Pleasant Hill JV Tournament

Kansas City area junior varsity wrestlers had a chance to show what they would do in Friday’s annual Pleasant Hill Junior Varsity Tournament. 

It was a tournament that featured 11 junior varsity teams and did not keep track of team scores but only had individual winners. The wrestlers were split into 37 different weight divisions and each one was in a round-robin format.

Interviews:

Blue Springs led all teams at the tournament with 10 wrestlers winning their weight class. Lee’s Summit had the second most winners with seven and host Pleasant Hill had five.

Below is a breakdown of each winner of the respective division:

106: Fort Osage’s Dalton Lucas went 2-0 in his bracket with a 19-6 major decision win and a 11-6 decision over Cash Hammons of Lee’s Summit North to take first place.

113: Blue Springs Aidan Bowman won by fall in all three of his matches as he went on to win a gold medal.

“I have been cutting down weight from 120,” Bowman said. “I felt really strong at 113 and the tournament went really well. I fasted for a day and cut down on a lot of water.”

113B: Fort Osage’s Jonathan Russell pinned his first two opponents in less than 25 seconds before getting a 15-0 tech fall victory against Harrisonville’s Jaxon Sleyster to earn a first-place finish.

“I hit a couple of double legs but the main source (for his points) was my chicken wing,” Russell said of his match with Sleyster. “I had him on his back a couple of times.”

120: Blue Springs Riley Glackin won all three of his matches by pin as he cruised to a first-place finish.

120B: Fort Osage’s Colton Lamb had to compete in one of the bigger brackets of the tournament as he had four bouts on the day. He won all of them by pin to earn first place.4

126: Blue Springs’ Jace Carver won by fall in all three of his matches to earn a gold medal on Friday.

126B: Pleasant Hill’s Jayden Young got a pin, a 17-0 tech fall victory and a 10-0 major decision as he didn’t give up a single point on his way to a first-place finish.

“I could’ve done better in that last match,” Young said. “I could have pinned him. I could’ve been stronger with my ties.”

126C: Pleasant Hill’s Ethan Sanders earned pins in his first two matches before squeaking by Grain Valley’s Justin King 4-1 in his final bout to take first place.

“I was able to get to my shots, snapping them down and getting re-shots,” Sanders said. 

132: Lee’s Summit North’s Alex Wise earned pins in all three of his matches as he got to take home a gold medal.

“I could’ve wrestled a little better, but I am pretty satisfied with what I got,” Wise said. “I could have worked on some technique that I have in practice but overall I did well on the move I performed.”

132B: Blue Springs Dominic Payne pinned both of his opponents in the first round to take first place.

132C: Lee’s Summit’s Tristan Morgan had little trouble getting through his bracket as he pinned his way through three matches to earn a gold medal.

138: Blue Springs’ Riley Smith had two pins and a 17-1 tech fall win over Lee’s Summit’s Phillip Donnelly as he cruised to a first-place finish.

138B: Lee’s Summit North’s William Sanley toughed out a 16-4 major decision against Blue Springs’ Logan Swaffar before pinning his final two opponents to take his bracket.

138C: Grain Valley’s Ryan Schmalzbach got two pins in his first two matches before grinding out a 12-3 major decision against Blue Springs Kolby Ginnings in the final match to take first place.

“I wrestled pretty strong but I still have some things I need to work on,” Schmalzbach said. “I felt like I did a good job keeping my control on the wrists. I need to work on turning my hips so I can get the pin.”

144: Pleasant Hill’s Cooper Youngblood also competed in one of the bigger brackets of the tournament. He earned pins in all four of his matches to take first place.

144B: Blue Springs’ Leighton Bailey had a tough first match in which he topped Pleasant Hill’s Austin Basney 7-5 in overtime before pinning his next two opponents to take first place.

144C: Grain Valley’s Brody Braa had two pins in the second period and one in the third to roll to a first-place finish.

150: Oak Grove’s Jackson Miller had two pins and an 8-6 victory against Blue Springs Dodge DiGusto as he ended up with a first-place medal.

150B: Oak Grove’s Brock Baylor had little trouble winning his weight bracket as he earned three pins in the first period to take first place.

“I feel like I am really good off the line,” Baylor said. “When the ref blows the whistle, I am good at getting the takedown right after.”

150C: Grain Valley’s Azryel Walker won by fall in all three of his matches as he captured the division title in his bracket.

157: Lee’s Summit North’s Bayaz Mejdunov got pins in all three of his matches to take first place.

“I tried my best,” Mejdunov said. “I really need to improve my speed so I can attack the legs.

157B: Lee’s Summit’s Caden Mense had two pins and earned a 12-3 major decision against Brock Banker of Blue Springs in his final match to earn a gold medal.

“I didn’t know how to defend his chicken wing. I noticed that was his main move,” Mense said of his match with Banker. “I was just trying to stay aggressive because when I am defensive, I don’t do very well.”

157C: Lee’s Summit Will McBee had a pin and a 15-3 major decision win against Jeongwoo Na of St. Michael The Archangel Catholic as he went 2-0 to win his bracket.

165: St. Michael The Archangel Catholic’s Lance Barry went 4-0 in his bracket with three pins and had a 10-5 win over Dustin Nguyen of Lee’s Summit to take first place.

“I did pretty good but I could’ve got more shots,” Barry said.

175: Lee’s Summit Robby Desmond won by fall in all three of his matches to capture his bracket.

175B: Pleasant Hill’s Alex Harrison had to earn his first-place finish as he had a close 9-7 victory against Blue Springs’ Jackson Miles and a 10-8 overtime win against Ahmed Ouazzani. He also had a pin to help himself take first.

175C: Case Melzer of Harrisonville put away all of his opponents in the first round by pin as he bulldozed his way to first place.

175D: Blue Springs’ Tyler Lindsey pinned all three of his opponents as he worked his way to a first-place finish. 

“A double leg (takedown) into a half (worked well for him),” Lindsay said of his moves that were successful in the tournament.

190: Lee’s Summit’s Michael Held had two pins and had to grind out a 6-4 victory against teammate Zander McGuire to take first place.

190B: Lee’s Summit’s Edison Moody went 4-0 with two pins, a win by major decision (17-8) and a win by decision (9-3) as he earned first place.

215: Blue Springs’ Carter Atagi pinned all three of his opponents as he cruised to a first-place finish.

215B: Fort Osage’s Landon Gallman got three first-period falls to earn the right to take home a gold medal.

215C: Knob Noster’s Xavier Ortega earned two pins in a small round robin bracket to take first place.

215D: Pleasant Hill’s Brayden Brower pinned all three of his opponents, including one with 2 seconds left in regulation against Ashton Pollard of Fort Osage as he won his bracket.

285: Lee’s Summit’s Will Seiler had two pins and edged Lee’s Summit North’s Morgan Edwards 1-0 to earn first place.

285B: Blue Springs’ Phillip Fields had two wins by fall and one by disqualification as he earned a gold medal.

285C: Blue Springs’ Ethan Farias got three pins to take first place.

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Written by Michael Smith

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