Liberty leads big-class sweep at Missouri state wrestling championships in Columbia
Kansas City-area schools made it a 1-2-3 sweep atop the big-school medals podium at this year’s Missouri state high school wrestling championships.
Overall team champion Liberty (241 points) was followed by runner-up and neighbor Park Hill (146.5) and third-place Staley (121).
Here’s a rundown of individual state champions and second-place finishers from Saturday’s finals at Mizzou Arena. Numerous other wrestlers from those three schools and many more around the KC Metro claimed third- and fifth-place medals.
Class 4
Four Liberty wrestlers earned individual state titles.
At 120 pounds, Jeremiah Reno won by major decision (12-3) over Kody Ketchum of Park Hill. And Kyle Dutton became a state champ by beating Park Hill’s Trey Crawford 5-3 at 132.
At 160, it was Drake Smith of Libery pinning Evan Boren of Lafayette-Wildwood for the title in 3 minutes, 34 seconds, while at 182, teammate Greyden Penner outpointed Jack Darrah of Christian Brothers College 10-4.
Park Hill counted individual championships from Ethen Miller at 138 pounds, a 3-1 winner by decision over Kage Lenger of Liberty; and Kal Miller (145), a 5-0 victor over Liberty’s Logan Rathjen.
Staley’s Rocky Elam laid claim to a state title at 195, scoring a 15-6 major decision over Jake McCollum of Eureka, while teammate Aidan Johnson won in sudden victory at 170, beating Wentric Williams III of Liberty.
Staley’s Khyler Brewer (126) also won in sudden victory, besting Blue Springs’ Korbin Shepherd.
Park Hill’s Grayston Diblasi finished runner-up at 152, while North Kansas City’s Xavier Doolin lost by injury default in the final at 220 pounds.
Class 3
Several KC-area schools posted Top 10 finishes in Class 3 competition Saturday.
Kearney placed third as a team behind winner Neosho and runner-up Lebanon; Smithville finished fourth as a team and Grain Valley eighth.
At 120 pounds, Eli Ashcroft of Kearney won by 5-2 decision over Austin Wadlow of Farmington.
At 138, Devan Lewis of Smithville scored a 13-1 major decision over Alexsey Salaz of Helias Catholic.
At 170, Coby Aebersold of Kearney pinned Colt Adkins of Lebanon in 3:46.
KC-area runners-up included Grandview’s Anthony Mariche at 113 pounds, beaten by Christian Finley of Willard on a tech fall; and Ryan Hampton of Smithville, pinned by Rolla’s unbeaten Nathan Pulliam in 4:15 at 145.
Class 2
Odessa turned in a runner-up team showing; Pleasant Hill was fourth and Excelsior Springs finished ninth.
Individual state champions from the KC area included Sam Ewing of Pleasant Hill at 106, a 4-3 winner over Seneca’s Brady Roark; Shon Badder of Odessa, a 2-1 winner at 126 over Tyler Murphy of Benton; and Gavin Gross of Odessa, a 4-2 winner at 145 over Jay Greiner of St. Joeseph-Lafayette.
Damon Ashworth of Excelsior Springs took the state title at 152, a sudden-victory winner over Gunnar Bradley of Monett.
Harrisonville’s Trevor Campbell finished runner-up at 195 pounds to Priory’s Dalton Bingman on a 5-4 decision.
Girls (one classification)
Harrisonville claimed the MSHSAA girls team title, besting runner-up Lafayette (Wildwood) and the rest of the field.
Nonnie Justice pinned Maria Slaughter of Holt in 1:32 at 125 pounds, and Chloe Herrick finished runner-up at 115 to Buffalo’s Lizzie Miller in a tiebreaker.
Area state champions included Fort Osage’s Haley Ward, a 130-pound winner by fall over Plattsburg’s Kaylie Dow in 1:25; Maddie Kubicki of Park Hill South, the 135-pound winner by pin in 3:12 over Lawson’s Savanna McCutchen; and Lexie Cole of Kearney, a winner by fall in 1:57 over Kiara Boldridge of William Chrisman at 235.
Complete results from all of the MSHSAA wrestling finals can be found here.
This story was originally published February 23, 2020 at 1:45 PM.