Gerow, Kinser Place At Branson Tournament

RICK PECK MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County’s Christopher Dalton takes Webb City’s Garret Rodgers down on his way to recording an 11-1 decision during the Mustangs 42-40 loss to the Cardinals Sept. 15 at Neosho High School.
RICK PECK MCDONALD COUNTY PRESS McDonald County’s Christopher Dalton takes Webb City’s Garret Rodgers down on his way to recording an 11-1 decision during the Mustangs 42-40 loss to the Cardinals Sept. 15 at Neosho High School.

Led by a second place from Jakob Gerow (106) and a third from Josh Kinser (145), the McDonald County High School wrestling team took 10th place out of 15 teams competing at the Branson Invitational Wrestling Tournament held Saturday at Branson High School.

"We had a rough day due to illness and suffering some injuries on the day," said coach Josh Factor. "On a positive note, we did manage to win key matches that will help our guys out going into seeding for the district tournament next month."

Gerow advanced to the championship match with three wins in prelimnary matches before by claiming a 3-2 win over Joel Barrientos of Monett in the semifinals. Facing Neosho's Trenton Young in the first place match, Gerow was pinned in the third period.

Kinser dropped a 9-6 decision to Tyler Pace of Union High School in the semifinals before coming back to win a 13-5 decision over Jaron Beeson of Monett in the third place match.

Other McDonald County results include Daniel DeSantiago (113), fifth place; Landin Foreman (120), seventh place; Christian Willman (126), 14th place; Truman Craig (138), eighth place; Christopher Dalton (160), fifth place; Kyle Hall (195), ninth place; and Andrew Coberley (220), 16th place.

Neosho won the team title with 365.5 points followed by Monett with 230, Lee's Summit 211, Seneca 186.5, St. Genevieve 150.5, Nixa 142.5, Oak Park 140.5, Sedalia Smith Cotton 127.5, Webb City 123.5, McDonald County 112, Union 110.5, Branson 104, Reeds Spring 102.5, Bolivar 95 and Carl Junction 74.

"The bottom line is our wrestlers need to wrestle more consistent," Factor said. "We have to learn to maintain better position and not take risks to give up near-fall criteria. Last, when we are in position to score we can't get greedy and go for the big moves, that's when we have to be conservative and take our points."

Neosho Triangular

Neosho, ranked in the top 15 nationally, handed McDonald County a 75-0 loss in a dual held as part of a triangular on Jan. 15 at Neosho High School.

Kinser and Gerow lost close decisions and DeSantiago dropped a 5-1 decision while Neosho recorded pins or forefeits in the rest of the matches.

Against Webb City, McDonald County jumped out to an 18-0 lead on pins by Gerow and DeSantiago and a forfeit to Foreman at 120 pounds. After Webb City closed to 18-12, Craig won by pin, Kinser won by forfeit before the Mustangs' forfeited at 152 pounds to make the score 30-18.

Dalton claimed an 11-1 decision to put the Mustangs ahead 34-18, but McDonald County forfeited at 170 and 182 pounds to let Webb City close to within 34-30. Hall picked up a forfeit for the Mustangs to stretch McDonald County's advantage to 40-30 with two matches left. But a McDonald County forfeit at 220 pounds cut the lead to 40-36 going into the final match of the dual.

Webb City's Dalton Ford was able to pin Coberley in the first period at 285 pounds to give the Cardinals a 42-40 win.

McDonald County travels to Springfield for a triangular with Glendale and Parkview on Jan. 22.

Sports on 01/22/2015