In an early 2023 weekend tournament, the Mid-Buchanan wrestling team came out victorious – with West Platte finishing in ninth place – in the Mid-Buchanan Invitational on Jan. 7.
Mid-Buchanan is a co-op team with North Platte and finished its home tournament with 542 points, which was 178 more points than the next team. The Blue Jays ended with 230 points, which was 0.5 points behind eighth place Penney and 2.5 points ahead of tenth place Central.
Among the North Platte wrestlers who competed for the Dragons, Grant Schuster (106) and Ryder Coons (138) had the best outings as they both finished in first place. Gus French, Colton Kirkham and Seth Cruz took second places in the 106, 165 and 285-weight classes.
Schuster is now 11-5 on the year after winning by fall in all three of his matches – with times of 31 seconds, 1:18 and 1:28 – in the tournament. French was on Mid-Buchanan’s JV team but advanced to the championship against Schuster after pinning his first two opponents in 4:00 and 1:02.
Ryder Coons’ road to being a champion was a bit different as he won by fall in 2:40 and won on a 4-2 decision before earning an 8-6 sudden victory in the semifinals and a 4-2 sudden victory in the championship. Kirkham won by fall against his first two opponents and won in the semifinals on a 14-2 major decision to advance to the championship where he was pinned by Dylan Elmore (Overland Park-St. Thomas Aquinas) in 57 seconds.
Cruz pinned two opponents and won by a 7-0 decision before losing to Oak Grove’s Caleb Groff on a 5-0 decision in the championship. That was only Cruz’s second loss of the season as he currently holds a 15-2 record.
In the 215-weight class, Owen Stockbauer went 3-1 in the tournament – and is 14-3 overall – as he lost on a 7-2 decision against Sean Carroll (Overland Park-St. Thomas Aquinas) in the semifinals. Stockbauer bounced back in the third-place match, defeating West Platte’s Lane Scott on a 5-0 decision.
Kris Whitford (113) made it to the third-place match when he was pinned in the semifinals to Penney’s Alex Martin in 1:02. He claimed third place with 7-2 decision over Rock Port’s Dylan Lair.
In the 157-weight class, Galen Christiansen took sixth place when he went 2-2 in the tournament. Nick Stewart (150) and Grady Coons (126) both finished in ninth places.
For the Blue Jays, they had five wrestlers finish in third and fourth places. Peyson Chandler took third place in the 144-weight class, while Jhett Chandler, McKanan Reade, Tristan Newkirk and Scott all ended in fourth place in their respected weight classes.
Peyson Chandler pinned his first two opponents before losing on an 8-4 decision to Jacob McGargill (Shenandoah). The West Platte senior was in a battle for third place against Nevada’s Joseph Fahnstock when the Blue Jay won in a tie breaker, 3-1.
In the 126-weight class, Jhett Chandler had a bye in the opening round and then won by an 8-2 decision in the quarterfinals before being pinned in 4:28 by Maryville’s Tanner Turner in 4:28. In the third-place match, the Blue Jay fell to Tristan Newkirk on a 6-3 decision.
Reade (138) won by fall then lost on a 4-0 decision to Oak Grove’s Rudy Whitehead in the semifinals before being pinned by Shenandoah’s Cole Scamman in 4:38 in the third-place match. In the 150-weight class, Newkirk won by fall in his opening two matches then lost on an 11-2 major decision in the semifinals to Ethan Smith (South Harrison) and had to forfeit the third-place match to Thomas Ross (Polo) due to an injury.