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By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
Lebanon left no doubt who was queen in the girls team race at the Ozark Conference Tournament. The Lady Jackets rolled to their fourth tourney championship in as many years Saturday.
Lebanon posted 235 points, while West Plains finished second with 135.
“We work every day for two hours to come to this,” Lebanon 125-pound champion Halea Bartel said. “This means a lot to us.”
“We’ll forever know we won the first four (titles) in a row,” 120 champ Kaylyn Rogers said.
Lady Jackets take seven individual titles
Rogers made history by becoming the OC Tournament’s first four-time champ on the girls side. She won the 120 title with a pin in 3:34 against Parkview’s Cherokee White.
The timing of the Missouri State High Schools Activities Association sponsoring girls wrestling for the first time for the 2018-19 school year worked out perfectly for Rogers to hit the mat as a freshman.
“It opened the sport back up for me,” Rogers said. “I wrestled from the time I was 4 until I was 10 years old, but then I took about a five-year break. I didn’t like wrestling boys, that’s why I decided to take a break and try something new.”
Rogers (36-2) values the conditioning she gains in cross country and soccer.
“Cross country really gives me a gas task,” she said. “When you’re running 6-7 miles almost every day, it keeps your endurance up, so does soccer.”
Jessa Joiner gave herself a chance to one day be a four-time OC champ, as well, by winning the 110 title as a freshman. She picked up a first-period pin in the final against Parkview’s Rosa Le.
“I didn’t think I had her because I thought it might be illegal having her neck on my shoulder and my hand on the outside,” Joiner said. “But I guess it was legal and I pinned her with it. She got a reversal on me, which I kind of suspected. But when she did that, I flipped her over.”
Joiner (35-2) enjoyed the atmosphere at the Ozark Empire Fairgrounds Expo Center.
“I did not expect this many people to be here,” she said. “It really gets loud. But with headgear on, you can’t really hear anything. You put your headgear on and it quiets everything so you can focus.”
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Bartel and West Plains’ Natalie Stewart supplied plenty of late drama in the 125 championship match. In the final :10, Stewart gained a 3-2 lead with a takedown, only to have Bartell answer with a reversal with :02 remaining for a 4-3 victory.
“I hadn’t looked at the time or the score. I still thought I was ahead by one point until I heard my parents yelling, ‘You need to score,’” Bartel said. “It was really nerve wracking with only :02 left. I’m not going to lie, I was wore out. But I told myself I could do it.”
Bartel (27-3) has never lost to Stewart (31-3), but expects their matchups to be fierce.
“She has always been difficult and scrappy when I’ve wrestled her,” Bartel said.
Lebanon also claimed championships at 130 from Quincey Glendenning, at 135 from Bailey Joiner, at 141 from Taylor Johnson and at 149 from Dream Cunningham. All four beat West Plains opponents in the final round.
Glendenning (34-2) picked up a pin in 2:32 versus Lillien Ingram. Joiner (31-1) won by majority decision 12-0 opposite Lianna Ward. Johnson (24-5) pinned Nikeshia Davis in 3:11. Cunningham (23-3) pinned Jade Martin in 1:35.
Dutton takes titanic tussle at 194
Both Central’s Catherine Dutton and Lebanon’s Mariyah Brumley have enjoyed success at the state and national levels. Their meeting Saturday lived up to its advanced billing, as Dutton won the 194 championship with a 10-9 victory versus Brumley.
The two have faced off five times, with Dutton winning all five. In their previous matchup in a national tourney at Fargo, North Dakota, last summer, Dutton won by a two-point margin.
Dutton (19-0) wasn’t surprised their match this time around was so high scoring and close.
“I expected that. I knew she was going to come at me,” Dutton said. “She’s definitely faster than me and I personally feel my technique is better. We use our strength differently. She uses more of her upper body than I do and I use my lower body more. That kind of evens it out.”
Brumley (32-3) threatened to pull off a pin, but Dutton escaped a hold around her neck with some ingenuity.
“I flat-out said, ‘If I just choke myself, I’ll get out,’ and that’s what I did,” Dutton said. “I choked myself, got out and got on top and got my points. When you’re stuck in a headlock, if you try to breathe you have to turn your back over. Well, if you put your arm close to your head, it’s going to choke you more, but it gives you more space so you can slip out.”
Dutton’s hair was dyed blue and she is looking forward to unveiling another new look come the post-season.
“My hair was originally purple, but it faded to blue,” she said. “I’m about to change it again for State. I’m not releasing (the color), yet. We’ll see what it is in the photos. For every big tournament, I’ll change my hair.”
Revenge is sweet for Pohlsander
Central’s Jaidyn Pohlsander edged Lebanon’s Lillian Cottongin 7-6 to win the 106 championship. A week earlier at the Reeds Spring Tournament, Cottongim pinned Pohlsander.
“I had to believe I could do it and trust that I knew what I was doing and my coaches had taught me well,” Pohlsander said. “No one’s bigger or better than me, we’re all the same size. My coaches believed in me and my teammates believed in me, so that was enough for me to believe in myself.”
Pohlsander (17-12) and Cottongim (25-10) were locked in a 5-all tie midway through the third period when Cottongim asked for and was granted a medical timeout.
“She said she had trouble breathing,” Pohlsander said. “It was nice to take a little breather and get everything together.”
When they resumed, Pohlsander allowed Cottongim to escape, before winning with a takedown.
“My coach told me, ‘You can get the takedown, let her up and then take her down,” Pohlsander said. “I went for it and hit my shots that I know.”
Unbeatens cruise to championships
Like Dutton, Camdenton’s Abigail Fuglsang and Kickapoo’s Wendy Riley-Washington stayed perfect on the season.
Fuglsang improved to 31-0 by winning 7-4 in the 106 final against Parkview’s Becca Waterman (23-2).
Riley-Washington went to 23-0, thanks to a pin in 3:10 versus Waynesville’s Marisa Gonzalez in the 174 title tilt.
Camdenton also received a first-place finish from Clara Rathmann at 235. Rathman (21-6) pinned Lebanon’s MaKenna Lucas in 5:02 in the final round.
Rolla’s champ was Gracie Skyles (18-11) at 115. She won with a third-period pin.
Waynesville’s champ was A’Myrha Syyan (11-2) at 159. She won with a first-period fall.
