The Fort Osage wrestling team could be a contender for a state trophy for the 2023-24 season.
Currently, the Indians are ranked No. 5 as a team in the MissouriWrestling.com poll and they showed why they are highly ranked in Saturday’s Grain Valley Invitational.
Fort Osage cruised to a tournament title, totaling 183.5 points to take first place. It finished 49 points ahead of second-place Grain Valley (134.5). Lee’s Summit West took third with 129.5 points.
“We got more expectations than we have ever had but we also have more talent,” Fort Osage senior Rylan Mansfield said. “We’re a lot better than we have been in the past. I am very excited to see what we could do.
Full wrestling interviews:
Five Indians wrestlers are ranked in the top six of their weight class according to MissouriWrestling.com. Four of them won their bracket at the Grain Valley Invitational.
Mansfield, who is ranked fifth in the Class 4, 138-pound weight division, took the 144-bracket Saturday. He pinned his first two opponents before defeating Lee’s Summit West sophomore Jaxon Fetters 5-1 in the championship match.
“My defense was good,” Mansfield said. “He never really had a time where he was in on too much.”
Like Mansfield, Junior Colby Gray is someone who could compete for a state championship for Fort Osage and he showed why. He defeated one of the best wrestlers in his weight division, Mexico’s Grant Van Horn, 8-4 in the title bout. Before that, he had two pins in the 157-pound bracket.
“I felt like I was wrestling pretty slow, but other than that I did well,” Gray said. “My moves were pretty crisp.”
No. 3-ranked Kaison Schreier had little issue winning at 106 as he earned his gold medal following a 4-0 showing, which included two wins by pin, one by tech fall and one by injury forfeit. No. 2-ranked Isaac Ward (190) pinned his way to the finals and he stopped Oak Park senior Cayden Redmond 9-1 to earn the division title in his bracket.
Antonio Martinez (120), Grayson Moore (138) and Gavin Gallman (215) were all runner ups for the Indians.
Grain Valley had three winners and two runner ups as it showed its still one of the top teams in the Kansas City area.
Junior Colston Parks (113) got a pin in the semifinals to earn a spot in the championship, where he got a big 8-4 decision against West’s Zach Pruitt….