Camdenton sophomore Brock Conaway is on the rise in the high school wrestling scene.
During the winter high school folkstyle season, he broke out as a freshman and finished as a runner-up in the 190-pound weight division in the Class 3 Missouri State High School Wrestling Championships, falling to then senior Marcus Lopez-Durman of Carl Junction 16-5 in the championship match.
But that was just the beginning.
He put his name on the map on the national stage in the U.S. Marines Corps Junior Nationals tournament, widely considered the toughest and most competitive tournament at the high school level, in July at the FARGODOME in Fargo, N.D. He competed in the 190-pound, 16-and-under freestyle division and earned his first All-American honor, placing eighth.
After falling in his first-round match 10-7 to Ohio’s Tyler Soeder, he bounced back in a big way in the consolation bracket by rattling off six consecutive wins by a 10-0 tech fall. In the consolation quarterfinals, he needed one more win to clinch a top eight spot in his bracket.
He took down Elias Green 14-12 to earn the All-American honor before losing his final two matches, including a pinfall loss to Treyton Altuve out of Wisconsin in the seventh-place match as he finished the tournament with a 7-3 record.
“I was just happy to be there, but I knew I was going to be an All-American going into it,” Conaway said. “My goal was to win it, but it didn’t obviously end up like that. But I’m still happy with how everything turned out.”
And a big part of his accomplishment came from the sophomore gutting out the 14-12 win against Green. He overcame a 12-6 deficit after the first period to win.
“In that first period, I felt like I was letting him get to my leg a little too much,” Conaway said, “and then I just kind of kept in my mind to stay lower and attack a little bit more. As the match went on, I was attacking a lot more and making it harder for him to get to any of his attacks and get any points.”
Conaway said his aggressiveness was a big factor in his success in winning six matches by tech fall, as well.
“My biggest takeaway from the tournament was probably I feel like the more I attack, the less chances of them getting scores on me,” he said. “I definitely feel like my (gutwrench) was easily the best thing. And my leg attacks, my single legs were really good the entire tournament. My leg defense felt really good the entire tournament as well.”
The Junior National Tournament isn’t the only event Conaway made a name for himself either. He finished in second place in the freshman 182-pound bracket at the NHCSA High School National Tournament in March.
He also took third at the Brian Keck Memorial Preseason National & Boys Recruiting Showcase in 2025.
“My top game holding people down felt amazing,” Conaway said of his performance at the NHCSA tournament, “And then my scrambling was really good.”
All these accomplishments almost didn’t happen for Conaway. He said he started wrestling when he was in kindergarten, but he quit shortly after because Conaway said he didn’t like it. His father convinced him to get back into the sport in sixth grade and it’s resulted in a successful high school career thus far.
“It felt like I was getting more mean and aggressive, so I thought I might like it,” Conaway said.
He will try to carry over the momentum from a successful spring and summer wrestling season into the Super 32 Tournament coming up in Oct. in Greensboro, N.C. He also has some big goals for his sophomore season at Camdenton, as well.
“My goals for next year is definitely be a state champion, and then in the years after, definitely try to be an IRONMAN champ,” Conaway said.