Four members of the McDonald County High School wrestling team won championships at the Monett Wrestling Tournament held Saturday at Monett High School.
"This was probably the best individual performance most of our guys have experienced all season and best of all, they had some great competition," said coach Josh Factor. "We had some significant wins in this tournament. Truman Craig beat Luke Brandon (Bentonville High School) who was a state runner-up last year after getting beat by Brandon last week. Josh Kinser defeated Ethen Carlberg, of Logan-Rogersville. Carlberg was the number one ranked wrestler in Class 2. But best of all, we have four guys go undefeated and win titles."
Kinser won the championship in the "A" bracket at 145 pounds while Landin Foreman (120), Isrrael DeSantiago (152) and Christopher Dalton (160) won their respective weights in the "B" bracket.
Kinser recorded one pin, one forfeit and three decisions, including a 7-1 win over Carlberg, on his way to the championship. Kinser improves to 26-3 for the season.
Craig went 3-2 on the day in the "A" bracket, dropping a 7-3 decision to Luis Martinez, of Clinton High School and a 15-5 decision to Skyler Jackson of Oak Grove High School, to finish second.
Jacob Gerow took third in the 106 "A" bracket with a 3-2 record. Overall, Gerow improves to 24-7.
Other McDonald County results included Daniel DeSantiago, fifth place, 113A; Christian Willmann third, 126B; Nathan Knadle, fifth, 132B; Kyle Hall, eighth, 195A.
McDonald County took ninth place in the team standings in the 11-team field. Oak Grove won the team title with 201 points followed by Willard with 192, Monett 187, Clinton 83, Nevada 82, Westminster Christian Academy 81, Bentonville 79, Harrisonville 75, McDonald County 73.5, Logan-Rogersville 59 and Reeds Spring 31.
McDonald County travels to Neosho Jan. 15 for a triangular against the Wildcats, the top-ranked team in the state, and the Webb City Cardinals. Matches start at 5 p.m.
Matwarming
McDonald County High School held matwarming Jan. 8 while hosting Republic High School and Monett High School.
Ashley Dawn Gross was crowned 2015 matwarming queen by Andrew Coberley during ceremonies between matches.
Against Republic, the Mustangs dropped a 40-30 decision. Recording wins for McDonald County were Gerow, Willmann, Craig, Kinser, Dalton and Coberley.
The dual's most exciting match was Dalton's 4-3 overtime win against Hunter Pyle at 170 pounds. Each wrestler managed to only record an escape in the first three periods to end regular time in a 1-1 tie. In the first overtime, neither wrestler scored, but in the second session, Dalton recorded an escape before taking down Pyle for a 4-1 lead. Pyle managed to get an escape late in the session to cut the lead to 4-2 going into the final 30 second overtime period. Pyle scored his final point on an escape, but Dalton held on from there for the 4-3 win.
Monett defeated the Mustangs 50-27 in the night's final dual. Winning for McDonald County were Gerow, DeSantiago Willmann, Craig and Kinser.
In the 138 pound match, Craig trailed Garret Bradley 5-2 after being taken to his back and nearly being pinned in the first period before coming back to record a pin with 24 seconds left in the second period.
Sports on 01/15/2015