Kansas City-area wrestlers shine at Missouri state championships inside Mizzou Arena
If there’s such a thing as becoming tired of winning, Liberty High’s Jeremiah Reno would probably know what it feels like.
The junior wrestler entered the championship session of the Missouri state wrestling finals undefeated in his high school career and with two state titles already to his name, winning each of the past two seasons at 106 pounds.
After a technical-fall victory Saturday over Lindbergh’s James Hornfield for the Class 4 crown at 113 pounds, mark it three state titles.
And, no, he doesn’t think winning gets boring.
“Winning is always fun,” Reno said, “(but) this state title doesn’t feel any different.”
But what was different to Reno was the amount of support that made the journey to Mizzou Arena to support him and his state-bound teammates. The Blue Jays had eight weight classes competing for titles Saturday, with three — Reno, Easton Hilton and Greyden Penner — winning first-place crowns.
“Last year, we didn’t have as many guys as we did last year and didn’t have as much crowd support,” Reno said of the traveling support. “But this year, I think that we all joined in and became one.”
Kansas City-area wrestlers won a total of 16 individual state championships Saturday, accounting for exactly half of the total state qualifiers. Classes 3 and 4 were most heavily represented, but several-small school grapplers also managed to take home medals.
Lawson’s Tyler Ross won his bout at 160 pounds in Class 1 to make it consecutive state titles for the junior, who was victorious at 145 pounds last year. And Gavin Gross of Odessa won in Class 2 at 138 pounds.
The team standings were where local schools fell just short. Kearney missed out on the Class 3 state championship to Neosho by a mere four points, while Smithville wasn’t far behind in third. And in Class 4, three schools — Liberty, Park Hill and Staley — finished second, third and fourth, respectively, behind state champion Christian Brothers College.
In all, 32 area wrestlers competed for state championships on Saturday, but a few in particular were a part of history.
Five local wrestlers competed in championship matches in the girls’ division in the first year of high school competition for the sport in Missouri, but only two had their hands raised as winners.
That duo would be Harrisonville’s Nonnie Justice, who won via fall in 35 seconds against Lawson’s Savanna McCutchen in the 126-pound match, and Kearney’s Lexie Cole, who pinned Versailles’s Alana May in 1:38 at 235 pounds.
But Justice, a sophomore, was the only one of the two to finish the season without a loss, finishing 26-0 overall for the year.
What’s even more impressive is that she did it in style by ending her stellar season with a pin — her last of 26 wins by fall.
“It’s nice to make history and be here,” Justice said, officially the area’s first female wrestling state champion. “I deserve this. I’ve worked hard all season for it and had my team back me up the whole time. I think that (this sport) is going to grow drastically.”