Michael Smith
Chillicothe will have plenty of momentum going into the Class 2 District 4 Tournament on Dec. 17.
In their final duals of the season, the Hornets dominated. They toppled St. Joseph Benton 51-30 and defeated Oak Grove 60-24 Tuesday at Oak Grove High School.
Interviews:
- Chillicothe’s Cayden Larson (175)
- Chillicothe’s Brody Cairns (190)
- Chillicothe’s Bo Smith (285)
- Chillicothe’s James Hail (113)
- Oak Grove’s Jordan Hall (157)
- St. Joseph Benton’s Jason Blue (215)
- St. Joseph Benton’s Kain Rose (132)
- Oak Grove’s Kale Martin (106)
Benton won the other dual against Oak Grove 47-29.
The Hornets have three wrestlers ranked in the top six of their weight classes according to MissouriWrestling.com and all of them ended up finishing the day unbeaten.
Senior Cayden Larson (175), ranked N0. 6 pinned Oak Grove’s Daniel Seymour in 1:18 after transitioning from a cradle to a headlock and he had a quick takedown and cradled Benton’s Aiden Orellanes in 35 seconds to win by fall.
“I got to my sweeps and my cradles, so I am feeling pretty good,” Larson said. “I went to my cradle and switched to a butcher and kind of fell into a headlock (against Seymour).”
No. 6-ranked Brody Cairns (190), a senior, faced some adversity in his match against Oak Grove’s Elliott Atwell. He trailed 3-0 against Atwell and nearly got pinned, but he managed to get a reversal and get a pin of his own in the second period. He also pinned Benton’s Diego Barron in 1:54.
“The last one was a little rough, I was on my back,” Cairns said, “but I was able to roll through and got the pin. In the first match, I wrestled tough and got the pin.”
Junior Bo Smith (285), ranked No. 5, joined Cairns and Larson as wrestlers on the team to get two pins. He won by fall against Benton’s David Peters in 3:19 and he made quick work of Oak Grove’s Grant McGinnis, winning by fall in just 29 seconds.
“Personally, I just need to work more on my offense than just going to underhooks,” Smith said. “I could have dropped a little lower in my stance, I was just being stubborn. I didn’t wrestle my first match like I normally do.
“I did run the butcher really well.”
Other Hornets to finish the day 2-0 were James Hail (113), Carter Shipers (120), Luke Nickell (126) and Isaiah Myers (138)….
