Cody Thorn
BELTON, Mo. — Despite combining for half of the champions, the Belton and Staley wrestling teams tied for third overall in the Greater Kansas City Suburban Conference Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 14 at Belton High School.
Liberty North, which had two champions, finished with 172 ½ points, ahead of runner-up Lee’s Summit, which had 136 points and one champion. Ray-Pec finished three points behind Staley and Belton and took fifth.
Watch post-match interviews:
The event didn’t feature as many teams as originally scheduled as some school districts didn’t attend the event due to the snow that fell Friday night into Saturday morning. Missing were Blue Springs, Blue Springs South, St. Joseph Central, Francis Howell Central, Grain Valley, Kearney, North Kansas City, Oak Park, Park Hill, Park Hill South, Raytown, Raytown South and Winnetonka.
Belton
Lane Cross, Brady Littleton, Luca Riley and Zach Attebury secured championships for the host Pirates.
Attebury (195 pounds) had only two matches, winning by a combined score of 11-1, to wrap up the title. Attebury (23-3) secured a 7-0 win against Lee’s Summit West’s Nate Moore in the finals. Cross (126) rallied from a second-period deficit to beat Staley’s Jacob Windsor, a fifth-place finisher in Class 4, by a pin in 4:23. Windsor suffered a knee injury on the pin and had to be helped off the mat.
Brady Littleton (138) won opened with two pins before getting a 6-2 decision over Liberty North’s Joseph Knight in the final.
“I never won here before so it is a pretty big deal,” said Littleton, who placed fifth last year in Class 3 and is 14-4 this season. “I wrestled hard and did my thing. It felt good. That kid (Knight) is definitely stronger than me. I beat him speed-wise and technically.”
Riley also secured a head-to-head win against Liberty North by getting an overtime win over Trevor Thorn, 6-1. Thorn got an escape to open the second and Riley got his to open the third. Riley (27-0) got a takedown and near fall late in overtime to win.
“It was tough,” Riley said of the win. “He was strong, a long and lengthy dude. I’m good with my underhook and I got to it eventually.”
Staley
Parker Leverknight picked up the first title for the Falcons, winning at 106 pounds. He pinned both of his foes, Lee’s Summit West’s Kallen Koelzer in the semifinals in 20 seconds and William Chrisman’s Riley Ragan in the title match in 1:45.
“I was trying to get the bar and I don’t know why it wasn’t wasn’t working, it usually does,” Leverknight, now 12-8, said of his win. “I got out of position and I just saw a head so I grabbed it and pinned him.”
David Gleason (132) and Anderson Lipp (145) followed with titles as well.
Gleason (14-8) went 3-0 and dominated his finals matchup, 15-2, against Lee’s Summit North’s Ryan McNeel (23-5).
To reach the finals, he got a 6-4 win in overtime against Fort Osage’s Dylan Reed, who was 20-4.
“It was tough, I had seniors in my lineup that were bigger and stronger kids and I barely pulled through in the semifinal match,” Gleason said. “It was a tough road.”
Lipp also posted a 3-0 mark, getting a 12-4 major decision over Fort Osage’s Nathan Noda in the semifinals and then got a medical forfeit win against Liberty North’s Dylan Alft in the finals – though Alft was injured in his semifinal match.
Lipp improved to 18-6 with the victories.
Liberty North, et al
Liberty North, Ray-Pec and Fort Osage had two champions each, while Lee’s Summit had one to account for the final seven winners.
For Liberty North, Michael Domino continued his solid season with three wins to improve to 19-1 on the year. A fourth-place finisher last year, Domino got two pins and beat Lee’s Summit North’s Charlie Dykes in the finals, 5-1.
“It is pretty nice, I won it last year, but the real goal is to is face bigger opponents,” Domino said. “I lost to Hunter Taylor (Liberty) by 10. He’s a really good guy, ranked No. 19 in the nation. I bounced back and came here and it is almost like I had to prove to myself I’m still up there with him. I hate losing more than I like winning.”
Nathan Sola (21-1) picked up a 3-1 win over Lee’s Summit West’s Ruben Miller thanks to a takedown with 8 seconds to go in the final period of the 170-pound finals. Sola trailed 1-0 entering the final two minutes.
Ray-Pec’s Gavin Birkett and Kanen Huff won back-to-back championships. Birkett beat Fort Osage’s John Newton 10-6 in the 152-pound finals and Huff (29-0) secured a 5-1 win over Lee’s Summit’s Jackson Jones.
Huff, who had wins by pins in 22 and 50 seconds in his first two matches, held a slim 2-0 lead going into the third period.
“It was the first match that I made it through three periods this year, it is good to push my lungs and get on with this wrestling season,” Huff said. “I felt comfortable going into the third, when he let me because I was confident I could take him down again.”
Fort Osage won back-to-back titles as well, wrapping up the day by taking first at 220 and 285.
Gavin Gallman (220) dominated his finals with a 16-5 major decision against Lee’s Summit North’s Hank Natali. Stevie Gabb (285) pinned his way to the crown – taking down Lee’s Summit North’s Trevor Taylor – in the finals to improve to 26-3 on the year.
“Definitely a good match; every time I have wrestled it has been a long, lengthy match or upper-body battle,” Gabb said. “It has helped me improve as a wrestler and I’m hopeful to wrestle him later on in the season.”
Lee’s Summit’s Cooper Nally went 2-0 to win the 120-pound title. He secured a 4-0 win over Liberty North’s James Lovelady in the finals.
“He was pretty good on his feet and I worked my stuff and made sure I got my legs back on defense and it ended up working out for me,” said Nally, who improved to 27-7 on the season.
