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Hickman dominates CMAC Boys Tournament

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JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Columbia Hickman varsity wrestling coach Dan Pieper had the best seat in the house for most of Saturday’s championship round of the Central Missouri Athletic Conference Tournament at Jefferson City High School.

After a strong showing through quarterfinal and semifinal rounds, Pieper’s Kewpies saw 10 grapplers make it through to finals – assuring Pieper would be tasked with keeping his own seat warm most of the evening.

 He was certainly fine with that. After all, the Kewpies finished with nine individual conference champions and won the overall team title, besting second-place Helias Catholic 234.0-152.5.

Jefferson City took third inside its home gymnasium with 110.5 points, followed by Capital City, 98.5; Sedalia Smith-Cotton, 97; Camdenton, 96; Columbia Battle, 44; and Columbia Rock Bridge, 40.

The Kewpies’ individual conference champions – Hogan Benter (120 pounds), Hank Benter (126), Quincey Crawford (132), Brady McMurtry (138), Shane Oswald (144), Taryn Nichols (150), Jordan Fincher (157), Luke Hayden (165), Beau Waldron (175) – were all rather dominant.

Hickman freshman Cooper Sapp also made the finals and was the conference runner-up at 215, and senior Levi Harrell placed third at 285.

The Benter Brothers – Hogan and Hank – set a tone for the Kewpies in the championship round. Hogan – a sophomore who is 28-9 this season – was the first of Hickman’s 10 finalists to step on the mat. After opening the tournament with falls over Capital City’s Brady Hale and Battle’s Mervin Allen, he pinned Jefferson City’s Makoa Castillo (18-4) in three minutes, one second in the final.

A three-time state champion committed to Missouri, Hank Benter was the clear favorite coming into the tournament at 126 and he delivered on expectations. He improved to 30-4 this season with a tech fall against Smith-Cotton’s Adarein Hawkins (25-5) in the finals.

He made it there after pinning Battle’s AJ Edwards and Capital City’s Ethan Wydra, respectively.

Continuing his impressive freshman season, Crawford (25-6) picked up his first conference championship with a 16-4 major decision over Camdenton’s Finnegan McNitt. It was Crawford’s second tournament win in three tries. He also won the 132-pound title at the William Red Schmitt Holiday Tourney on Dec. 28.

Despite the result, Crawford-McNitt featured a rather uneventful first period as both grapplers struggled to get to their offense. Crawford said he was able to relax in the second period and the results followed, as he scored an early takedown and never looked back.

As Crawford spoke, McMurtry had already taken his place on Mat 1 and turned in a dominant performance of his own, besting Capital City senior Jeremiah Austin 19-2 in a technical fall three minutes into their match to win his first conference title.

Oswald, a sophomore, improved to 29-9 with a 12-1 major decision over Jefferson City’s Deegan Mitchell in the 144 final after he’d pinned Zayne Green (Capital City) and Chrystopher Hawkins (Smith-Cotton) to get there.

A pair of juniors were up next for the Kewpies, as Taryn Nichols (150) and Jordan Fincher (157) had dominant performances. Nichols pinned Joseph Swift (Capital City) and Blaine Curtis (Helias Catholic) to reach the finals where he scored a 19-3 tech fall over Smith-Cotton’s Xadrian McGruder in 3:47.  

Fincher scored tech falls over Zijie Jiang (Rock Bridge) and Levi Casey (Capital City) before pinning Aleksandr Careaga (Helias Catholic) at 4:22 in the final.

Hickman’s most exciting match went to returning 165-pound Class 4 state champion Luke Hayden. A sophomore, Hayden improved to 33-2 after surviving some early thrills against Helias Catholic’s Eli Homan (33-4) – a senior who took third in state in Class 3 at 165 as a junior.

After falling behind 2-1 early in the second period, Hayden took the lead on a takedown and kept Homan at bay the remainder of the way to win an 8-2 decision.

Sophomore Beau Waldron – who was fifth in state at 175 as a freshman – won the CMAC at 175 and improved to 21-5 overall with a 9-2 decision over Camdenton’s Trayvontay Haire. He also pinned Lincoln Keele (Smith-Cotton) and Dugan Williams (Helias) at the CMAC.

Speaking of Helias, Crusaders sophomore Daemen Duemmel improved to 38-1 overall this season with a pair of tech falls over the weekend to win the 106-pound class. After receiving a bye in the opening round, Duemmel scored a 15-0 tech fall over Ashton Hynson (Capital City) in the semifinal before besting Battle’s Finn Wilson 20-3 in the final.

Rock Bridge senior Emmanuel Trotter (16-10) won the 113-pound class at the CMAC, pinning Camdenton’s Miguel McCreery at 3:33 in the final. He got there by pinning Smith-Cotton’s William Noriega and scoring a 7-5 decision over Landon Holleman of Capital City.

The 190-pound final between Capital City’s Darius Hendricks and crosstown rival Brady Fann (Helias) was one of the more exciting matches of the evening. A senior, Hendricks (27-4) found himself trailing Fann (24-6) before getting a takedown and collecting a fall at the 3:08 mark – sparking a nice reaction from the Cap City faithful on hand.

A pair of Helias sophomores dominated the upper weights, as Brock Lepage took the 215-pound title and Zyan Knollmeyer won at 285.

Lepage pinned Camdenton’s Brody Price and decisioned Capital City’s Stephen Willis, 9-3, before besting Sapp in a 12-2 major decision in the final.

Knollmeyer had an opening-round bye, pinned eventual third-place finisher Levi Harrell in the semifinal and won a 7-0 decision over Smith-Cotton’s Luis Juarez in the final.

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