BY KYLE TROUTMAN ktroutman@cassville-democrat.com
James wins Cassville’s 3rd state title; Roark medals for first time
Publisher’s Note: More photos from the 2024 MSHSAA Wrestling championships may be found at: https://cassvilledemocrat.zenfoliosite.com/photo-galleries/cassville-wrestling.
Cassville senior Faith James wrestled her final high school match on Thursday, and she left the mat with a new title to add to her resume — state champion.
Upon pinning Oak Grove’s Lauren Phillips in 2:12 in the 135-pound title bout of the 2024 MSHSAA State Championships at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, James screamed, jumped and cried as she began to process accomplishing the biggest goal of her prep career.
‘It feels good,’ she said. ‘That was crazy. I thought it would feel good [if I won], but it feels better than I thought it would. I’ve never felt anything like that in my career. I’ve placed at some big tournaments, but nothing compared to that. I was jumping up and down for a second and didn’t even realize it.’
James’ path to becoming Cassville’s third-ever state champion, following teammates Annie Moore and Zach Coenen’s in 2021, did not take her long. Pinning all four of her oppo- nents, James spent a total of 6:52 on the mat, only 12 second longer than Moore’s mat time in 2021, and Moore only wrestled three matches with a firstround bye.
‘She deserves it,’ said Nathan Fortner, Cassville wrestling coach. ‘When she lost in the finals last year, it broke her heart. She pinned her way through, and not many kids can pin their way through state. It just shows her dominance at that weight class in Missouri.’
James’ first match was over as soon as it began, as she pinned Lily Ahlvin (Notre Dame (Cape Girardeau)) in 32 seconds on the first takedown of the bout.
In the quarterfinal, James pinned Molly Stanton (Mid-Buchanan) in 3:44 while leading 9-5. The semifinal was her fastest pin at 24 seconds, moving past Trinity Butler (Festus) on to the championship bout.
Against Phillips in the final, James said her strategy was to just give it her all.
‘Fortner said she would want to keep it close, so I went out and gave it everything,’ James said. ‘I didn’t overthink anything — I just wrestled. It was freeing. Before the match, I was pacing back and forth and I stopped for a second to tell Fortner, ‘I’m not even nervous right now.” Fortner confirmed James said nerves were not an issue, and he said her aggressive style made him more nervous than she was.
‘Faith was locked in for that final,’ he said. ‘That girl, it was her first time to medal, so I told Faith they had different goals. She was happy just to be here, but Faith’s only goal was to win it. It was a roller coaster match, but she got it done.’
James sent a frenzied, relentless attack Phillips’ way, scoring 7 points right off the bat. Even though she allowed some points Phillips’ way, she had an answer for each of her opponent’s moves. The pin came on a lap drop, where James used a hip and outstretched leg to trip the opponent and fall perpendicular on top. It was a move she used to score a takedown and nearfall earlier in the match.
‘I tried to pin her, but my body didn’t land right and Fortner made me reset,’ she said. ‘I fixed things and got my hips the right way and pinned her.’
‘Faith faced that same girl at Wonder Woman this year for seventh place,’ Fortner said. ‘She was sick, and and the other girl was winning, but Faith pinned her with that same move.’
James is a four-time state qualifier, missing a medal by one match in her freshman year, taking sixth as a sophomore and finishing runner-up in 2023. Capping her career with the title, she said, doesn’t get any better.
‘She’s very determined and smart,’ Fortner said. ‘She has a 4.0 and sets goals for herself, and that shows.’
James, who will continue her wrestling career at William Jewel in the fall, said an attitude of perseverance is what it takes to win a title.
‘Fight through adversity because you won’t always win,’ she said. ‘You will make mistakes, and you just have to fight through. That’s when you win.’
Also reaching new heights this year was James’ longtime teammate, senior Hailey Roark. A qualifier as a freshman, she missed her sophomore year and qualified in her junior year but was a win away from medaling.
This go-around, Roark, at 140 pounds, punched through her first two matches to go into day two with a medal in the bag. Despite falling in the semifinal, she rebounded in her consolation match and finished in fourth place.
‘It feels amazing,’ she said. ‘It’s not what I wanted, but I am grateful to get on the podium. It’s better than in the past.’
Fortner said Roark had been battling a back injury over the last month, held out from meets and practices to recover.
‘I’m super proud of Hailey,’ he said. ‘This is the best she’s ever done. She wrestled really well at state.’
Roark pinned Gracie Rindom (Lathrop) in the first round in 3 minutes after building a 9-0 lead. In the quarterfinal, she fought to a 6-2 decision over Eddyson Reeves (Herculaneum) with two reversals and one 2-point nearfall.
‘That girl was good, and Hailey couldn’t hardly breathe when she came off the mat,’ Fortner said. ‘She really wanted on that podium.’
The semifinal was a long battle with eventual runner-up Riley Howell (Brookfield), with Roark leading for most of the match. In the third period, a reversal put Roark down a point, and she battled to get it back but wound up being pinned.
Roark rebounded in the consolation semifinal, her best match of the tournament in her eyes. In just 38 seconds, she scored a takedown on Kimarhri Wilkins (Sikeston) and turned it into a pin.
‘I had just come off a really tough semifinal match, so to pull it together so quickly was great,’ she said. ‘I didn’t even realize I was pinning the girl, and then it was done. It made me excited I was going to finish higher.’
The third-place match against Payton Weese (Marceline) was an upright battle for nearly all of the first period. A takedown in the waning seconds and another in the second period morphed into Roark being pinned in 2:31.
Though Cassville only took two girls to state, the Lady Wildcats finished tied for 10th with 46 points. Kearney won the 88-team event with 80 points. Fortner said that shows how dominant James and Roark were in the tournament.
‘These seniors have been doing this together since middle school, and it was a really emotional couple of days,’ he said. ‘They kept saying, ‘This is the last time.” James said spending the tournament with Roark brought back memories of the early days.
‘It was kind of like middle school and club wrestling, when it was just me and Hailey. We would drive to tournaments together through blizzards and be hydroplaning all over. It makes me happy and sad a the same time.’
Roark said thinking about how much she and James have been through brings tears to her eyes.
‘It makes me really sad,’ she said. ‘It started with me, Faith, Riley [James] and Colten [Roark] going to practices. To end with her winning and with our brothers medaling is cool.’
Sibling connections run deep through the Cassville squads, beginning with the James and Roark families. In the medal ceremonies this year, James and her brother received medals at the same time, as did Roark and her brother.
‘That was freaking amazing,’ James said. ‘Riley is one of the main reasons I wrestle, so it was amazing to stand on the podium next to him. He never cries about wrestling, but after I won, he was bawling his eyes out saying how proud of me he was.’
From the outset, Fortner said seeing the girls’ brothers’ reactions in real time was a treat.
‘Siblings fight and joke with each other; like before the championship when Riley was warming up Faith but wouldn’t hardly let her score, so we had to say that was it for him,’ Fortner said. ‘But, when Faith won, Riley was bawling, and Colten has always supported his sister. They give their sisters a hard time, but there’s a lot of love there.’
Moving forward without James and Roark will be a new challenge for the Lady Wildcats, as the pair are the last remaining of a string of multi-year state medalists. James was 43-2 on the year, and Roark went 32-7. Both also surpassed 150 wins this season, James in a dual against Seneca ad Roark at the district tournament.
‘We will miss them,’ Fortner said. ‘They keep it light and are funny in the tunnel — just a special group of girls.’
Next year, we’ll have Rebekah Fry and Saige Holman as our seniors, and we’ll have a lot coming back, but we are young. It will be kind of a reset.
‘The whole staff will miss [Faith and Hailey],’ Fortner said. ‘They are outstanding wrestlers.’
