The bar at the State Wrestling Tournament has been raised- substantially. By now, everyone knows that Platte Co. won with what is generally being regarded as the best team Missouri has ever seen. 265 points, a new state record, and double the second place team’s 132. 7 individual champions out of 8 finalists, and 12 overall state medalists. They broke the scoring record on Friday afternoon. Not in recent memory have we seen a dual meet in the finals like we did Saturday night (a dual won, by the way, by PC’s finalists). They won 27 out of their first 33 matches. Their entire state tournament won-lost record was 49-13. This was a run that started with a full head of steam, and never slowed down. The fans were so sick of seeing orange and black clad wrestlers win, that they started booing Oak Grove and Knob Noster as some sort of Pavlovian response. But Platte County seemed to be on a mission, determined not only to win a state championship, which was almost a foregone conclusion, but to smash every record in sight in the process. Oak Grove finished second, for the second year in a row, comfortably ahead of Seneca, who had 107 points. Oak Grove was hurt by the loss of two sorely-needed wrestlers at sectionals, and they just didn’t have the firepower they’ve had in past years, to make the kind of run we’ve become accustomed to. Still, what some may consider a bad year for Oak Grove still turned out 7 medalists, 2 champs, and a lot of returning points next year. I know a lot of teams that would take that. Seneca wrestled a very efficient tournament with only 7 qualifiers, placing 6, one of every different medal. Richmond edged out Higginsville, 89.5-86.5 for the final team trophy, but Higginsville did it with only 5 wrestlers. Rounding out the top 10 were Cameron, Boonville, Pleasant Hill, Warsaw, and Knob Noster.

Brett Rolofson of Platte County dominated the 103 pound class, defeating Higginsville’s Adam Beck 17-3 in the finals. Rolofson had two pins, a decision, and a major decision. Rolofson avoided another rematch with Cameron’s Tyler Krentz, when Beck shocked Krentz with a pin in the semis. Krentz came back to take 3^rd with a 5-2 decision over Ray Walder of Richmond. Brian Jordan of Warsaw defeated Jarrod Summers of Pleasant Hill, 6-4 in OT for 5^th place.

Oak Grove’s Keith Dickey won his second state title, this time with an 8-2 victory over Cameron’s Lincoln Krentz. Krentz got the initial takedown, but Dickey shut him out after that, using his length to keep Krentz at bay. Krentz upset Jamie Williams of Seneca, 4-3, to reach the final, and Dickey held off Boonville’s Justin Herdzina by the narrowest of margins, 7-7 in 2 OT. Herdzina continued his fine tournament by knocking off Williams for 3^rd, 9-7 in OT. Platte County’s Jason Callaway took 5^th with a 6-4 victory over Manuel Gonzalez of Lexington.

Lawson’s Jamie Myers was fighting the odds. After missing over half the wrestling season because of a knee surgery, Myers struggled to shake off the rust and regain the form that had won him two state titles. Myers has a history of rising to the occasion, and in the early rounds, it looked like he would. He was never in danger on his way to the final, defeating Pleasant Hill’s Josh Gray, 9-0, in the quarterfinals, and Platte County’s Josh Callaway, 5-2 in the semis. But Knob Noster’s Matt Hannah, who had defeated Myers in the Sectional tournament, had a TF and two pins, and was waiting for him there. Myers got the first takedown, but Hannah gained confidence as the match went along, and had a 3-2 lead before a stall call tied it with 1 second to go in the match. In overtime, Hannah secured a takedown from a scramble position to shatter Myer’s dream of winning 4 state titles. Callaway finished off a solid tournament with a 5-3 win over Gray for third, and Lexington’s Adam Burkhart pinned Jayson Gaston of Oak Grove for 5^th place.

125 lived up to its wild billing, if not to its rankings. #6 ranked Chris Teat from Richmond made the finals, but needed a controversial 2 pt. stall call with time running out to even get out of the first round. He then had a come-from-behind pin over Principia’s Brad Ragan, and a 4-3 win over #1 ranked Billy Chisholm of Oak Grove. His run stopped there, though, as he faced Seneca’s Austin Eidson, who had not been scored upon during his trek to the finals. Eidson controlled the entire match just like he had the rest of the tournament, and pinned Teat at 5:45 in the third period, to wrap up his first state championship. Drake Hovis, a freshman from Whitfield, defeated Chisholm for third, 11-8, and Platte County’s Brock Wittmeyer took 5^th, with a 9-1 win over Ragan.

Another scramble at this weight class, but all the shuffling was for 3^rd through 6^th. The top two spots were already reserved. Cameron’s #1 ranked Cale Griffin had won a hard-fought 3-0 decision over #2 Dustin Webb from Seneca earlier in the season, and these two looked to be on a collision course again. Griffin pinned and teched his way to the finals with relative ease, and while Webb had to work a little harder, he still was not challenged. But Griffin wanted nothing to do with a close match this time, and took Webb down with ease and turned him at will. Griffin was up 16-1 when he got the pin at the 5:24 mark, winning his first state title in his sophomore season. Lexington’s Aaron Frye won 3^rd with a 7-2 victory over Anthony Frazier of Pleasant Hill, and in the 5^th Place match, Richmond’s Derek Compton won a 7-2 decision over Nick Taulbee of Platte County.

South Holt’s Caleb Paxton had been beaten by Platte County’s Chris Armstrong the week before at Sectionals, and Armstrong won handily, taking Paxton down five times. But when they met in the state finals, it was Paxton who was the aggressor, getting all the takedowns, and at the same time, fending off Armstrong’s leg attacks, to take an 8-3 victory. Paxton became South Holt’s first State Champion ever, but won a couple of close matches to get there, including a 1-pt. win in the first round. Marcus Russell of Higginsville also started off slowly, losing 7-0 in the first round to Maysville’s Blair Smith. But Russell finished strong, taking the long road back through the wrestlebacks, winning an 8-7 decision over Smith for 3^rd place. Seneca’s David Myers reached the semis before losing to Armstrong, and defeated Matt Parn of Brookfield, 13-5 for 5^th place.

Jake Fisher of Platte County pinned 3 of 4 opponents en route to his first title, taking care of Oak Grove’s Garrett Trimble in 3:19 in the finals. Trimble, who had taken advantage of a couple of Fisher mistakes to take an early lead, made the last mistake himself, trying a lateral that Fisher blocked, and Fisher buried him right there. Fisher had pinned Monett’s Blake Hohensee in 43 seconds to reach his second final, and Trimble had squeaked by Richmond’s Marc Macey 6-5. Macey defeated Hohensee, 6-4 for 3^rd place, and Maysville’s Derek Bird won 5^th place by injury default over John DeFries of Lawson.

Oak Grove’s Mark Wall didn’t win pretty, but he did win. Wall defeated Travis Bennett of Mid-Buchanan, 9-2, to take the gold. Both wrestlers struggled just to get there. Wall fought off his back to win in the quarters, and squeezed out a 5-4 win over Marceline’s Dustin Ward in the semis. Bennett needed OT to defeat Tyler Forsee in the quarters, and in the semi-finals, won a tight 6-4 decision over Spenser Bain of Lawson. Ward defeated Bain, 9-7 for 3^rd place, and Forsee decisioned Grain Valley’s Tyler Wilke, 10-3 for 5^th.

Bobby Fisher of Platte County wears opponents down. A lot of his matches are relatively low-scoring until he hits the big throw and gets the pin. Fisher wore Scott Stoos of Knob Noster down, continued to stalk him, and leading 12-3, finally got the toss he wanted in the third period, and pinned Stoos at 5:24. Fisher pinned seven of eight opponents over the last two years. Aaron Carmichael of Boonville came back from a quarterfinal loss to Fisher to earn 3^rd place with a 15-3 major decision over Pleasant Hill’s Jonathan Fetters. Will Sears of Oak Grove made it to the semis before losing, and came back with an 8-4 decision over Erik Kivett of Seneca for 5^th.

Kiel Giese of Platte County finished 2^nd last year after a narrow defeat in the finals, and had already lost a decision earlier this year to his opponent in this year’s finals, Kennen Hager of Higginsville. But Giese took control early with three takedowns in the first period, and held on for an 8-7 victory and his first state title. Hager had a couple of pins and then a 16-10 in the semis over Whitfield’s John Schweizer. Giese took the same route, two pins and a decision, with an 8-5 win over Ryan Collins of Marceline in the semi-finals. Collins, who lost his father in an accident just before the sectional tournament, competed with incredible composure and intensity under the circumstances. and earned 3^rd place, with a 7-5 win over Schweizer in his final match. Jason Fenstermaker of Grain Valley lost a 3-2 decision to Matt Terry of Dexter in the first round to put him in the wrestlebacks, but worked his way back to the 5^th place match, where he gained a rematch with Terry. This time, Fenstermaker won with a pin in 3:44.

Platte County’s roll continued with Zach Sherman winning a 9-3 decision over Ryan Bird of Oak Grove, his closest match of the tournament, after a tech fall and two major decisions. Sherman won his first state title on his third trip to the finals. Blake Onstot of Seneca narrowly defeated Carlos Torres of O’Hara, 5-4 for third place after losing to Sherman in the semis, 16-4. David Griffin of Centralia wrestled back for 5^th, taking a 5-1 win over Adrian’s Michael Lovelace.

Chase Verdoorn’s championship match was anti-climactic to say the least. After the Platte County junior’s highly anticipated semi-final match with Tony Valencia of O’Hara, Verdoorn wrestled a fairly cautious match, and still defeated Boonville’s Todd McVicker by a major decision, 17-5. In the semis, the two defending state champs clashed, and it was Verdoorn controlling all the action. With three takedowns against Valencia, and giving up only two escapes, Verdoorn looked impenetrable, and had no intention of going to an overtime this time around. Valencia rebounded to take third easily, winning a major decision, and then pinning Justin Talley of Plattsburg in the third-place match. Talley, who lost to Grain Valley’s Jamie Scully in the first round, worked his way back the long road through the wrestlebacks. Along the way, he turned the tables on Scully, to earn a spot in the third-place match. Scully placed 5^th, defeating Adrian’s Mark Lovelace, 3-0.

In a very wide-open weight class, the favorites may have been two wrestlers who had moved up in weight from 189- Erik Fields of Brookfield, who had placed third last year at 189, and Smithville’s Cal Middleton. These two met in the semi-finals, with Middleton winning a relatively easy 11-5 victory. His finals opponent was another Platte County wrestler, Jordan Hobbs, who Middleton had a 2-1 record against this year. Hobbs also had not been challenged on his way to the final. Both wrestlers were very tentative in the championship match, not taking any chances, or hardly even venturing a shot. One escape each in the second and third period was all they could manage, and nothing happened in two-minute overtime, either. But in the tiebreaker, Hobbs seized his opportunity, catching Middleton, and putting him on his back to secure nearfall and the state title. Bruce Kempf of Boonville surprised Fields in the third-place match, winning a 9-6 victory, and John Lehnen of Richmond took a 3-2 decision over Warsaw’s Jerald Wallut for 5^th.

To look at him, John Steenburgen of Warsaw doesn’t instill fear in you like some of the hulking heavyweights can. All he does is win. And to win his first state title, he would have to defeat Ryan Hooper of Butler for the fifth time this season. Knowing anything could happen at state, Steenburgen wrestled a very smart match, stayed out of trouble, and won a 10-2 major decision. Steenburgen had pinned his way to the finals, defeating Higginsville’s Charlie Camp in the semis. Hooper had defeated Charlie Folsom of Plattsburg to reach the final, and Camp and Folsom met for third, Camp winning by pin at 2:27. Brookfield’s Rob Hoover pinned John Cude of St. Mary’s in 1:50 for 5^th place.