It had been two months since a lot of high school boys’ wrestlers in Missouri competed.
That’s because the last big wrestling tournament took place in mid-July at U.S. Marine Corps Junior & 16U National Tournament in Fargo, N.D.
For a lot of the wrestlers competing in Saturday’s Super Early 32 Tournament Saturday at Belton High School, it was about knocking off the mat rust and building up endurance. The tournament featured wrestlers from around the Midwest and Rocky Mountain areas including Iowa, Colorado, Illinois, Kansas and Texas.
Wrestler Interviews:
- Kerrion LeFlore, Hazelwood East
- Waylon Burress, Christian Brothers College
- Kaison Schreier, Fort Osage
- Laden McDowell, Park Hill South
- Cole Sackett, St. Michael The Archangel
Below MissouriWrestling.com breaks down the top finisher in the state in each weight class:
106: Christian Brothers College’s Waylon Burress had a tough match in the semifinal but defeated Noah Cooper of Nebraska 6-3 before advancing to the finals and toppling Colton Wyller of Illinois 7-0 to win his bracket.
“I was a little sloppy in the first match but got better from there,” Burress said. “I thought I could get easy shots in and I rode (Wylier) out.”
113: Fort Osage junior Kaison Schreier has built a reputation for grinding out low-scoring wins against quality opponents. He did just that in the finals of his bracket Aidan McClure of Illinois. Schreier had a three-point takedown in the first period and hung on for a 3-0 victory and a first-place finish.
“I didn’t wrestle the best and I could finish my shots better,” Schreier said. “I could work better from bottom, too.”
120: Jackson’s Graidy Rice made it to the finals after edging Tyler Clarke of Illinois 3-2 in the semifinals, but he didn’t get the best of Bradley Lazzerini of Oklahoma in the finals as he fell 1-0.
126: Liberty senior Devon Harrison dismantled his competition and earned a convincing win in the finals over Demetrios Carrera of Illinois 10-1.
138: Republic’s Keaton Overcast won a 5-5 tiebreaker over Grain Valley junior Zac Bleess in the semifinals but ran into a buzzsaw in Kansas’ Brock Johnson in the championship as he lost 15-0 and took second place.
144: Park Hill South’s Landen McDowell won a high scoring affair in the semifinals as he got past Arkansas’ Alex Lopez 12-8 in the semifinals, but he got caught in the finals as Illinois’ Ashton Hobson pinned McDowell, who took second.
“I kind of did worse throughout the tournament,” McDowell said. “At the beginning I felt good but at the end I didn’t feel good. I wasn’t focused on my hip was hurting a little bit.”
150: Cole Sackett of St. Michael The Archangel Catholic High School fell in overtime to Nebraska’s Robert Nelson, but bounced back to win his final two matches in the consolation bracket as he took down Wyatt Goossens in the third-place bout 6-4.
“I wrestled all right, but I could have done better,” Sackett said. “I feel like I defended my legs pretty well. No one could get to my legs.”
165: Christian Brothers College’s Christian Fanetti lost his first-round bout with Ender Rider of Kansas, 15-0 but came back to win four matches in the consolation bracket, including a 6-5 victory in the third-place bout against Jeremiah Drake of Ballwin.
175: Staley senior Merrick Murray had little trouble winning his bracket as he pinned everyone he faced, including Maddox Jones of Dardenne Prairie in the championship bout in just 51 seconds.
190: Neosho’s Chase Kivett defeated Ellisville’s Chase Brown 13-4 in the semifinals and won the championship via medical forfeit as Liberty’s Trey Craig took second place.
215: Hazelwood East’s Kerrion LaFlore took third place after he finished 2-2 in his round-robin bracket.
