The Trenton Bulldogs sent five wrestlers to the Class 1 state tournament on Wednesday, hosted by Cable-Dahmer Arena in Independence. Although THS failed to have a wrestler reach the championship round, the Bulldogs had a good day, with a pair of third-place wins and a fifth-place medal adding up to 64 points, good for 7th place in the state. Mid-Buchanan, with a pair of individual state champions, dominated the tournament, winning the state title with 181 points, followed by Centralia’s 144 and Brookfield at 112. Maysville, boasting the heavyweight champion in Class 1, finish 10th with 56 points.
Highlights for THS on the day were a third-place match pin for Caleb Johnson against Tyler May of Diamond at the 4:21 mark at 220 pounds. The match was a successful rebound for Johnson from a heartbreaking overtime loss to Brookfield’s Trace Alexander in the semifinals, 3-1. In Johnson’s opening match, he pinned Lamar Henderson of West Platte, then won by pin (2:18) over Sam Lynn of Centralia in the quarterfinal round.
Trenton’s other third place finish came from Brice Gibler at 132 pounds, as the only senior on the mats for THS defeated Brendan Barton of Maysville in the third place duel by 6-3 decision. Gibler’s hopes of a championship night opportunity were dashed in the semifinals by Gavynn Carpenter of Hallsville by third period pin. Gibler’s first match of the day, in the quarterfinal round, saw a pin of Justice Martin of Tolton Catholic.
The bracket itself gave Trenton 113 pounder Hunter McAtee a difficult time, as an upset loss in the sectionals for #1 ranked Brayden Dubes of Centralia pushed the Panther grapplers into a quarterfinal with the highly-ranked McAtee, with Dubes controlling the match for all six minutes, shutting out McAtee 4-0. However, McAtee rebounded strongly with a 1:24 pin of Gavin Shoush of Albany in the second-round of wrestlebacks, with two more triumphs, a 12-1 win over Parker Crane of Hallsville and the pin of Caleb Wilson of Versailles, giving McAtee the fifth place medal.
Trenton’s two other state qualifiers had multiple wins, as both Coleman Griffin at 152 pounds and Sam Gibson at 182 pounds had two wins and two losses, both bounced from the tournament with losses in the third round of wrestlebacks. For Griffin, the day started with a pin at 1:14 in the first round against Jakob Wilcox of New Madrid County Central, followed by a loss by pin at 33 seconds into a quarterfinal with eventual state champion Conner Johnston of Knob Noster. In the second-round of wrestlebacks, Griffin pinned Jack Davenport of Lafayette County, before losing in sudden-death overtime to Ky Sizemore of Lawson.
Gibson, in the first round, bounced Chris Corley of Tipton by pin at 2:24. A 15-4 major decision defeat at the hand of Christopher Bryant of Missouri Military Academy followed in the quarterfinals, with a pin of Josh Selby of North Callaway at 1:26 into a 2nd-round wrestleback, and a 6-2 loss to Dawson Baker of Brookfield in the third round, one win shy of a spot in the 5th place match.
Here is the post tournament interview with Sports Director Tom Johnson and head coach Charlie Bacon:
Area state champions and runner-up finishes included Donavan Parn of Brookfield at 138 pounds, Johnston of Knob Noster, who beat Rodell Sperry of Gallatin the final at 152 pounds 5-0, Brant Whitaker of Tolton Catholic, a winner over Hunter Nelson of Marceline in the final at 170, Wade Stanton of Mid-Buchanan, with a win over Noah Frank of Carrollton at 182, Creed Webster of Mid-Buchanan at 195 pounds, Jonah Frank of Carrollton (over Trace Alexander of Brookfield) at 220, and Cole Gripka of Maysville at heavyweight.
The girls state tournament was held on Tuesday at Cable-Dahmer Arena, with highlights including Aiva Mayer of Carrollton finishing 4th at 112 pounds, Payton Reese of Marceline taking third at 117 pounds, and Zoey Chrisman of Brookfield, fifth place at 174. Lebanon won the girls team title with 101 points, followed by Lafayette Wildwood second at 81.
