COLUMBIA, Mo. — Cameron Gillespie knew after medaling at the district tournament he would have a good shot at bringing home a medal from the state tournament.
The Park Hill South senior was pretty prophetic and ended up taking fifth place in the 182-pound division in Class 4 in the MSHSAA Wrestling Championships.
It was the first medal for the two-time qualifier that finished the season with a 47-4 mark. Of his losses this year to Missouri wrestlers, one came against a state champion in Liberty’s Greyden Penner (district finals), to the state runner-up in Jack Darrah (quarterfinals) and third-place finisher Eureka’s Luke Dickhaus (consolation semifinals).
“I expected to place higher, I wanted to place higher, but sometimes it’s harder than that and things don’t go the way they should,” Gillespie said. “I’m still happy to bring home a medal so I can’t complain too much.”
Gillespie won his opening match by a 12-2 decision against Jakil Hayes of Jefferson City. Then, Gillespie’s quest for a rematch with Penner ended with a 3-1 loss to Darrah from Christian Brothers College, who was fifth last year in the same weight class.
“I told myself 100 times I wasn’t nervous and I think after the first 30 seconds, the nerves stuck around a little bit longer than normal,” Gillespie said. “It took me a while to get in my groove. It is definitely a different energy. You feel it.”
ROSS MARTIN/Special to the Citizen
Park Hill South’s posted a 12-2 victory against Jefferson City’s Jakil Hayes in the first round of the Class 4 182-pound division on Thursday, Feb. 20 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.
Gillespie lost in the quarterfinals last year and reached the bubble round but lost and missed a chance for a medal.
He had a chance to avoid that same fate and took advantage of it. He won his next two matches to secure the medal, pinning Francis Howell North’s Jesse Collins and then winning 5-1 against Zane Ragland of Lee’s Summit North.
Dickhaus beat Gillespie, 11-6, to move to the third-place match and Gillespie went into the fifth-place contest. There, he pinned Johnny Daffron of Northwest Cedar Hill in the third period.
“We thought if we wrestled our best we were in the top six and I’d say we were closer to that spot then 1,” Park Hill South coach Dan Dunkin said. “Cameron wrestled great all three days and I’m happy to see him take home a medal.”
The Panthers other two qualifiers got one victory at the state meet before getting eliminated.
Senior Gage Baska (145) lost his opener but then got a 16-2 major decision against Ibragim Mahkmudov of Oakville in the wrestlebacks. Baska’s first trip to state ended with a loss by pin to Republic’s Johnny O’Connell, who ended up taking fourth place.
Max Rosario, another senior, lost a tough matchup in Tommy Hagan of Lafayette Wildwood in the first round and lost by pin against the eventual third-place finisher. Rosario, a two-time state qualifier, won 5-3 against Ray-Pec’s Charles Adams to keep his season alive, before falling 8-6 to Lee’s Summit West’s Roman Bushek.