Tuesday, Feb. 12 2013 2:53PM
Grappling to state
LS, LSN, LSW qualify wrestlers from district tourneys
By Stephanie Yeagle
syeagle@lsjournal.com
Print
E-Mail
AIM
ReprintDespite their youth and low seeding, Lee’s Summit West defied what was expected and qualified four wrestlers to the Class 4 MSHSAA state wrestling championships from the Class 4, District 3 tournament Feb. 8-9 in Jefferson City.
The Titans took fourth place overall with a score of 114 points, behind Waynesville in first with 153 points, Northwest Cedar Hill and Eureka.
“The whole district was a good experience for all of us I think,” Lee’s Summit West head coach Ethan Hauck said. “The team is young and we didn’t have many kids seeded, so not very many kids were expected to make it through. We did really well because every one of the kids won matches in districts and most of the kids won two or more matches, meaning they were just a match away from qualifying.”
Lee’s Summit West had one district champion, Austin Eveler in the 120-pound weight class. Eveler was seeded third and was losing his championship match to Jefferson City’s Logan Moriarity by 6-2 going into the third period.
“Austin was able to get an escape and take him down and just really up tempo-ed the match,” Hauck said. “He started speeding things up. He took the kid down three times and on that third one, he put him on his back and was able to pin him. That was really special to see a kid that was down and was getting handled pretty well come back and pin.”
Eveler won the match by fall in 5 minutes, 1 second. Hauck said that Eveler was the only wrestler in the tournament to win every single one of his matches by pin, all five of them.
“Austin just turned in the performance of a lifetime,” he said.
Other qualifiers for the Titans include Jake Woods (113), who finished second, losing the championship match to Waynesville’s Isaiha Johnson by pin in 3:47, Lawyer Beckum (132), who placed third and won his third-place match by a 13-5 major decision over Nixa’s Marshall Osborne and Tyler Nelson (170), who also took third, winning his match by an 11-8 decision over Waynesville’s Hunter Sadler.
“Lawyer was a very pleasant surprise,” Hauck said. “We are always telling the kids that any of them could qualify for state even though they aren’t expected to...He upset no fewer than three kids on his way to placing third. He really picked a fine time to peak in his wrestling this year and was wrestling at his very best.”
Lee’s Summit also qualified four wrestlers to state from the Class 4, District 4 tournament held Feb. 8-9 at Lee’s Summit High School. The Tigers took fifth place with a team score of 94.5 points, behind Park Hill in first, Blue Springs, Park Hill South and Blue Springs South.
The Tigers were led by district champion Logan Drake (285), who won his championship match by pin over Ruskin’s Jamal Karriem in 4:32. Alan Olivas (120) took second, losing the title match by an 18-2 technical fall to Park Hill’s William Erneste, Coulter Allen (138) finished third, winning his third-place match by a 10-2 major decision over Park Hill’s Paxton DiBlasi and Brady Daniels (152) placed fourth, losing the third-place match by a 11-2 major decision to Park Hill South’s Adam Weatherly.
Lee’s Summit North had two state qualifiers from the same district, as the Broncos finished 11th with a team score of 45.5 points.
Austin Hanson (106) took third place, winning the third-place match by a 16-4 major decision over William Chrisman’s Larry Danforth. Keegan McCormick (132) also finished third, winning his third-place match by a 3-1 decision over Fort Osage’s Jesse Jeffries.
The state wrestling tournament will be held this weekend at the Hearnes Center, Columbia.
