The Winnetonka Invitational is a high school wrestling tournament that many mark on their calendars.
It’s an event that often features some of the best wrestlers and best teams in Missouri. This season was no different as contenders for a Class 4 state championship like Liberty, Staley and Lafayette Wildwood were in the tournament along with defending Class 2 state champion Odessa.
Even in such a loaded tournament, the Blue Jays proved they are still the king of high school wrestling in Missouri.
Liberty took first place with 248.5 points Saturday at Winnetonka High School. Lafayette Wildwood was second with 214.5 points and Staley was third with 212.
Seniors Peyton Westpfahl (190 pounds) and Devon Harrison (126) along with sophomore Roman Stewart led the way for the Blue Jays by winning their respective brackets. Others on Liberty to place in the top eight were Rowdy Angst (106, fourth place), John Cox (113, seventh), Gavin Shelton (113, third), Will Pfiefer (120, seventh), Cade Dunn (126, second), Trey Donaldson (132, seventh), Ross Davis (138, third), Justice Williams (165, fifth), Donovan Hodges (175, sixth), Masen Bindel (215, fifth) and Trenton Bindel (285, second).
Below MissouriWrestling.com breaks down the results of each weight bracket.
106: Park Hill sophomore Cayden Brayfield was able to emerge from a loaded bracket with a lot of good, young talent as the winner. He defeated Angst 8-4 in the semifinals before taking the championship match against Lafayette Wildwood’s Max Rowe, 19-5.
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Caden Brayfield of PARK HILL
- 2nd Place – Max Rowe of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
- 3rd Place – Gunner Dahms of STALEY
- 4th Place – Rowdy Angst of LIBERTY
- 5th Place – Colton Gray of FH CENTRAL
- 6th Place – Kaemen Orine of SECKMAN
- 7th Place – Brayden Robinson of KEARNEY
- 8th Place – Marztian Ioanis of NEOSHO
113: Fort Osage junior Kaison Schreier won his first three matches by tech fall before he dominated Park Hill junior Mson Brayfield and got a pin off a tilt in 1:47 to capture first place and a sledgehammer that was given to each winner.
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Kaison Schreier of FORT OSAGE
- 2nd Place – Mason Brayfield of PARK HILL
- 3rd Place – Gavin Shelton of LIBERTY
- 4th Place – Jackson Tenny of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
- 5th Place – Dorrian Clark of SECKMAN
- 6th Place – Tucker Feagens of NEOSHO
- 7th Place – John Cox of LIBERTY
- 8th Place – Sebastian Dieckhaus-Schumer of FRANCIS HOWELL CENTRAL
120: Lafayette Wildwood sophomore Riley Sumner was maybe in the toughest bracket of tournament as he had to contend top contender for a state title like Staley’s Parker Leverknight, Park Hill’s Erik Egstad and Francis Howell Central’s Chase Gray. He got through the guanlet, edging Egstad 5-3 in the semifinals and squeaking by Leverknight 9-6 in the championship match to take first.
“It built up a lot of confidence because I am going to wrestle a lot of these kids at state,” Sumner. “I am feeling great this year. At KCI, I fumbled the bag and didn’t wrestle my best. I stepped it up from there.”
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Riley Sumner of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
- 2nd Place – Parker Leverknight of STALEY
- 3rd Place – Chase Gray of FH CENTRAL
- 4th Place – Erik Egstad of PARK HILL
- 5th Place – Phoenix Shelton of KEARNEY
- 6th Place – Kamdon VonHolten of RAY-PEC
- 7th Place – Will Pfeifer of LIBERTY
- 8th Place – Sebastian Ioanis of NEOSHO
126: Two of the top state title contenders faced off in the championship match as Staley senior Zayne Reynolds clashed with Dunn. Reynolds got a takedown and near fall in the third period that helped him pull away for a 13-7 decision.
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Zayne Reynolds of STALEY
- 2nd Place – Cade Dunn of LIBERTY
- 3rd Place – Brady Jones of ODESSA
- 4th Place – Calum Brown of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
- 5th Place – Stoney Wood of INDIANOLA
- 6th Place – Keaton Hurst of OZARK
- 7th Place – Antonio Martinez of FORT OSAGE
- 8th Place – Landon Westfall of KEARNEY
132: Harrison has been a state runner up in his last three seasons with the Blue Jays. This year, he’s looking to get over the hump and get an individual title. He proved he could be some top contenders as he topped Kearney senior and two-time Class 3 state champion Ryder Shelton 7-1.
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Devon Harrison of LIBERTY
- 2nd Place – Ryder Shelton of KEARNEY
- 3rd Place – Kelton Shaffer of NEOSHO
- 4th Place – Kennan Beatty of PARK HILL
- 5th Place – Caleb Frankenberger of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
- 6th Place – Blaine Wallace of ODESSA
- 7th Place – Trey Donaldson of LIBERTY
- 8th Place – Aiden Minor of PLEASANT HILL
138: Odessa sophomore Kamden Hooper made it to the finals after two wins by fall and one by tech fall but ran into a buzzsaw in the finals in Indianola, Iowa’s Mac Crosson as he fell 19-3 to take second place.
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Mac Crosson of INDIANOLA
- 2nd Place – Kamden Hooper of ODESSA
- 3rd Place – Ross Davis of LIBERTY
- 4th Place – Caden Harrington of OZARK
- 5th Place – Jacob Vanderiet of SECKMAN
- 6th Place – Grayson Moore of FORT OSAGE
- 7th Place – Magnus Hoenshell of PARK HILL SOUTH
- 8th Place – Ahmad Ghuneim of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
144: Stewart has been one of the top wrestlers in the state even during his freshman season a year ago. He figures to be in the mix again this season and he showed why in his championship match with St. Thomas Aquinas’ Kaden Allen. He got a takedown in the third that sealed his 6-1 victory and first-place finish.
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Roman Stewart of LIBERTY
- 2nd Place – Kaden Allen of ST THOMAS AQUINAS
- 3rd Place – Jet Brown of ODESSA
- 4th Place – Landen McDowell of PARK HILL SOUTH
- 5th Place – Caleb Caldwell of WILLARD
- 6th Place – Ryan Young of INDIANOLA
- 7th Place – Fisher Butler of NEOSHO
- 8th Place – Teagon Patterson of OZARK
150: A marque matchup was set up in the finals of this bracket as likely the two top Class 4 contenders – Fort Osage’s Colby Gray and Seckman’s Chance Ruble faced off. A near fall in the second period and an escape in the third allowed Ruble to come away with a 3-2 victory.
“I knew he was a tough opponent coming into that match,” Ruble said of Gray. “I just got it done. We will probably see each other gain.”
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Chance Ruble of SECKMAN
- 2nd Place – Colby Gray of FORT OSAGE
- 3rd Place – Aidan Schoen of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
- 4th Place – Elijah Blewitt of INDIANOLA
- 5th Place – Reed Wilson of NIXA
- 6th Place – Lester Brown of STALEY
- 7th Place – Noah Johnson of PARK HILL
- 8th Place – Noah Rogers of WILLARD
157: Staley senior David Gleason was dominant. He won two of his matches by fall and two by tech fall. In the championship match of his bracket defeated Indianola’s Jake Pontier to earn Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament honors. Because of that, he got to take home two sledgehammers as prizes.
“It feels great to win but winning outstanding wrestler was the cherry on top,” Gleason said. “All of my hard work has paid off.”
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – David Gleason of STALEY
- 2nd Place – Jake Pontier of INDIANOLA
- 3rd Place – Carter Howard of NEOSHO
- 4th Place – Jeremiah Drake of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
- 5th Place – Grant Armentrout of PARK HILL
- 6th Place – Kaden Young of NIXA
- 7th Place – Kale Davis of KEARNEY
- 8th Place – Wyatt True of LIBERTY NORTH
165: Park Hill junior Sammy Mormino picked up one of the biggest wins of his career. He faced off against two-time state medalist Merrik Murray, who is a contender for a state championship. They had a competitive match as an escape and a takedown in the second period helped Mormino create the separation needed to come away with a 8-5 win in the title bout.
“I wrestled OK,” Golden said. “I could’ve had better defense on my feet, but I just kept being aggressive and kept shooting and kept scoring.”
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Sammy Mormino of PARK HILL
- 2nd Place – Merrik Murray of STALEY
- 3rd Place – Lincoln Howard of NEOSHO
- 4th Place – Owen McCracken of FH CENTRAL
- 5th Place – Justice Williams of LIBERTY
- 6th Place – Owen Diemoz of NIXA
- 7th Place – Max Joiner of STALEY
- 8th Place – Will Scott of ODESSA
175: Francis Howell Central sophomore Samuel Golden was in a highly competitive match Seckman senior Jeremiah McClain in the championship match. Both wrestlers had a tie score on a pair of occasions in the match by Golden won the third period 4-0, which ended up being the difference in a 14-10 win.
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Samuel Golden of FH CENTRAL
- 2nd Place – Jeremiah McClain of SECKMAN
- 3rd Place – Will Whalen of INDIANOLA
- 4th Place – Carter Welsh of LAFAYETTE-Wildwood
- 5th Place – Kaymon Rhone of NEOSHO
- 6th Place – Donovan Hodges of LIBERTY
- 7th Place – Sage Wilson of STALEY
- 8th Place – Tyler Gibson of NIXA
190: Two defending state champions clashed in the finals as Kearney sophomore Carter Temple took on Westpfahl. An early takedown from the Liberty senior ended up holding up in the defensive battle as Westpfahl took first place following a 4-2 decision.
Top finishers:
- 1st Place – Peyton Westpfahl of LIBERTY
- 2nd Place – Carter Temple of KEARNEY
- 3rd Place – Chase Kivett of NEOSHO
- 4th Place – Alex Nunez of WILLARD
- 5th Place – Isaac Ward of FORT OSAGE
- 6th Place – TJ Shanks of STALEY
- 7th Place – Cayson Hart of ST THOMAS AQUINAS
- 8th Place – Tegen Anderson of INDIANOLA
215: Lafayette Wildwood sophomore Carter Brown has wrestled in the 190-pound weight class for most of the season. Saturday was the first time he wrestled up a weight class and he was a light for this weight bracket as he weighed in at 198 pounds before the tournament. Even with the jump in weight class, he took care of business and defeated Willard’s Porter Talbot 10-8 to earn his spot atop the podium.
“This was my first time wrestling at 215 because I had been wrestling at 190 all year,” Brown said. “It felt tough because the kids in this bracket felt a lot bigger than normal. I learned to adapt to it and learned the wrestling style of bigger kids. I weighed in at 198, so there as a big weight gap between me and my opponent.”
285: Elmotie Williams came into the Winnetonka Invitational undefeated. After the tournament, he still does not have a loss this season as the two-time defending state champion took on a familiar foe in Liberty senior Trenton Bindel. He won the match 4-0 to earn first.
“My coaches and I hold myself to a high standard and I have to meet that standard,” Williams said. “Anything is possible in a match, so you can’t bank on a win even if you have beat someone before. It’s not an automatic win.”
