By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
In the fourth year of the Central Ozark Conference girls wrestling tournament, Class 2 top-ranked Nixa proved once again the COC belongs to the Eagles.
Nixa earned eight gold medals and placed all 14 of its wrestlers in the top four at Joplin High School on Friday night as the Eagles earned their fourth-straight conference championship.
“It was a good group effort from top to bottom,” Nixa coach Dustin Martin said. “Our expectation was to come in and win it. I told the girls we just need to continue to take care of business and I thought we did that. We were able to win a few matches in the finals against girls we had lost to earlier this year so that was awesome to get that done.”
Nixa’s individual champions were Hanna Egley (100 pounds), Ashton Mayes (105), Mylee Harper (110), Addison Harkins (125), Brylee James (135), Ava Frye (140), Kamryn Bourbon (145) and Calyese Dupree (170).
Frye picked up her 100th career win in the process, and Dupree notched win No. 150.
Egley, 25-7, won with a pair of decisions at 100 pounds. Mayes, 28-6, earned two falls and a 17-2 technical fall. Harper, 15-5, pinned all four of her opponents, including two in less than a minute. Harkins, 33-2, earned two falls, including one in 28 seconds. James, 31-10, opened with a 17-0 technical fall, pinned her next two opponents and won 7-6 in the finals. Frye, who was down 11-0 in the finals before earning a fall in 3:44, also pinned her other two opponents and improved to 19-3. Bourbon, 33-3, won three times by fall. Dupree, 20-0, pinned all three of her opponents and earned the first fall in 29 seconds.
Nixa’s other placers were Dani Hartley, who took 4th at 115; Abigail Weitzel finished 2nd at 120; Abigail Counts earned 3rd at 130; Natalie Edmisson finished 2nd at 155; Jessie Nelson earned 4th at 190; and Larissa Downs took 4th at 235.
“We travel a whole lot out of the area during the regular season and it sounds funny but it was kind of the first time we’ve seen some local teams all season,” Martin said. “We had a lot of question marks with individual matches and how those were going to go. We didn’t win all of those, but we won the majority of them and we were able to flip two matches we lost earlier this year.
“We’re excited,” he said. “The girls district is at Belton and it’s going to be a tough field with Nixa who’s number one in the state, Belton who’s number two in the state and Waynesville, Ozark and Willard who are all quality teams so it’s going to be a great district tournament.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE TOURNAMENT
Willard wins COC West Division
While Nixa and Waynesville led the overall team standings most of the evening, Willard nabbed COC West honors after finishing three points ahead of Carthage.
Ellie Higginbotham (31-2) won an individual title for the Tigers at 155 pounds; she pinned opponents in the semifinals and finals.
Neela Motlagh earned 4th at 125 for Willard, Emily Brixley finished 2nd at 170 and Harmony Moore was 3rd at 190.
“It’s great for our girls, I think it’s the second tournament win in our program’s history,” said Willard coach Jeff Davis. “I don’t feel like we wrestled exceptionally well, but the girls did the best they could do in the circumstances and I was pleased with their efforts.”
Davis was especially pleased with Higginbotham’s championship at 155.
“That’s her first as a sophomore which is awesome,” he said.
Like Martin and Nixa, Davis said the Tigers have their eyes on bigger prizes in the future.
“Everything’s practice till districts and state anyway,” he said. “It was great to have some success here but ultimately the things that really matter are districts and state. We’ve got some time to make some improvements and there were a lot of district opponents here to learn from and get better.”
Waynesville, Ozark round out top 3
Waynesville and Ozark, which spent the day looking up at Nixa in the COC East and overall standings, still came away with sizable leads over the rest of the competition.
Waynesville won individual championships with Dakota Nix (27-4) at 120 pounds and Yisel Perez (32-3) at 190. The team placed several others on the podium when the night was over.
Zetalyn Mansapit took 3rd at 125, Destany Oster was 2nd at 130, Addison Brown was 2nd at 135, Haylee Fort took 2nd at 140, Gabriela Hoag finished 2nd at 145, Eve Smith was 3rd at 155 and Emily Babcock placed 4th at 170.
Ozark, too, finished with plenty of representation in the top four. Adilyn Hoelzle placed 2nd at 100 pounds, Emily Price was 2nd at 105, Leticia Covello placed 3rd at 110, Katie Hartgraves took 3rd at 115, Hannah Maskrod finished 4th at 120, Maelynn Sundlie placed 2nd at 125, Riley Ridinger was 3rd at 145 and Kirsten Abeya took 4th at 155.
Lebanon’s medalists were Jessa Joiner (1st) at 115, Sophiea Quinn (1st) at 235, Lacey Malonson (3rd) at 100, and Baylyn Williams (4th) at 130.
Carthage placed Kaylee James (1st) at 130, Hadley White (4th) at 100, Maylee Brown (4th) at 105, Aspen White (2nd) at 115 and Irish Lee (4th) at 140.
Republic leaders were Millie Waterman (3rd) at 120, Gabby Shanks (3rd) at 135 and Addison Stepp (4th) at 145.
For Webb City, Tatum Christensen placed 4th at 135, Emma Combs placed 3rd at 140, Maddie Barchak placed 3rd at 170 and Mackenzie Booth placed 3rd at 235.
Kickapoo’s Hannah Herrera was 4th at 110. Central’s Jaidyn Pohlsander was 2nd at 110. Glendale’s Alilia Hiteshew was 3rd at 105. Neosho’s Carmen Peren was 2nd at 190. Parkview’s Elisabeth Schnelle was 2nd at 235.
Team scores
Nixa 320
Waynesville 216
Ozark 189
Lebanon 125
Willard 115
Carthage 112
Republic 98.5
Webb City 80
Kickapoo 54
Central 45
Glendale 43
Neosho 37
Parkview 33.5
Joplin 1
