GroWrestling hosted its final freestyle tournament of the season as it hosted the Ultimate Freestyle Tournament last Saturday at Blue Springs High School.
Watch interviews from:
- Noah Gonzalez, St. Pius X
- Luke Hayden, Columbia Hickman
- Wyatt Fischer, Columbia Rock Bridge
- Tyler Abell, Columbia Rock Bridge
- Blaine Turpin, Kearney
- Dru Thomas, Liberty North
- Lucas Barry, St. Michael The Archangel
- Stephen Thomas, North Kansas City
- Madisynn Crawford, Kirksville
- Paige Strauch, North Kansas City
- Jordan Baar, Belton
- Killian Evans, Blue Springs South
- Lillian Goetz, Excelsior Springs
- McKenzy Mason, Marshall
- Blaine Wallace, Odessa
Some wrestlers were in the thick of things and had competed in freestyle tournaments since the beginning of the month. Others were wrestling their first freestyle tournament of the year and others were even competing in the first freestyle event of their careers.
It was a tournament that mostly featured wrestlers from Missouri and Kansas, but a few came in from other states in the Midwest.
This tournament was a warmup for some wrestlers who are competing in the Freestyle State Tournament this weekend in Springfield, and there were some who built momentum going in by winning their respective brackets.
Below is a breakdown of the winners for each high-school aged wrestler in the cadet boys, junior boys and high school girls’ divisions:
Cadet Boys
83-99: Republic’s Coy Crihfield defeated Lee’s Summit’s Colton Larimer twice – once by fall and by a 14-2 tech fall to take first place.
111-114: Park Hill’s Caden Brayfield went 3-0 in his round-robin bracket as he had three tech fall victories to win his bracket.
112-118: Platte County’s Jaxon Shute won two matches by tech fall and beat Tonganoxie’s Brodie Starcher 8-3 to finish 3-0 and take his bracket.
113-120: Odessa’s Liam Shippy took second place as he went t-0 with his one loss coming by a 10-0 loss to Tonganoxie’s Tyler Chrisp.
117-123: Carl Junction’s Caden Groom went 2-1 with a 16-13 win over Park Hill’s Kennan Beatty and a 10-0 tech fall victory over Tonganozie’s Beau Underwood. His lone loss came during a 10-10 tie with Platte County’s Ryan Barmann that he lost by criteria. Even then, he won the tiebreaker to take first place.
121-126: Raytown’s Atilano Madrid took second place as he went 2-1. His one loss came against Tonganoxie’s Landen Ruff in a 15-4 defeat.
124-131: Blue Springs’ Aidan Bowman finished in second place after going 2-1. His one loss came against Shawnee’s Jacob Reitz of Shawnee, Kan.
125-131: Odessa’s Blaine Wallace wrestled for the first time since February. And even after the long layoff, he still dominated. He went 3-0 and he won all his matches 11-0 to earn first place.
“It’s my first tournament back since state,” Wallace said. “I am trying to stay in the room and stay active, just keep grinding.”
127-135: Kansas City’s Rylee Dupignac took second place after going 2-1. He lost his final match against Ethan Leon of Shawnee 13-3.
128-136: Defending high school state champion Jet Brown of Odessa ran roughshod over his competition as he won all of his matches by tech fall for a first-place finish.
129-138: Columbia Rock Bridge freshman Wyatt Fischer used leg laces to score a lot of his points. That move helped him earn two tech fall victories and one pin in 42 seconds as he cruised to a first-place finish….
