There are many milestones that are difficult to achieve in high school wrestling.
Some of those include being a four-time state champion or winning back-to-back team titles.
Liberty senior Wentric Williams III, who wrestled at 195 pounds, reached his own special milestone during Saturday’s George Hoover Invitational Tournament Saturday at Liberty High School.
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The senior got pins in all three of his matches to take first place. His final pin against Liberty North’s Trenton Byrd in the finals netted him his 150th career win.
“I just got better over the years and had great practice partners and coaches,” said Williams, who is ranked No. 1 in his weight class in Class 4 according to the MissouriWrestling.com poll. “It’s an amazing feeling and I couldn’t have done it without them.”
Byrd finished second and Kearney’s Tucker Black was third.
Williams helped Liberty run away with the team tournament title as the Blue Jays totaled 379 points. Kearney was second (241), Liberty North (208) and Grain Valley fourth (145).
Most teams outside of Liberty rested their top wrestlers in preparation for the district tournament next weekend. Aside from Williams, eight other Liberty wrestlers won their weight class. No Blue Jay finished below third place.
Below is a summary of the other weight classes of the George Hoover Invitational:
106: No. 3-ranked Devon Harrison got two pins and a tech fall, with the last pin coming against William Chrisman’s Riley Ragan in the championship match as he took first place.
Top three placers:
1st: Devon Harrison, Liberty
2nd: Riley Ragan, William Chrisman
3rd: Kaiden Johnson, Fort Osage
113: Liberty sophomore Hunter Taylor, ranked No. 1, got pins in all four of his matches, including one that came in 1:38 against Kearney’s Peyton Lee as he won his weight division.
Top three placers:
1st: Hunter Taylor, Liberty
2nd: Peyton Lee, Kearney
3rd: Chase Thurston, North Kansas City
120: Liberty junior Cooper Rider is in arguably one of the toughest weight classes in the state. On Saturday, he proved he was worthy of his No. 3 ranking after getting a tech fall and two pins. In the title bout, he pinned Brennen Green of Kearney in 1:18.
“I had a sickness this past weekend, so it’s great getting back into it and wrestling,” Rider said.
Top three placers:
1st: Cooper Rider, Liberty
2nd: Brennen Green, Kearney
3rd: Ethan Jones, Grain Valley
126: Raytown South sophomore Norman Schneider lost against Kerney’s Blake Turpin 5-0 during the pool rounds but got his revenge in the finals when he pushed through for an 8-6 decision to take first place.
Top three placers:
1st: Norman Schnieder, Raytown South
2nd: Blake Turpin, Kearney
3rd: Angel Calderon, North Kansas City
132: No. 1-ranked Christopher Coates didn’t spend more than a minute on the mat in any of his matches as he got four pins with the last one coming in 43 seconds against Grain Valley’s Tyler Groves in the final bout.
Top three placers:
1st: Christopher Coates, Liberty
2nd: Tyler Groves, Grain Valley
3rd: Lucas Titus, Liberty North
138: Liberty senior Easton Hilton, ranked No. 4, went 5-0 and had a stiff test in the championship match against Liberty North’s Joseph Knight. After pinning his first four opponents, Hilton grinded out a 11-4 decision against Knight.
“He’s a very strong kid,” Hilton said. “That was the third time I have wrestled him in the past few years. He’s a tough kid to turn. I was just glad to wrestle him.
Top three placers:
1st: Easton Hilton, Liberty
2nd: Joseph Knight, Liberty North
3rd: Grayson Moore, Fort Osage
145: No. 1-ranked Kyle Dutton of Liberty didn’t get to wrestle in the final bout. He got a tech fall and a pin before receiving a win in the championship round by Liberty North’s Dylan Alft, ranked No. 6, in the finals.
Top three placers:
1st: Kyle Dutton, Liberty
2nd: Dylan Alft, Liberty North
3rd: Nathan Noda, Truman
152: After some early-season struggles, Liberty senior Logan Rathjen is starting to hit his stride. He got two tech falls and two pins to finish atop the podium. He got a 16-1 tech fall against Daryn Langford of Kearney in the championship match.
“My approach going into this tournament wasn’t any different. My confidence was really high from last week,” Rathjen said. “I just went out there and wrestled.
“I have been drilling with (the waistlock tilt) for two years now and it’s starting to hit. I used it at Winnetonka and used it here. You can get pretty easy back points using it.”
Top three placers:
1st: Logan Rathjen, Liberty
2nd: Daryn Langford, Kearney
3rd: Preston Beran, Liberty North
160: Liberty freshman Peyton Westpfahl said that going against other elite wrestlers on his own team in practice have helped him get better and adapt to different styles of wrestling of his opponents.
Despite being 14-5 on the season, he’s ranked No. 2, and will have a shot at a state title this season. He proved that by rolling past his competition and taking first place following a fall in 3:41 of Grain Valley’s Justin Deweese in the title bout.
“Those guys are the ones who make me the wrestler that I am,” Westpfahl said of his teammates. “I wouldn’t have any of my accomplishments without them. Without them, I can’t compete like I did.”
Top three placers:
1st: Peyton Westpfahl, Liberty
2nd: Justin Deweese, Grain Valley
3rd: Kaden Torres, North Kansas City
170: William Chrisman senior Nathan Campos will be looking for his first state appearance this season, and he showed he is capable of making that happen Saturday. He went 5-0 on the day which was capped off with a close 8-7 victory against Liberty senior Jason Briones in the title bout.
“I was down in the first and second period, all the conditioning makes your work ethic much stronger,” Campos said. “You can win matches like that.”
Top three placers:
1st: Nathan Campos, William Chrisman
2nd: Jason Briones, Liberty
3rd: Hunter Biesemeyer, Liberty
182: Liberty senior Jeremiah Halter went 5-0 and had his toughest match in the championship bout when he faced Kearney’s Jack Gist. He edge Gist 9-6 to capture first place in his weight division.
“He is a strong kid and he’s getting better every year,” Halter said of Gist. “Credit to him. “He came back in the last 20 seconds of the match. I didn’t wrestle my best. I just need to sharpen up for districts and state.”
Top three placers:
1st: Jeremiah Halter, Liberty
2nd: Jak Gist, Kearney
3rd: Mason Bowen, Liberty North
220: Kearney senior Zach Olson will be looking for his second state appearance this season. On Saturday he went 6-0 and gutted out a 4-0 decision against Liberty’s Trevor Bindel to take first.
Top three placers:
1st; Zach Olson, Kearney
2nd: Trevor Bindel, Liberty
3rd: Andru Campos, William Chrisman
285: It has been an up and down year for Grain Valley junior wrestler Andrew Czeschin.
He had streaks of winning and streaks where he came up short in matches. On Saturday, he had his breakout moment in his first full season wrestling on the varsity team.
Czeschin came into the George Hoover Invitational at Liberty High School with a 18-20 record. He bumped his season record over .500 by going 4-0 in the heavyweight division, taking first place.
The junior pinned Kearney’s Jase Jackson in 49 seconds during the final match.
“Honestly, it felt pretty good,” Czeschin said with a smile. “It was the first big thing I’ve done this year.”
Top three placers:
1st: Andrew Czeschin, Grain Valley
2nd: Jase Jackson, Kearney
3rd: Cameron Clarke, Liberty