By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
After his Wildcats claimed another district championship on Saturday in Carl Junction – the school’s 12th in 13 seasons – Neosho wrestling coach Jeremy Phillips emphasized one thing.
“Honestly the championship is a team effort,” Phillips said. “We brought 13 guys and 13 guys scored points.”
And 10 of those wrestlers will represent Neosho next weekend at the Class 3 state championships after finishing in the top four in District 3. Trent Neece (152 pounds) and Eli Zar (170) both earned district titles, while five others finished as runners up.
“We got them moving in the right direction with some momentum,” Phillips said. “We’ve got to do better finishing. I feel like in order for us to be successful next weekend we can’t be content with being a state qualifier. We’ve got to be hungry and be willing to do what we did this weekend and that’s work on those controllables and the fight that’s going to get us hardware next weekend.”
Neece was a state qualifier at 152 last year and Zar finished as the 145-pound runner up. Neece (37-8) pinned his first three opponents in the district and capped it off with a 7-4 win over Bolivar’s Riley Beckman in the finals. Zar (46-4) opened with two falls and then won 4-1 in the semifinals. He picked up an 11-3 major decision over Bolivar’s Trey Brewer in the finals.
They aren’t the only Wildcats with experience on the biggest stage. Hayden Crane (32-10) qualified at 132 with a second-place finish and finished his day with a narrow 3-2 loss to Branson’s Kyshin Isringhausen. Crane took third at state at the same weight last year.
Neosho’s other qualifiers are Fisher Butler (29-17), who placed second at 113; Wyatt Black (21-22), who was second at 120; Johnny Chrisco (27-20), who was second at 126; Nate Copeland (30-16), who was second at 138; Bostyn Patterson (26-17), who was fourth at 145; Collyn Kivett (34-16), who was third at 160 and Ulysses DeLeon (25-21), who was fourth at 195.
“Even though we took some tough losses in the final round, we had several kids that out-wrestled their seed,” Phillips said. “We had a kid seeded sixth that took fourth and is going and was right there to take third. We had several matches we avenged losses – over five matches we wrestled this weekend where we beat kids who beat us earlier in the year. A lot of credit goes to these young men. We’ve been trying to emphasize trusting in the process of preparing for this and the learning we’ve done throughout the season. We take all those tough matches we’ve lost and make those shortcomings worth something. It was evident this weekend, the trust in themselves and them trusting in their team.”
PHOTOS: CLASS 3 DISTRICT 3 – CLICK HERE
Bolivar qualifies 8 for state
Bolivar was looking up at Neosho in the team standings all day on Saturday but still beat every other school by at least 30 points. And the Liberators will be well-represented next weekend.
Cooper Moore (138 pounds), Tyson Moore (160) and Blake Goodman (195) all won individual championships and will be joined at state by five other teammates.
“I thought the kids wrestled real well,” Bolivar coach Jeff Davis said. “We got a couple upsets, not as many as we were hoping to get obviously but I thought they competed hard and I was real pleased with their efforts.”
Tyson Moore heads back to state after placing second at 152 last season. Now 35-2, he pinned each of his first three district opponents in less than a minute, then beat Willard’s Gary Walker in a tiebreaker to win the championship.
Cooper Moore (32-4) won with two falls and a 12-2 major decision against Neosho’s Nate Copeland in the finals, and Goodman had two falls and a 2-1 win over Willard’s Brady Griffin for first.
The team’s other qualifiers are Forrest McMannes (26-10), who was second at 106; Logan Rice (19-14), who was fourth at 132; Riley Beckman (37-6), who was second at 152; Trey Brewer (37-8), who was second at 170 and Izik Simms (14-9), who was fourth at 285.
Brewer was a state qualifier last year at 160.
“Forrest McMannes was a third seed coming in and beat a state-ranked kid (Willard’s Shawn Lang) by technical fall in the semi’s which was huge for us and then our heavyweight was a five seed and lost to (Nico Olivares) from Neosho in the first round and then beat him in the bubble,” Davis said. “Those were two huge wins for our kids and I was fired up about that.”
Cooper Moore also made some history for the Liberators; he’s now the first-ever Bolivar freshman to win a district championship.
“It was a good day,” Davis said. “I was real happy.”
FULL MEDAL ROUND RESULTS – CLICK HERE
Carl Junction, Marshfield each qualify 7
Carl Junction’s lower weights excelled on Saturday, with Lukas Walker winning the championship at 106 pounds, Sam Melton winning the title at 113 and Max Matthews placing third at 120. They were among seven qualifiers for the Bulldogs.
Walker (39-4) pinned his first two opponents in 45 seconds, then won 6-0 in the finals against Bolivar’s McMannes. Melton (37-5) had three falls in the tournament, and two of them in 55 seconds or less.
Matthews improved to 21-19 while qualifying at 120, and he’s joined by Tony Stewart (34-15), who was third at 170; Chance Benford (38-10), who was fourth at 182; Cayden Bollinger (35-15), who was fourth at 220; and Kameron Bennett (36-9), who was third at 285.
Marshfield’s top finisher was Tanner Davidson, who won the 120-pound bracket and improved to 39-7. He had a dominant effort with an 18-1 technical fall and two pins, including in 1:30 over Wyatt Black of Neosho for first.
Tommy Mynatt (30-14) was fourth at 126, Marcus Gritts (37-11) was fourth at 138, Damian Dockery (39-10) was second at 145, Dusty Stevens (44-7) was fourth at 170, Ben Wirtel (41-7) was third at 182 and Erik Tomanek (41-6) was second at 220.
McDonald County ties Bolivar with three champs
The Mustangs qualified five for state and three of them were district champions. Blaine Ortiz (39-5) took first at 126 with three falls and an 8-2 win over Chrisco of Neosho in the finals. Samuel Murphy (43-1) took first at 220 with three falls and a 9-0 major decision; he pinned Marshfield’s Tomanek in 1:36 for first. And Jayce Hitt (21-4) took first at heavyweight after pinning all four of his opponents.
McDonald County is also sending Jose Mendoza (18-19), who was fourth at 113, and Levi Smith (40-7), who was third at 152.
Willard and Rolla, meanwhile, each qualified six for state.
For Willard, Caleb Caldwell won the championship at 145 and improved to 44-2 with another dominant showing. He had a 15-0 technical fall, a 4-0 decision and then topped Marshfield’s Dockery 14-4 in the finals.
He’ll be joined at state by Shawn Lang (37-5), who was third at 106; Noah Rogers (33-16), who was third at 138; Gary Walker (45-2), who was second at 160; Brady Griffin (37-8), who was second at 195; and Alex Nunez (38-11), who was third at 220.
Rolla’s champion was Hayden Fane (37-1), who captured the 182-pound title with a fall, an 8-2 win and a 7-1 win over Glendale’s Colman Ebisch in the finals.
Joining him at state will be Brayden Squires (27-14), who was third at 113; Kayden Kinder (34-6), who was third at 126; Hunter Hoffman (33-5), who was third at 132; Andre Ridenhour (34-7), who was fourth at 160; and Broc Horton (17-7), who was second at 285.
Branson’s Kyshin Isringhausen captured the 132-pound title and improved to 43-2. He pinned his first two opponents and then won 3-2 over Neosho’s Crane in the first-place match. The other Pirate qualifiers are Thomas Mutarelli (23-19), who was fourth at 120; and Cade Grimm (34-7), who was third at 195.
Glendale will send Bradley Hiteshew and Colman Ebisch to state. Hiteshew (8-11) took fourth at 106 and Ebisch (30-8) finished as the runner up at 182.
Parkview will be represented by qualifier Junior Lamarre (29-10), who placed fourth at 152.
And Union’s Gabriel Hoekel (40-8) will go to state after placing third at 145.
