COLUMBIA Not many observers gave Park Hill junior Nick Harper much of a chance in his wrestling match against Jackson senior Jake Colyott on Thursday, and with good reason.</p><p>Colyott entered the Missouri Class 4 state tournament with a 40-7 record and was a No. 1 seed after winning his district, while Harper entered with a 28-18 record and was a No. 4 seed after finishing fourth in his district.</p><p>Harper, however, believed in himself. And what he would accomplish at Mizzou Arena &#x2014; he not only defeated Colyott, he did it by pin &#x2014; reinforced the only rule of the state wrestling tournament, which is this: Absolutely anything can happen in any given match.</p><p>&#x201C;He knew he had to do something special to win that match,&#x201D; Park Hill coach Bill Erneste said of Harper.</p><p>What he did was unleash a move he&#x2019;d been working on for a while to get the win. Erneste said Harper simply bided his time and kept the match close, then hit a beautiful headlock with about 30 seconds left in the third period to score the victory.</p><p>&#x201C;It was the prettiest headlock I&#x2019;ve ever seen,&#x201D; Erneste said. &#x201C;Plus he got the fall.&#x201D;</p><p>Erneste said Harper&#x2019;s confidence has grown tremendously since districts, when he finally got over the hump and qualified for state.</p><p>&#x201C;One of the things that Nick Harper needed to do &#x2014; and he started doing it when he got to the district tournament &#x2014; is wrestle with confidence,&#x201D; Erneste said. &#x201C;Nick has lost the bubble match the last two years to get to go to state, so once he won that, you could tell he was getting into a zone.&#x201D;</p><p>Harper was one of ten Trojans to win their first-round matches for Park Hill, which enters the second day of the three-day tournament in first place with 36 points. Blue Springs is in second with 28 points.</p><p>&#x201C;To catch Blue Springs, we had to have what I call birdies,&#x201D; Erneste said. &#x201C;If we played par golf, Blue Springs beats us. Well Nick Harper&#x2019;s win was a birdie, heck, maybe even been an eagle.&#x201D;</p><p>Class 3 is also shaping up to be a competitive affair. Staley leads with a team score of 34.5 points, followed by Neosho, Kearney, Oak Park and Platte County, which are all within 11.5 points of first.</p><p>&bull;&nbsp;Lee&#x2019;s Summit West didn&#x2019;t bring a big group to state &#x2014; the Titans only qualified four &#x2014; but the ones in attendance certainly did everything they could to stand out, as all of them sported dyed blonde hair.</p><p>&#x201C;They all made a bet with our 106-pounder, Austin Eveler, that if he beat Ke-Shawn Hayes from Park Hill in districts that they would all bleach their hair for him,&#x201D; said assistant Joel Staponski. &#x201C;Eveler got his head cracked open in districts and didn&#x2019;t even get to wrestle Ke-Shawn, but out of respect to Eveler they went ahead and did it for him.&#x201D;</p><p>&bull;&nbsp;Belton senior Kevin Estell is one of several local wrestlers looking for redemption during the three-day tournament.</p><p>Estell reached last year&#x2019;s Class 3 285-pound state championship match, only to get pinned in 22 seconds and suffer his third loss of the year.</p><p>&#x201C;Honestly, I think about it all the time,&#x201D; Estell said. &#x201C;I always try to think about it before every match. It makes me want it more, pretty much.&#x201D;</p><p>Estell advanced to today&#x2019;s quarterfinals by pinning Nathan Helmig of Fort Zumwalt North in the first round.