A pair of teammates from Rolla denied the McDonald County Mustangs an individual champion at the 50th Annual Kinloch Classic Wrestling Tournament held Dec. 28-29 at Parkview High School in Springfield.

McDonald County had two wrestlers make it to the championship match only to drop close decisions to the Rolla teammates.

Wrestling at 126 pounds, Jakob Gerow saw his hopes of an undefeated season come to an end when he dropped a 1-0 decision to Zach Fennell of Rolla, who remained unbeaten on the season with a 23-0 record, in the championship match.

Gerow fell to 22-1 with the loss, which came when Fennell was able to record an escape for the only point of the match. Gerow advanced to the finals with three pins in his pool before claiming a 9-2 decision in the quarterfinals over Jonah Gann of Logan Rogersville and a 9-0 decision in the semifinals over Michael Taylor of Republic.

Undefeated Nathan Pulliam (26-0) of Rolla recorded his second win this season over McDonald County's Oscar Ortiz, both coming in the finals of a tournament. The Rolla freshman won the Kinloch championship at 120 pounds with a 9-3 decision after defeating Ortiz 8-1 earlier in the year at the Neosho Wrestling Tournament.

Ortiz dropped to 22-2 for the season, including winning his pool with a pair of pins and a technical fall to advance to the quarterfinals, where he won by technical fall (18-6) over Tim Wiley of Warrensburg. In the semifinals, Ortiz defeated Dalton Thompson of St. Clair by a 10-0 decision.

The Mustangs only other medalist was Jack Teague, who took sixth place at 152 pounds. Teague went 2-1 in his pool matches, both wins by pin, before falling in the quarterfinals to Kenyen Kieber of Parkview by a 16-4 decision.

Teague then advanced to the fifth-place match with a pin over Caleb Swearingin of Logan Rogersville in the consolation semifinals before the McDonald County sophomore fell in overtime by a 5-3 decision.

Rounding out the results for McDonald County were: Eh Doh Say, 1-4, eighth, 106 pounds; Christian Davidson, 2-5, 10th, 113 pounds; Jaw Di, 0-5, 12th, 132 pounds; Codie Evans, 1-7, 22nd, 138 pounds; Marshall Brock, 2-5, 15th, 145 pounds; Kevin Sackryas, 1-6, 20th, 160 pounds; Timber Teague, 4-4, 12th, 182 pounds; and, McCoy Ikosia, 1-5, 18th, 220 pounds.

McDonald County's Rendon Lane (195) and Tinker Kinser (285) both suffered injuries during their pool matches and were unable to continue.

Led by Fennell and Pulliam, Rolla won the team title with 364 points. McDonald County settled for 15th place in the 25-team tournament.

Ozark was second with 357.5 points, followed by Raymore Peculiar with 349, Bentonville 341.5, Jackson 322.5, Helias 293, Logan Rogersville 272.5, St. Clair 253, Marshfield 245, Windsor 239, Rogers Heritage 236.5, Buffalo 229.5, Warrensburg 207, Bolivar 196, McDonald County 190.5, St. James 174, Republic 173.5, Hickman 138, Glendale 106, Central (Springfield) 91, Fayetteville 84, Kickapoo 80.5, Parkview 77, Hollister 47 and Hillcrest 32.

McDonald County returns to action on Jan. 4 when the Mustangs host Monett and Republic at MCHS. Also, mat-warming festivities will be held before the matches at 5 p.m.