The Grain Valley wrestling team may be one to watch for in the 2022-23 season.
In Saturday’s Grain Valley Invitational, the Eagles showed why as they dominated the competition and took first place with 210 points. Excelsior Springs was second with 167 points, St. Michael The Archangel Catholic was third with 154 and Van Horn was fourth with 128.
Champion Interviews:
- Lee’s Summit West’s Kallen Koelzer (106)
- Grain Valley’s Zach Bleess (113)
- Grain Valley’s Gavin Parks (120)
- Grain Valley’s Brock Smith (126)
- St. Michael’s Lucas Barry (132)
- Fort Osage’s Rylan Mansfield (138)
- Fort Osage’s Colby Gray (144)
- St. Michael’s Lucas Estes (150)
- Van Horn’s Darrius Paige (157)
- Grain Valley’s Tanner Barker (165)
- Excelsior Springs’ Hunter Scoma (175)
- St. Michael’s Brodie Purtle (190)
- Van Horn’s CJ Nelson (215)
- St. Michael’s Sampson Stillwell (285)
Zach Bleess (113), Gavin Parks (120), Brock Smith (126) and Tanner Barker (165) all took first place for Grain Valley. Colston Parks (second, 106), Ethan Jones (third, 132), Tyler Groves (third, 144), Justin Deweese (second, 157), Evan Reich (third, 175) and Collin Burd (second, 190) all finished in the top three of their respective weight classes for the Eagles.
Bleess is an up and coming freshman who could make some noise during the 2022-23 season. On Saturday, he went 5-0 as he got past Fort Osage’s Antonio Martinez in the semifinals following a 7-3 decision and edged Excelsior Springs’ Cooper Collins 3-2 in the championship match after scoring the winning point thanks to a full nelson penalty on Collins.
“I think I wrestled well today. There are a couple of minor adjustments that I could make,” Blees said. “On bottom, I have to fight to my feet. But overall, I did pretty good.”
Gavin Parks is another Eagle who could be poised to have a breakout year. He was someone who could have qualified for the state tournament last season but he got a concussion three days before districts, which ended his season in 2021-22.