On top of being a dominant squad in recent years, the Mid-Buchanan boys’ wrestling team added more accolades with another KCI Title as West Platte finished in sixth place on Jan. 24.
With the KCI Tournament taking place at Plattsburg High School, Mid-Buchanan – who had nine North Platte athletes competing on the co-op team – ended up with 194 points. Lawson was the second-place squad 61 points behind the Dragons and West Platte ended with 63.5 points.
The Dragons and Blue Jays had a championship matchup in the 175-weight class with Mid-Buchanan coming out on top with a 1:29 pin. David Brown was defeated by Zach Kelley but the Blue Jay had won by fall in the opening round against Lawson’s Braxton Bye in 5:37.
West Platte senior Peyson Chandler was the only Blue Jay to become a KCI Champion, doing so in the 150-weight class. He pinned Talan Ash (Penney) in 1:07 and defeated Beau McAdams (Lathrop) on a 4-3 decision.
Ryder Coons (132), Colton Kirkham (165), Wade Stanton (190) and Seth Cruz (285) all became KCI Champions for the Dragons. Kris Whitford and Owen Stockbauer both ended in second place in the 113 and 215-weight classes.
Coons, Kirkham and Stanton won all their matches by fall, but Cruz earned his championship victory with a 5-3 decision over Penney’s Dawson Miller after pinning Lawson’s Skyler Biddix in 51 seconds. With the championship, Kirkham moves to 21-5 on the season while Stanton is 24-2, Cruz is 22-5 and Coons is 16-11.
Whitford opened the KCI Tournament with a 5-0 decision over Lawson’s Brayden Sullard before falling to Penney’s Alex Martin in 1:40. Since there were only four wrestlers in the 113-weight class, Whitford’s bounce-back, 49-second win by fall over Plattsburg’s Ryan Lloyd lifted the Dragon to a second-place finish.
Stockbauer made it to the championship in the 215-weight class after a 12-4 major decision against Dakota Rankin (Plattsburg) and a 51-second win by fall over Skyler Biddix (Lawson). Stockbauer moved to 21-7 on the season when he came up short in the championship in a 2:17 pin.
Grant Schuster was the runner-up in the 106-weight class and pinned Plattsburg’s Brody McCartney in 1:50. Schuster advanced to the championship with the victory and came up shy against Lathrop’s Garrett Beane – who hasn’t lost a match all season – by a 3:40 pin.
Galen Christiansen took third place in the 157-weight class after he lost on an 8-2 decision to Carson Clay (Lathrop) and then beat Logan Retnolds (Plattsburg) on a medical forfeit. Nick Stewart (144) and Grady Coons (126) both ended in fourth places.
For West Platte, Canton Wilkens (106) and Jhett Chandler (126) both earned third places in their respective weight classes. A pin happened in all three of the 126-pound wrestler’s matches, while the 106-pounder had a win by fall, was pinned and had a 10-2 major decision in the third-place match over Brody McCartney (Plattsburg).