Michael Smith
The Grain Valley wrestling team is making a name for itself as one of the top teams in Missouri.
Afterall, the Eagles are currently ranked as the sixth best team in Class 4 according to the poll at MissouriWrestling.com.
Interviews from the GKC Tournament:
- Fort Osage’s Gavin Gallman (215)
- Liberty North’s Trevor Thorn (190)
- Liberty North’s Nathan Sola (175)
- Liberty North’s Elmotie Williams (285)
- Grain Valley’s Tanner Barker (165)
- Grain Valley’s Tyler Groves (144)
- Grain Valley’s Dru Azcona (132)
- Fort Osage’s Rylan Mansfield (138)
- Liberty North’s James Lovelady (126)
- Staley’s Miller Sipes (120)
- Fort Osage’s Kaison Schreier (106)
- Park Hill South’s Dylan Taylor (132)
- Fort Osage Antonio Martinez (113)
- Lee’s Summit North’s Seth Hooper (144)
- Liberty North’s Dru Thomas (138)
- Lee’s Summit North’s Zackary Coetzee (175)
- Kearney’s Ryder Shelton (113)
The team is loaded with talent that has wrestlers that have a legitimate chance of earning a state medal in 2023. That showed in the Greater Kansas City Tournament Saturday that featured 19 of the 28 teams that are in the Suburban Conference.
Grain Valley had three wrestlers win their weight division as it scored 199 points to take first place at the event at Belton High School. Liberty North was second with 184.5 points and Fort Osage was third with 178.5.
“That’s one of our goals this year is to win a state team trophy,” Grain Valley senior Dru Azcona said. “We have guys like Gavin Parks, Tyler Groves, Tanner Barker and Brock Smith, so I think we can do it. Colton Parks and Zac Bleess, we are loaded.”
Azcona, ranked No. 3 in Class 4 in his weight class, had a stiff challenge in the finals of the 132-pound weight bracket after rolling through the first two rounds. He got a 27-second pin in the quarterfinals and earned a 11-0 major decision against Raytown South senior Norman Schneider.
He was able to make a first-period takedown hold up in the championship match as he earned a 4-3 victory against Oak Park Jamison Tunstill, who suffered his first loss.
Azcona improved to 10-0 after coming back from a rib injury earlier in the month.
