Cassville sending 6 to wrestling state

Cassville’s contingent of wrestlers at the MSHSAA State Wrestling Championships today and Thursday may be smaller than years past, but they make up for it in talent.

Two girls and four boys qualified for this year’s event at Mizzou Arena, including three former medalists, one of whom is the No. 1 seed in her bracket.

Senior Faith James (43-2), runner- up at 130 pounds in 2023, took the Class 1, District 3 title at 135 pounds, pinning her way through the bracket in Nevada Feb. 9-10. Fellow senior Hailey Roark (32-7) qualified by taking second place at districts and looks to earn her first state medal after qualifying as a freshman and last year as a junior.

“They are my veterans,” said Nathan Fortner, Cassville wrestling coach. “They have wrestled all four years together and have really succeeded. At districts, I don’t know if it was because it’s their senior year, but they were a little nervous when they came out and didn’t even put hands on their first opponents for 20-30 seconds. We had to pull them aside and say, ‘You’ve established yourselves in the wrestling world and they are afraid of wrestling you.’” After the chat, Fortner said both girls turned up the heat.

“In Faith’s next match, 5 seconds in she pushed the girl out of the circle, and took her down quickly after,” he said. “No one wanted to be in the ring with her. Hailey in her championship got caught underneath and pinned on a little technical mistake.”

Despite the loss in the title bout, Roark reached a milestone at districts, winning her 150th career match.

Looking to this week, Fortner said James and Roark both have great paths to a possible championship match, and they just have to get it done.

“They are both set up and just have to get out there and wrestle,” Fortner said. “A championship was Faith’s goal last year, and we all know what happened in that final. I can guarantee you she won’t get stacked and fall for that move again — that will stick with her through her career.

“Both [Faith and Hailey] can make it on the medal stand, so we will just see what happens.”

The pair of seniors will also hope to pass some of their high-level experience on to the boys’ squad, comprised of three sophomores, two of which are returning medalists, and a freshman.

At the Class 2, District 3 tournament on Friday and Saturday in Eldon, Cassville produced one champion in Colton Roark (40-3) at 165 pounds, fifth-place finisher at state in 2023 at 144 pounds. Despite being sick on Friday, Roark worked his way to the title bout, pinning his opponent in only 33 seconds.

“That first day we think he had food poisoning,” Fortner said. “He was throwing up and we knew he didn’t feel that well — but at districts, no one cares. There are no accommodations, and we had a conversation about showing weakness and how it fueled his opponents to know he was sick. He’s come into his own this year, and in the final, he took the kid down and caught him in a banana split, a move he’s been doing since youth wrestling, just 30 seconds in.”

Performing a banana split includes locking one of the opponent’s legs with the wrestler’s own, then grabbing the other leg and rolling the opponent over onto his back while keeping both holds and splitting the opponents legs apart.

“It’s difficult to get it, and it doesn’t always work, but if you can catch a kid with it, it’s pretty painful,” Fortner said. “He had a big grin on his face after that match as he was walking off and said, ‘You see that, coach?’” Two Wildcats finished as district runner-up in Eldon, 106-pounder Kaleb Artherton (32-9), a freshman, and 157-pound sophomore Tristan Thompson (44-2), who was just outside the medals at state last year.

Artherton earned a major decision in his first match, 11-3, and fought to a win in the semifinals, 11-7. In the championship, he came up short with a 9-2 defeat, but Fortner said his run through higher-ranked opponents shows what potential he has at state.

“He got into the finals from the No. 6 seed, so he beat the No. 3 and No. 2 to get there and lost to the No. 1,” Fortner said. “I think Kaleb can still beat that kid, too. He’s the only one going to state for the first time, so I’m a little worried about his nerves as a freshman, but he has a good chance to medal.”

Thompson earned a major decision, 14-1, then a pin and a 12-5 decision to reach the championship, where, due to a nagging injury, he chose to medically forfeit to save his strength for state.

“Tristan has been injured since the Seneca tournament [on Jan. 27],” Fortner said. “He only went live in practice for a little bit the week before districts. Our goal was just for him to make it to state, then rest and heal. State is the end of the season, so we’ll go all out from here. He wrestled to the game plan, so we’ll see what he can do.”

Rounding out the qualifiers is sophomore 150-pounder Riley James, who dug his way to third place after a semifinal loss.

“Riley had an off match in the semi, and he’ll tell you that,” Fortner said. “He’s wrestled that kid three times this season and all have gone to overtime or been decided by one point. But, he’s on the opposite side of the bracket of the No. 1 kid at state, so he’s just got to go wrestle. Hopefully he turns it on, because he may see that same kid [from district semifinals at the state semifinals].”

Three more Wildcats nearly qualified for state: Bradley Stumpff at 120, Jaret Hinson at 132, Jesse James at 215. Each lost in the “blood round,” or consolation semifinal that determines the third and fourth-place finishers. Only the top four from each district qualify for state.

Fortner said when it comes to brackets in Columbia, Cassville has not been very lucky in the past, but this year is different.

“We got a good draw on the opposite side from most No. 1s, and in the eight years I’ve been doing this, it’s the first time we haven’t gotten the worst possible path,” he said. “it’s lined up for them, and all they have to do is go wrestle.”

Fortner said Thompson has probably the toughest path of all Wildcats, but if he can get past match No. 1, he stands a chance to reach the title bout.

In the vastness of Mizzou Arena, Fortner said he hopes his wrestlers can feed off one another’s energy, especially with the 150-157165 “three-headed monster” lineup of James, Thompson and Roark.

“You can see the difference in all three of them from year to year, and at districts, they left no doubt in anyone’s minds they’d all be going to state,” Fortner said. “Their confidence has shot up with their alpha mentality.”

That mentality, coupled with experience on the girls’ side, is what Fortner hopes will propel the team to 2021 standards, when Annie Moore and Zach Coenen became the first state champions in school history.

“In 2021, we had two champions — we have an opportunity to do that again,” Fortner said.

The 2024 MSHSAA State Wrestling Championships action starts today (Wednesday) with Class 1 girls beginning at 1:15 p.m. and Class 2 boys kicking off at 6 p.m. On Thursday, Class 1 girls action starts at 10:15 a.m., and class 2 boys begin at 12:15 p.m. Championship matches for all classes begin at 5:15 p.m.

Keep up with the results live by following the Cassville Democrat on Facebook, or visiting www.cassville-democrat. com/category/sports.