Blue Springs wrestling coach Mike Hagerty feels good about his team entering this weekend’s district tournament.
Despite taking just eight wrestlers to Saturday’s Panther Classic at Oak Grove, the Wildcats took second to nationally ranked Park Hill against a astrong field.
Darick Lapaglia (119 pounds), Keenan Hagerty (135), Josh Howk (140), Donnie Horner (215) and Billy Everett (285) all won individual titles as Blue Springs totaled 213.5 points to finish second to Park Hill’s 260.5.
Oak Grove finished third, just 2.5 points behind the Wildcats at 211. Fort Osage finished sixth behind Jackson and Wentzville Timberland.
“Even though we only took eight wrestlers to the tournament, it may very well have been our best performance to date,” Hagerty said. “We put seven of the eight in the finals and five won championships. Overall we went 33-5 in the matches we wrestled.”
And that gives Hagerty optimism heading to the Class 4 District 3 tournament at Jefferson City starting Friday.
“Most importantly we came through the tournament relatively injury free,” Hagerty said. “By holding several of our other guys out of the lineup, we should be healthy heading into the districts this Friday and Saturday. We have struggled all year with injuries and sickness, and if all goes well this week, we should be well prepared to compete in a very tough district at Jeff City.”
Lapaglia and Horner provided highlights. Lapaglia defeated defending state champion Skyler Wood of Park Hill 7-2 in the 119-pound championship. Horner topped No. 1-ranked Hayden Bock of Park Hill in the 215-pound championship match.
Greg Hegarty (125) and Lewis Foutz (189) also made it to the finals but suffered their only losses there to finish second. Cullen Buford (130) was sixth.
Oak Grove sent three to the finals against mostly larger schools, with Anthony Barker (103) earning the Panthers’ only title. Mitchell Bradley (112) and Chase Wrisinger (152) finished second after falling in the finals.
“Overall we wrestled good,” Oak Grove coach Bobbe Lowe said. “The first part of the day we struggled with some matches and didn’t come out to compete. I think as the day went on, the kids picked up the tempo and matches went more our way. The tournament is a great prep for the district and state tournaments coming up.
“I think the kids seemed excited to wrestle this weekend and won some matches that were tough battles. Now we just need to sharpen the blade and work on some technical things to get ready for this weekend (Class 2 District 4 Tournament at Excelsior Springs).”
Zach Bailey (130) led the way for Fort Osage, taking second as the only Indian to make the finals. Spencer Gearhart (152) and Dillon Taff (215) each finished third, while Tyler Naudet (160) and Ian Bailey (171) finished fourth.
The Indians travel to Carthage for the Class 3 District 4 Tournament on Friday.
LEE’S SUMMIT WEST CLASH OF THE TITANS: William Chrisman coach Mick Cronk was excited about his team’s performance at Lee’s Summit West’s Clash of the Titans.
Alex Keith went 5-0 to claim the 103-pound title, while Blane Peck (125), Tanner Deeds (145) and Ray Williams (189) each took second at 4-1. No team scores were kept.
Keith registered four pins and a major decision while improving to 35-6 this season.
“Overall, I thought that we had a great weekend,” Cronk said. “Alex is wrestling really well. Blane Peck wrestled well in one of the toughest brackets in the tournament. Tanner Deeds is starting to peak just at the right time. He beat a very tough kid from Raytown (Dakota Stanart) to get to the finals.”
Cole Ketchum (130), Arthur Meyer (135) and Cody Olson (215) all took third and Brandon Wales (112) was fourth for the Bears.
Johnny Thomas led Raytown by winning the 215-pound title. Andre Norles (119), Andrew Best (152) and Jacob Kirk (189) took third, while Stanart (145), Robby Walker (130) and Dwayne West (171) finished fourth for the Blue Jays.
Heavyweight Evan Boehm and Matt Lemanowicz (130) won titles for the host Titans.
ALBANY TOURNAMENT: St. Mary’s went 3-2 in the Albany duals format to finish fifth.
Brian Erstad (125) and David Florido (171) led the way for St. Mary’s. Florido went 5-0 to improve to 40-4, the first 40-match winner in St. Mary’s history, according to coach Jason Fenstermaker.
“The team finished pretty well, but it seems we were not where we needed to be going into districts,” Fenstermaker said. “We lost some matches that we should have won. We had a couple of guys, Brian Erstad and David Florido, wrestle well. Brian beat a kid from Plattsburg who beat him earlier in the year.
“We are taking 13 wrestlers to the (Class 1 District 3) tournament (at Richmond), and some of them are having high hopes of making it to state, and having a good showing as a team. We need to have a great week of practice and and just fine-tune as much as we can.”
St. Mary’s defeated Van Horn (54-24), Plattsburg (48-25) and Mid-Buchanan (40-27), but lost to Maryville (67-12) and Maysville (43-24).
Van Horn went 0-5 in its matches at Albany, also losing to Maryville (72-0), Plattsburg (36-30), North Platte (60-18) and South Harrison (60-18).
Sage German (215) and Joe Pedrino (189) were the only Falcons to win matches on the mat, going 1-3 each.
“We really struggled this weekend,” Van Horn coach Jeff Tolbert said. “We were missing some key wrestlers due to the ACT, but we didn’t have the intensity that we have had at other times during the season, so I’m hoping we can take this week and regroup for districts (at Richmond).”
