The Boys Liberator Wrestling team competed in the Class 3 District 3 tournament February 17-18, finishing behind Carl Junction for 2nd Place. Bolivar filled all 14 weight classes and finished with half of them qualifying for state. The top 4 placed wrestlers advance to the state tournament February 24 & 25.
106 freshmen Madden Ross didn’t qualify but he improved throughout the season and proved that you never give up. Madden beat Aiden Reagan, who had beat him earlier this season and added 4 team points with the pin.
126 state qualifier sophomore Maddux NeSmith made it to the finals by defeating Casen Kirksey of Willard by fall, Max Matthew of Carl Junction 4-2 and in the semifinal match by a sudden victory (overtime) Logan Tibben of Camdenton 5-3. He lost in the finals 5-0 to Devon Deckelman of Washington. Coach Coleman said that Maddux was in control the entire time during his wins. He figured out what worked for him and stayed in position.
132 state qualifier sophomore Chance Hensley placed 4th. He won by fall over Xander Norton of Parkview and George Patton of Willard. In the semifinal round, he lost by pin to Colt Taylor of Webb City. In the consolation semifinal match against Will Kelpe of Washington he won by decision 6-2 which brought him to the 3rd place match against Finnegan McNitt of Camdenton who won by decision over Chance 5-0. According to Coach Coleman, Chance has had an amazing season, he gets done what he needs to get done.
138 state qualifier sophomore Cooper Moore placed 3rd. He won his first match by fall over Aiden Moore of Webb City. He won by tech fall over Tristen Koehmstedt of Washington 17-1 but lost to Blaine Ortiz 4-2 to put him in the consolation semifinals. He won by fall over Brenden Berry of Carl Junction and advanced to the 3rd place match with Noah Rogers of Willard 7-2.
144 freshmen Cale McCurry didn’t qualify for state, but he gave great team effort by adding 7 points to the team score with wins by fall over Brady Mills of Camdenton and Jonathan Willams of Glendale.
150 state qualifier senior Toby Bunn was predicted to place 6th but came out with a 3rd place finish. He won his first match by major decision over Collin Strand of Glendale 12-4 but lost the next one to Tyler Storment of Branson 7-4. Toby had to fight his way back on the back side of the bracket. He won by forfeit over Jace Thomas of Parkview and won by decision 8-4 over Cross Spencer of McDonald County and 6-0 over Joshua Ingram of West Plains. He won the 3rd place match by fall over Aidan Neal of Camdenton. Coach Coleman said that Toby wrestled in a solid position and wrestled what was familiar to him to advance to the next round.
157 District champion senior Riley Beckman won his way to 1st place by pinning Wesley Strand of Glendale and George Fisher of West Plains. He won by decision 10-4 over Dexter Merrell of Carl Junction and Casey Olszowka of Washington 5-3 in the finals.
165 freshmen Owen McCullah scored 7 team points by 2 wins by fall over Huxley Wardlay of McDonald County and Tyler Colon of West Plains and a 8-3 win over Levi Fuller of Marshfield.
175 District Champion senior Trey Brewer won by fall over his first 2 matches, Payton Hinton of Camdenton and Joshua McDermott of Carl Junction. He won by tech fall over Tyce Jones of Marshfield and pinned Jase Motlagh of Willard in 44 seconds in the final match.
190 District Champion senior Blake Goodman made his way to the finals by pinning all his opponents: Skyler Coffman of Rolla, Traven St. Clair of Union, Alejandro Berumen of Branson and Chance Benford of Carl Junction. Coach Coleman said that all 3 champions, Trey, Riley and Blake were business-like, they came to take care of things and get the job done.
285 senior Cael McCullah scored 3 team points with a win by fall over Austin Croy of Marshfield
The Liberators will leave Bolivar on Thursday for their journey to the State Championship tournament in Columbia. Class 3 will start early Friday morning with weigh-ins at 7am, the grand march at 8am followed immediately with wrestling. They will complete the first round and quarter final matches along with the first and second round wrestle backs. On Saturday, Class 3 will begin again with weigh-ins at 7am with a one-pound allowance and the competition to continue at 8am with the semifinals, plus third and fourth round wrestle backs. Around 2:30pm the third and fifth place matches will begin and the State Finalist will compete for the state title starting at 5:15pm with team trophy presentations at 8:30pm.