By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
WEBB CITY — Ozark repeated as Central Ozark Conference Tournament champions Saturday for the first time in school history by totaling 10 individual medals and 191 points.
Neosho was runner-up with 179 points and Carl Junction third with 159.5.
Ozark won the title last year with only one champion. This time around, the Tigers had two champs, 150-pounder Braxton Strick and 126-pounder Caden Harrington.
“We’re happy to leave our mark,” Strick said. “I’m glad to say we’ve done something special. (The seniors) knew we had the potential to be this good. Halfway through our sophomore year, we realized we could do something special. Everyone has bought in. It’s been fun.”
“From what I’ve seen, this is probably the toughest conference in the state, so it means a lot,” Harrington said. “There are so many good teams here that are well-rounded. We’re soaking up this great senior class we have.”
Strick (43-2), the KY3 Athlete of the Week, needed just :46 to pin Carthage’s Grey Petticrew (26-8) in their title tilt.
Harrington (30-11) pinned Carl Junction’s Max Matthews (25-18) in 2:42 in the 126 final.
Neosho’s DeLeon, Kivett and Eli capture titles
Neosho went to sudden-victory for two of its three individual championships and posted a one-point winning margin for its third title.
Collyn Kivett (32-6) renewed a long-standing rivalry with Ozark’s Brock Sundlie (31-10) in the 157 title tilt. They went to overtime, before Kivett won 3-1 on a takedown with :12 remaining.
“It went exactly how I planned it to go. Every time I wrestle him, I know he’s going to be tough,” Kivett said. “It’s always a battle. I’ve wrestled him since we were in the seventh grade. I know if I don’t get taken down on my feet, I will win the match. If he takes me down, I know it’s going to be a lot tougher for me to come back and dig myself out of that hole.”
Two weeks ago during an Ozark-Neosho dual, Kivett edged Sundlie 2-1.
“I feel like I’ve started to gain some ground on him,” Kivett said. “But you never know, one mistake and he could easily take me down.”
With Neosho being bumped up to Class 4 this school year, Kivett and Sundlie could add another chapter or two to their history together.
“It will probably be me and him again in the district finals, if not the State finals also,” Kivett said.
Wildcats 190-pound champion Ulysses DeLeon emerged as one of the tourney’s feel-good stories, after he felt anything but good during the week.
“I came into this tournament sick, but in my mind I wasn’t,” DeLeon said. “At our CJ dual Thursday, I started getting really bad sinuses. From there, it got worse. I was telling myself, ‘I’m not sick.’ I was groggy but still practiced Friday. I didn’t put out any excuses. When adversity comes, you’ve got to overcome it.”
DeLeon (35-6) and Nixa’s Avry Rutherford (25-10) engaged in arguably the most exciting match of the finals. DeLeon prevailed 8-6 in sudden victory.
For DeLeon, it’s his first tournament championship of any kind. This was his first berth in a final.
“At Neosho, we win overtimes,” he said. “It was definitely one of the hardest matches I’ve ever had.”
Neosho’s Eli Zar (40-2) topped the loaded 165 weight class. He needed a third period escape to down Willard’s Gary Walker (27-3) 1-0 in their title tilt.
CJ takes three straight titles at lighter weights
Carl Junction’s Sam Melton capped a string of championships for the Bulldogs at 106, 113 and 120. Melton won at 120 with a :13 pin of Carthage’s Grady Huntley.
Melton, who also won a COC title as a sophomore a year ago, didn’t allow himself to be complacent after Huntley upset second-seeded Fisher Butler of Neosho. Huntley (29-13), a freshman, was seeded ninth and easily was the lowest seed in any weight class to make the finals.
“I thought I would have (Butler) in the finals,” Melton said. “But whoever they put in front of me is who I got and you go do what you do. I don’t ever take anybody lightly.”
Melton (33-5) had by far the quickest pin in the final round.
“I go in wanting to tear (my opponent’s) head off pretty much, that’s kind of my mindset,” he said. “Be violent and get it over with as quick as I can.”
Carl Junction’s Carter Fogelsong won at 106 and Lukas Walker won at 113.
“I’m happy about those guys’ victories, it’s a good time,” Melton said.
For Walker, it was also his second COC Tournament championship. He upped his record to 36-1 by edging Ozark’s Damien Moseley (35-8) 7-4.
Moseley recorded a takedown at the start of the third period and made a bid to put Walker on his back. Walker essentially refused to lose.
“I knew he was going to be a tough kid. He had pinned everyone else in the tournament,” Walker said. “I knew to watch out for his gator roll. I knew that was something he had in his toolbox and I needed to know how to defend it. He’s really good at it. It’s his go-to. He locked it up pretty tight. I knew I had it in myself and what I had to do. It’s about heart when you come through in really big situations like that. You dig deep, find out what is within you and push through.”
Fogelsong improved to 32-4 with a 6-3 victory versus Carthage’s Tanner Putt (27-12) in the 106 final.
Nixa’s Fugitt four-time COC champion
Nixa senior Zan Fugitt breezed to his fourth COC championship by pinning Carthage’s Bradyn Tate (40-4) in 1:43 in the 132-pound final.
Fugitt improved to 38-1 while picking up four wins by fall in four matches.
“I definitely could have been a little cleaner with my technique. Other than that, I wrestled well,” Fugitt said.
Nixa also received championships from Nate Brower at 175 and Brennan Carey and 215.
Carey (35-5) pinned Willard’s Alex Nunez (22-7) in 5:41.
“He’s been on a couple national teams with me, so I know he knows Greco and I couldn’t come in and try to blow him away with under-hooks,” Carey said. “I knew he has a good double-leg and I couldn’t let him control the match.”
Branson 215-pounder Cade Grimm entered the tourney with a 34-2 record. He had to medically forfeit two matches due to a cut along his chin.
“I would have liked to wrestle Cade again. I wrestled him at this tournament last year,” Carey said. “I was getting mentally ready for him. But Alex is a really good opponent, too. I had to get my mind right for the match.”
Brower (32-7) upset Republic’s Connor Sandridge (26-3) by a 10-5 count in their title tilt. They have a long history with each other, but this was their first matchup.
“I was hoping I would meet him in the finals. I knew we would,” Brower said. “He used to wrestle for Nixa Youth back in the day and we used to be buddies when we were 10-12 years old. We were never the same size then. I was always 50 pounds lighter than him.”
Isringhausen yet to taste defeat
Branson’s Kyshin Isringhausen was the COC’s only undefeated wrestler entering the tourney and he remains perfect. The 138-pound senior upped his record to 42-0 with a 6-1 triumph against Willard’s Noah Rogers (25-11).
Assuming Isringhausen wins his match in Branson’s dual at Joplin on Tuesday, he will enter the post-season with the proverbial target on his back by being unbeaten.
“I love it,” he said. “I think it helps me push even further to try to hold onto my undefeated record. Wanting to prove that I’m the best at my weight makes me excited.”
Isringhausen’s leg strength stood out, as he didn’t allow Rogers to mount any semblance of an offensive attack.
“Controlling 100 percent of the match, I’m pretty happy about that,” Isringhausen said. “He’s really strong, so it’s hard to turn him. His base is strong, so hooking those back legs really helped hold him down. That also helps control the hips, which stops (opponents) from escaping easily. I like to use my legs when I wrestle. You’ve got two free limbs, you might as well use them.”
Willard duo both win by fall in title tilts
Willard sophomores Caleb Caldwell and Brady Griffin picked up pins en route to their championships.
Caldwell (32-4) pinned Ozark’s Daniel Laney (32-13) in 1:04 in the 144 final.
Griffin (35-2) pinned Nixa’s Garrett Davidson (20-7) in the 285 final.
There were seven heavyweights with 20 or more victories on the season.
