’s Isaiah Wittmer in the first period of the 160-pound title bout. Nixa’s Donovan Benetti also won by fall over Christian Smart from Willard at 195 pounds.
(Nick Gladkov goes for the pin against Isaiah Wittmer)
For Neosho and Coach Phillips, this season has been a series of stepping stones in order to achieve the ultimate prize at the end of the year. That, of course, is winning state as a team in Class 3 for the fifth consecutive season.
“I’ve got these guys that are not thinking about self, but are thinking about the most important thing,” he said, “and that’s how this team is going to do and how this team’s going to finish, and so we’re going to try to put the best lineup we can up there… Hopefully we put the best fourteen [wrestlers] out there at districts and we can get as many kids to the state tournament as we can.”
