North Callaway repeated as tournament champions at the Ray Stockdale Invitational in Knob Noster after finishing with 163 points to edge Knob Noster by one point and beat out 15 other teams.

The Thunderbirds were victorious in the lighter weights, earning first-place finishes from Tristan Young at 106 pounds, Lane Kimbley at 132 pounds, and Cashton Holloway at 138 pounds. Young pinned both of his opponents, Kimbley won by pinfall in all three of his matches, and Holloway pinned California’s Tristan Balsley in the fifth minute of the first-place match.

Casper Safranski and Caleb Rohrbach were the runner-up of the 190- and 215-pound weight classes, respectively. Safranski won by pin and a 3-1 decision before losing by major decision for first place, and Rohrbach pinned his first two opponents before being pinned by his final opponent.

Eli Henry and Carson Safranski were each third in the 150- and 157-pound weight classes, respectively. Henry had two pinfall victories and a 3-1 decision loss to Maysville’s Kaleb Jestes. Safranski defeated Warsaw’s Drake Murrell by a 3-2 decision but split his final two matches with pinfall results in each of them.

Rounding out the team’s medalists were John Higgins and AJ Siegel with fourth-place finishes in the 126 and 144 classes. Higgins and Siegel each went 1-2, winning by pinfall.

Mexico boys

At the Steve Leslie Invitational in Pleasant Hill, the Mexico boys finished fifth out of 16 schools with 302.5 points, behind Kirksville’s 304 points and winner Smithville’s 400.

Mexico had three runner-ups in their respective weight classes including Grant Van Horn placing second in the 138-pound weight class with four pinfalls prior to losing by a 7-3 decision in the first-place match to Kirksville’s Lane Patterson.

Gavin Martin was the runner-up in the 132 class after scoring three pins, a 9-5 decision victory against Southern Boone’s Grant Leininger and losing Kirksville’s Ben Amerman by pinfall. Watson Azdell placed second in the 126 class following two pins, a 3-1 decision win over Smithville’s Trent Hallett and was pinned by Harrisonville’s Chris Sullivan.

Kayle Martin and Emille Scanavino each finished sixth in the 144- and 285-pound weight classes.

Mexico girls

The Mexico girls finished 1-4 on the day in the Marshfield Duals Tournament. The Lady Bulldogs lost 52-18 to Marshfield, 42-30 to Sullivan, 36-30 to West Plains, and lost by criteria to Mountain Home after tying at 30 points. Mexico won by criteria against Branson after that dual ended in a tie at 30 points.

Kaylynn Pehle lost her first match in the 115-pound weight class against Marshfield but was perfect the rest of the day, scoring three pinfall victories. Alizabeth Welch was undefeated in the 105 class, pinning two opponents during the day, and Taylor Parker won four matches and pinned two in the 190 class. In the 130 class, Abby Bowen had a 5-2 decision victory against Marshfield and pinned her Branson opponent.

Centralia boys

In the Marceline Tiger Mat Classic, the Centralia boys collected five first-place varsity finishes and two junior varsity winners. Brayden Dubes finished first in the 126-pound weight class and earned the Most Outstanding Male Wrestler title at the event, and Seth Hasekamp wrestled to top honors in the 285 class and clinched his 100th career win in the process. Weston Ward was first in the 120 class, Rex Bryson won the 144 class and Brayden Shelton was first in the 165 class.

Blake Bodine and Payton Mabrey each took first place for the junior varsity squad in the 106B and 285B classes, respectively.

Earning second place was Bryson Dubes at 106, Zane Dubes at 132, Jesse Shannon at 138 and Wyatt Adkisson at 150. Third-place finishers were Mason Adkisson at 175 and Ian Tuggle at 190.

Centralia girls

At the Marceline Tiger Mat Classic, the Centralia girls had one first-place finisher in nationally ranked Ava Ward. In the 115-pound weight class, Ward won by pinfall in all four of her matches, leading her to be named the Most Outstanding Female Wrestler at the tournament.

Madie Shelton was the runner-up in the 120 class after pinning three opponents and being pinned once. Gretchen Marriott finished 3-1 on the day and a fifth-place finish in the 155 class following three pinfall victories and one pinfall loss.

Missouri Military Academy

Missouri Military Academy was the sixth-best out of 22 teams at Affton’s Esmond Ford Invitational, tying Hazelwood West with 185 points. Central (New Madrid County) won with 343 points.

MMA was led by three runner-up finishes from Sam Stevens in the 126-pound weight class, Trae Griffiths in the 144 class, and Gabe Canonico in the 157 class. Stevens had two quick pinfall wins before losing quickly by pinfall, Griffiths pinned three opponents before the second minute prior to losing by an 8-5 decision to Central’s Devin Rowe in the first-place match, and Canonico’s two of three pinfall victories were in seconds before he was pinned in seconds for first place.

Bryson Powell finished third in the 150 class following three pinfall wins, a major decision in his favor and a pinfall loss.

North Callaway sweeps first meet of season in Versailles quad

So far so good for several of North Callaway’s returning state-qualifying wrestlers.

The Thunderbirds swept all three duals in their first meet of the season Thursday at the Versailles quad meet. They defeated Boonville 54-24, Buffalo 72-18 and Versailles 41-33.

After each qualified for the state meet last season, Lane Kimbley, Cashton Holloway, Eli Henry and Carson Safranski each began their seasons undefeated. Henry and Safranski each scored three pinfalls in the 150- and 157-pound weight classes, Kimbley had a pinfall and a 19-2 technical fall victory against his Versailles opponent in the 132 class, and Holloway had two pins in the 138 class.

Casper Safranski was also undefeated on the night after two pins and winning a 6-5 decision against Versailles’ William Dobbins.

MMA takes two duals of three in Washington, sweeps Wright City quad

Missouri Military Academy wrestling was able to get two early wins in Washington before dominating in Wright City.

The Colonels competed in a duals meet Wednesday at St. Francis Borgia, losing to Father Tolton 71-6 but defeating Maplewood-Richmond Heights 66-17 and the host Knights 67-12. They then defeated Wright City 60-17, South Callaway 48-27 and Gateway Science Academy Charter 66-12 in a Thursday quad in Wright City

In Washington, Gabe Canonico, Michael Pfeifer, Matthew Pfeifer, Jancarlo Barajas, Bryson Powell, Trae Griffiths, Blake Krull, Adam Swenson, Lucas Sydlewski and Samuel Stevens were among the cadets who wrestled to wins.
Powell scored a pinfall victory in the 150-pound weight class and the only points for MMA in the dual against Father Tolton.

Mathew Pfeifer, Michael Pfeifer and Canonico won each of their matches by pinfall against their Maplewood-Richmond Heights opponents in the 106-, 138- and 157-pound weight classes, respectively.

Winning by pinfall against St. Francis Borgia were Griffiths (144), Canonico, Krull (165), Swenson (175), Sydlewski (120) and Stevens (126). Michael Pfeifer won by a 7-2 decision, and Powell won by an 11-3 major decision.

In Wright City, seven cadets had undefeated 3-0 nights including Mathew Pfeifer, Caleb Xamis at 113, Sydlewski, Dallas Grantz at 120, Stevens, Swenson and Ben Huynh at 285. Pfeifer, Stevens, Swenson and Huynh each picked up two pins while Canonico also did outside of his one loss.