Wildcats qualify most ever to Wrestling Championship
The Cassville boys wrestling team made program history at the Class 2, District 3 Tournament in Seneca Friday and Saturday, qualifying six grapplers to the 2023 Wrestling Championship — doubling the previous qualification record.
Nathan Fortner, Cassville wrestling coach, said the success is a direct effect of the youth program, the Wildcat Takedown Club, combined with experienced upperclassmen that have placed at state.
“Usually, you only see freshmen make state at the lower weights, so for four of ours to make it in the middle and heavy weights — they are wrestling men,” he said. “it says a lot about our youth program, which my assistant Troy Thompson coaches. He builds them over those years, then I just wind them up and let them go.”
While no Wildcats stood atop the podium in Seneca, four earned second place, one third and one fourth. As a team, the Wildcats finished fourth with 114.5 points, and Pleasant Hill won the district title with 218.5 points.
At 132 pounds, senior Akhilleus Arguelles, who earned fifth at state in 2022, earned a pin and technical fall to meet Seneca’s Brady Roark in the final. The Wildcat was pinned by last year’s 120-pound state champion in 2:51.
“Triple-A ran into the Roark kid, who is a DI commit to South Dakota State,” Fortner said. “He wrestled hard, and even other coaches were commenting on how much fun he was having. In his major decision in the semifinals, he returned to the center each whistle with a big smile on his face. The other coach said, ‘Man, that kid really loves this,’ and he does.”
Cassville freshman Colton Roark earned a pin in the quarterfinals at 144 pounds but fell to last year’s third-place finisher at 138 pounds, Seneca’s Andrew Manley. Roark bounced back with a win in the consolation semifinals and a pin of Eldon’s Jonathon Etzel in 56 seconds for third place.
“Colt has wrestled Manley three times and got beat each time, but in that bracket, the top three finishers are the top three ranked in the state,” Fortner said. “Third is pretty good for a freshman, and we look for him to medal at state. He’s been on fire all season and leads our team in match wins at 44-8.”
Freshman Riley James earned two pins and a major decision at 150 pounds before falling to Pleasant Hill’s Garrett Lyons in the title bout.
“Riley is another freshman, and it’s been pretty cool to see his confidence,” Fortner said. “He’s lighting up juniors and seniors, and you don’t see many freshmen qualify, but he made a statement in how he did it.”
Freshman Tristan Thompson pinned his way to the 157-pound semifinals, where her earned an emotional 1-0 decision over Logan-Rogersville’s Beau Thompson.
“Tristan is another freshman who had gone 1-1 against the Logan-Rogersville kid and beat him in the semis. That was a huge, emotional win for the entire program, and it was great his dad, Troy, got to coach that match. It was pretty cool to watch a dad and son share that moment.”
Senior Jake Anthonysz, a fifth-place state finisher last year, earned a pair of pins to reach the final at 165 pounds, but fell in a 10-0 major decision to a wrestler he’s battled all year in Blair Oaks’ Zach Rackers.
“Jake lost to the Blair Oaks kid, who is No. 1 in the state, for the third time this year,” Fortner said. “But, we’ve been closing the gap each time and are getting closer.”
Finally, DJ Glidewell had what his coach described as the toughest bracket at districts at 285 pounds, but the freshman fought past a semifinal loss to reach the thirdplace match, falling to Osage’s Tanner Gardener.
“DJ struts at about 240-250, so he’s giving up 40-50 pounds to some of these guys, and that’s pretty impressive,” Fortner said.
Seasons ended for four Wildcats in Noah Uria, Jaret Hinson, Bradley Stumpff and Ethan Sizemore.
“They had some close matches and gave up some late,” Fortner said. “They have all come to me already talking about next year’s goals and the offseason work they want to do. Two are freshmen and two are sophomores, so they will be coming back in the future.”
As a result of taking the most wrestlers ever to state, Fortner said the expectations are elevated.
“For sure our seniors that have already been on the podium should do it again,” he said. “Everyone wrote individual and team goals down at the start of the season, and we read those back before districts. We have high expectations for Jake and Triple-A, and our freshmen have wrestled tough competition all year, so we expect the same at state. I don’t think they will be wide-eyed. They’ll be ready to go.
“It will be a fun couple of days. There are a lot of upsets at state, and it’s fun to see kids do what they are supposed to. We had two-a-days Monday and Tuesday, and we’ll come in Wednesday focused and with tunnel vision.”
Full results from the Class 2, District 3 Tournament include:
113: Round 1 – Samual Jerabek (Pleasant Hill) over Noah Uria (Cassville) (fall, 1:53)
113: Consolation Round 2 – Corbin Neil (Nevada) over Noah Uria (Cassville) (fall, 3:21)
120: Round 1 – Simon Hartline (Monett) over Jaret Hinson (Cassville) (fall, 0:37)
120: Consolation Round 2 – Braxton Yost (Logan-Rogersville) over Jaret Hinson (Cassville) (decision, 9-6)
126: Round 1 – Greyson Ritter (Logan-Rogersville) over Bradley Stumpff (Cassville) (fall, 1:38)
126: Consolation Round 2 – Donovan Pack (Clinton) over Bradley Stumpff (Cassville) (fall, 2:08)
132: Quarterfinals – Akhilleus Arguelles (Cassville) over George Long (Osage) (fall, 2:32)
132: Semifinals – Akhilleus Arguelles (Cassville) over Bradyn Huhn (Blair Oaks) (technical fall, 17-2 3:40)
132: 1st Place Match – Brady Roark (Seneca) over Akhilleus Arguelles (Cassville) (fall, 2:51)
144: Round 1 – Colton Roark (Cassville) over Zachary `Zach` Preston (Reeds Spring) (fall, 1:18)
144: Quarterfinals – Colton Roark (Cassville) over Sam Droege (Harrisonville) (fall, 0:48)
144: Semifinals – Andrew Manley (Seneca) over Colton Roark (Cassville) (decision, 10-4)
144: Consolation Semis – Colton Roark (Cassville) over Jackson Finke (Blair Oaks) (fall, 0:49)
144: 3rd Place Match – Colton Roark (Cassville) over Jonathon Etzel (Eldon) (fall, 0:56)
150: Round 1 – Riley James (Cassville) over Jack Lamastus (Monett) (fall, 1:08)
150: Quarterfinals – Riley James (Cassville) over Silas King (Harrisonville) (fall, 1:25)
150: Semifinals – Riley James (Cassville) over Brayden Koenig (Nevada) (major decision, 12-1)
150: 1st Place Match – Garrett Lyons (Pleasant Hill) over Riley James (Cassville) (fall, 0:55)
157: Round 1 – Tristan Thompson (Cassville) over Brendan Wilson (Eldon) (fall, 0:46)
157: Quarterfinals – Tristan Thompson (Cassville) over Devon Girard (Hollister) (fall, 4:51)
157: Semifinals – Tristan Thompson (Cassville) over Beau Thompson (Logan-Rogersville) (decision, 1-0)
157: 1st Place Match – Lane Snyder (Pleasant Hill) over Tristan Thompson (Cassville) (fall, 1:53)
165: Quarterfinals – Jake Anthonysz (Cassville) over Cian Conklin (Osage) (fall, 1:07)
165: Semifinals – Jake Anthonysz (Cassville) over Griffin Swearengin (Logan-Rogersville) (fall, 0:45)
165: 1st Place Match – Zach Rackers (Blair Oaks) over Jake Anthonysz (Cassville) (major decision, 10-0)
215: Quarterfinals – Jacob Hanes (Pleasant Hill) over Ethan Sizemore (Cassville) (fall, 0:21)
215: Consolation Round 2 – Ethan Sizemore (Cassville) over Evan Boettler (Aurora) (fall, 0:40)
215: Consolation Round 3 – Kenneth Johnson (Nevada) over Ethan Sizemore (Cassville) (major decision, 9-1)
285: Round 1 – DJ Glidewell (Cassville) over Skylur Mashek (Nevada) (decision, 5-2)
285: Quarterfinals – DJ Glidewell (Cassville) over Nick Stephens (Seneca) (decision, 6-5)
285: Semifinals – Sam McDowell-Driskell (Pleasant Hill) over DJ Glidewell (Cassville) (major decision, 12-4)
285: Consolation Semis – DJ Glidewell (Cassville) over Skylur Mashek (Nevada) (fall, 0:36)
285: 3rd Place Match – Tanner Gardener (Osage) over DJ Glidewell (Cassville) (fall, 5:25)
The 2023 Wrestling championships begin today (Wednesday) and continue through Thursday evening at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. Follow the squad online at www.cassville-democrat.com/category/sports, or on the Cassville Democrat Facebook and Twitter pages.
