Michael Smith
The St. Pius X wrestling team has a tough challenge ahead of it.
The No. 1-ranked team in Class 1 in the MissouriWrestling.com poll hosted four other teams to compete in the Warrior Duals Saturday at home.
It was a round-robin style tournament that featured Bentonville (Ark.), Mexico, Fort Dodge (Iowa) and Marlow (Okla.).
The Warriors were without two of their starters – Dylan Hall and Rylan Kuhn – both of whom are ranked in the top three of their individual weight classes. Despite being short handed, St. Pius still managed to take second place by going 3-1 in the tournament.
Interviews:
- St. Pius X’s Marco Dalakishvili (150)
- St. Pius X’s Dillan Chisam (132)
- St. Pius X’s Patrick Hickey (106/113)
- St. Pius X’s Jordan Bell (106/113)
“I think if we had those two guys, we would come out on top in this tournament,” St. Pius junior Dillan Chism said. “We had a really good tournament and had some good competition.”
The Warriors fell to first-place Marlow 38-33, but defeated Bentonville 45-25, Mexico 68-6 and Fort Dodge 39-36. Mexico finished in fifth after going 4-0. Marlow, the No. 2-ranked team in Class 3 in Oklahoma, finished in first place with a 4-0 record.
Perhaps the most surprising performance from the Warriors came from Patrick Hickey (106), who was bumped up from the junior varsity team due to an injury to Hall. He was one of four St. Pius wrestlers to finish 4-0.
He had a win by forfeit, a victory by pin, he won a back-and-forth affair with Trace Rial of Fort Dodge and edged Marlow’s Daxton Halliburton, ranked No. 8 at 113, 8-6….
