LEDGER SPORTS ROUNDUP 02/02/2023: Centralia, Mexico grapple in Centralia tri meet

By Jeremy Jacob, Sports Editor
Posted 2/2/23

Wrestling

Mexico looking at positives amongst injuries at Centralia tri meet

For the Mexico boys and girls wrestlers, the season has taken a toll.

Mexico Centralia Meet Photos

Each team …

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LEDGER SPORTS ROUNDUP 02/02/2023: Centralia, Mexico grapple in Centralia tri meet

Posted

Wrestling

Mexico looking at positives amongst injuries at Centralia tri meet

For the Mexico boys and girls wrestlers, the season has taken a toll.

Mexico Centralia Meet Photos

Each team is dealing with injuries with districts coming ever so closer on Jan. 17-18. At a tri meet Thursday in Centralia, the boys lost to Class 1 No. 1 ranked Centralia 63-9 and defeated Eldon 35-21 while the girls lost 24-18 to Eldon and defeated Centralia by tiebreaker at 24.

Boys head coach Gayle Adams said the team was without its typical wrestlers at the weight classes of 113, 126, 150, 157 and 175. He said there is no reason to worry as they all should be ready by districts. Districts are a big reason why some Bulldogs didn’t wrestle on Thursday.

“There’s no reason to risk it right now. It’s just some injuries,” Adams said. “We want to make sure our kids are healthy for their (state) run. We don’t want to work all season and then ruin it a few days before the district tournament.

“We got to look at small battles. Dalton Arndt had a nice big win — gutted out a nice win, wrestled six minutes. Grant (Van Horn) wrestled the No. 1 kid in the state tonight and lost 7-5. There’s little things that we got to get our offense going.”

Girls head coach Tony Senor said Bowen along with the rest of the team has been dealing with injuries. Alexus Johns was unavailable Thursday due to an injury but will be ready by districts on Jan. 10-11 at North Point in Wentzville.

“We have been battling some injuries and skin issues on the team,” Senor said. “Abby was fully cleared (Thursday) to wrestle and this was the first time she wrestled this week. She wrestled tough considering that.”

Centralia seniors’ energy lead Panthers to wins on Senior Night

Thursday was the last night Centralia’s wrestling seniors stepped on their home mat and grappled under the spotlight. 

Centralia Senior Night Photos

They performed well as the Panthers defeated Mexico 63-9 and Eldon 70-6 while the Lady Panthers lost 24-0 to Eldon and lost to Mexico via a tiebreaker after being knotted at 24. 

Of the school’s 12 seniors, six won at least one match as the teams start focusing on the district meets — girls on Jan. 10-11 at North Point in Wentzville and the boys Jan. 17-18 at Lafayette County in Higginsville. 

Centralia wrestling head coach Luke Grameke said the boys have been great leaders in the locker room and in the gym, bringing infectious energy to the younger kids. Brayden Dubes, Ethan Adams, Kyden Wilkerson each picked up two wins while Jesse Shannon, Brayden Shelton and Dominick Lansche each won one match and had an open.

“We were really excited about this one because this is the last time this group is going to be able to wrestle at home,” Grameke said. “It’s not very often where the lower bleachers are full and the top bleachers are full so it was nice to have that kind of support from our community as well.”

As for the girls, Grameke said the Lady Panthers are great in “spurts” are looking to put everything together to be at their best at districts. They had seniors Gretchen Marriott and Besan Juma honored, which Gramke said are different cases when it comes to wrestling experience this season but are similar in how they lead.

“Gretchen is a three-year starter for us and Besan just moved here from St. Louis this year so she’s a first-year wrestler,” Grameke said. “Both are very energetic, very positive and do a good job of helping lead the younger girls.”

Boys basketball

Van-Far 62 Mark Twain 49 in Center. Nikos Connaway had 29 points and Cody Smith had 16 points.

Girls basketball

Van-Far 54 Mark Twain 42 in Center

Look for the full stories in the Wednesday, February 8, 2023, edition of the Mexico Ledger or on the website (if space is too limited).


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