3 Claim Wrestling Championships

Wrestling Do Well At Neosho Tournament

PHOTO BY RICK PECK McDonald County’s Oscar Ortiz turns Lebanon’s Hunter Lewis to his back on the way to a 10-8 win in the 106 pound championship match at the Neosho Wrestling Tournament.
PHOTO BY RICK PECK McDonald County’s Oscar Ortiz turns Lebanon’s Hunter Lewis to his back on the way to a 10-8 win in the 106 pound championship match at the Neosho Wrestling Tournament.

It was no surprise that the host Neosho Wildcats won the team championship at the 29th annual Neosho Wrestling Tournament held Saturday at Neosho High School, but the McDonald County Mustangs claiming three individual championships was a bit of a shocker.

Winning for the Mustangs were Oscar Ortiz (106), Jakob Gerow (120) and Tinker Kinser (285).

Gerow's win at 120 pounds was probably the least surprising. After finishing fourth at 133 pounds at last year's state championships, Gerow started off the 2016-2017 season with three consecutive wins in duals coming into Saturday's tournament, including a 16-7 decision over Max Roark of Seneca, a Class 2 defending state champion.

Gerow won three of his four pool matches at the Neosho tournament by fall, the only win not by pin was a 19-4 technical decision over Justin McEnany of Rolla. In the finals, Gerow and Cole Roark of Lebanon were tied 0-0 after the first period before Gerow scored a reversal for a 2-0 lead to start the second period. After failing to escape from Gerow during the remainder of the second period, Roark elected to go neutral to start the third period. Neither wrestler was able to take their opponent down in the final two minutes, leaving Gerow with a 2-0 win.

"Jakob wrestled well all day," coach Josh Factor said. "He had a tough match in the championship round against a good kid (Roark) from Lebanon. We are looking for big things from Jakob this year."

Even though Kinser was off to a 4-0 start this season coming off a state-qualifying effort last year, he was considered the underdog going into the championship match against Zeke Wall of Carl Junction. Kinser earned a shot at Wall, the top-ranked heavyweight in the state, in the finals by going 4-0 in his pool, winning all four matches by pin.

Kinser was beaten by Wall twice last year, but the McDonald County junior threw the Carl Junction senior to his back early in the first period and held Wall down for a pin just 42 seconds into the match.

"That was a good win for Tinker," Factor said of Kinser's pin of Wall. "Wall was ranked No. 1 in state coming into that match and is a returning state medalist and definitely a good win for Tinker. Hopefully, we don't get to comfortable because we know Wall be gunning for us. They well see each other several times, but hopefully we can prevail when it comes down to crunch time."

Ortiz, a freshman who had won his four dual matches coming into the tournament, claimed a pair of decisions and won two matches by pin to advance to the championship match. Facing Hunter Lewis of Lebanon, Ortiz trailed 4-2 after the first period and 7-6 after the second. But after recording a takedown to tie the match midway through the final period, Ortiz recorded another takedown in overtime for a 10-8 win.

"Oscar came in as a freshman and won a big tournament," Factor said. "He went to camps this summer with us and was a little discouraged, but he was wrestling guys quite a bit heavier. We are working to get his weight up a little more so he isn't giving up so many pounds to start with."

Other results for the Mustangs included fifth place finishes by Truman Craig and Christian Willmann. Craig, lost just once on the day, a pin to Hunter Holderfield of Branson in a pool match, but Holderfield was beaten by Braxton Lewis of Lebanon in a pool match, dropping Craig to third in the pool based on tiebreakers.

Craig pinned Clement Roggen of Springfield Kickapoo in the fifth place match.

Willmann went 3-2 on the day, including a pin over Isaac Shields of Carl Junction in the fifth place match.

Rounding out the McDonald County results were David Lazalde (113), sixth; Jack Bowers (138), seventh; and Timber Bowers (170), eighth.

Neosho finished with 253.5 points for the team title followed by Lebanon in second with 153, Farmington 147.5, Rolla 141, Willard 140, McDonald County 105, Branson 93.5 and Carl Junction 91.

McDonald County's next matches are set for Saturday at the Carl Junction Tournament.

Rogers/Rogers Heritage

McDonald County faced Rogers and Rogers Heritage Nov. 29 at Seneca. Rogers claimed a 42-36 win over the Mustangs. Picking up wins for McDonald County were Keagon Spurgeon (106), forfeit; Ortiz (113), 17-4 decision; Lazalde (120), forfeit; Johann De La Cruz (126), 17-0 decision; Willmann (145), pin; Craig (160), 6-2 decision; Kinser (285), pin.

McDonald County defeated Rogers Heritage 43-42 with the winning point coming on a criteria point after the two teams were tied at 42-42 at the end of the dual. De La Cruz's takedown in the first match was the deciding factor.

Winning for the Mustangs were Spurgeon, forfeit; Ortiz, forfeit; Gerow, pin; Willmann, forfeit, Craig, pin; Timber Bowers, pin; and Kinser pin.

Diamond/Seneca

McDonald County beat Diamond 41-30 and fell to Seneca 49-28 in a dual held Dec. 1 at MCHS.

Winning for McDonald County against Diamond were Ortiz, forfeit; Lazalde, forfeit; Gerow, 19-2 decision; De La Cruz, pin; Willmann, pin; Craig, forfeit; Kinser, forfeit.

Winners for the Mustangs against Seneca were Ortiz, forfeit; Lazalde, forfeit; Gerow, 16-7 decision; Willmann, pin; and Kinser, pin.

Sports on 12/08/2016