COLUMBIA, Mo. — There was tangible proof of things getting better in year two for the Park Hill wrestling team under coach Jacob Beck.
The Trojans brought home a runner-up finish, had five finalists and had seven medalists at the Class 4 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships, which were held Feb. 20-22 at Mizzou Arena.
Park Hill came in behind Liberty in the team standings but moved up a spot in the team standings this year and finished with 146 points.
“I think 146 would win it (state title) more often times than not,” Beck said. “We have to be really happy where we are at. We came here for the No. 1 trophy but we are leaving with second. We are improving. We got another trophy. Our championship percentage in the finals increased and we are improving, not just as wrestlers, but people.
“We had a lot of moving parts weight wise and personnel wise but this was their second year with me and the other coaches but it (the trophy) is a testament of what Park Hill wrestling is.”
The trophy is the 13th straight for the Trojans and makes 17 out of the past 18 years a trip to Columbia ends with a top-four finish.
Park Hill added two more state champions to the record board in brothers Ethen and Kal Miller.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Park Hill’s Ethen Miller, right, throws his ankle bands in the air after winning the Class 4 138-pound championship on Saturday, Feb. 22 at the MSHSAA Wrestling Championships held at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.
The two won titles in back-to-back matches on Saturday, Feb. 22.
Ethen, a junior, got his third state medal but his first state championship thanks to a 3-1 win over Liberty’s Kage Lenger in a rematch of last week’s district championships.
Miller got a takedown on Lenger with one second left and celebrated the victory by raising his arms. Then, the Liberty coaching staff went to talk to the officials to argue the points shouldn’t have counted.
So, Miller and Lenger just stood in limbo awaiting a conference from the two mat officials.
Then, one of the officials raised his hand and signaled two points and Miller was officially a state champion.
“I was thinking it could go either way,” Ethen Miller said. “I thought I had kept my knees in but you never know. “When his hip hit I thought it was two. I knew I was on short time. I saw there was 45 seconds left and I thought I’d finish it but he had strong legs.”
Miller added a first-place medal to his runner-up finish in 2019 and a third-place showing in 2018.
The junior finished the year 18-1 and went 4-0 en route to the state title. He opened with a 9-0 major decision over Evan Wasson of Wentzville Timberland and then won by technical fall over Columbia Rock Bridge’s Owen Twaddle, 17-2, in the quarterfinals on Friday, Feb. 21. Later that night, Miller got a 6-1 win over Carter Holt of Wentzville Timberland to reach a final for the second year in a row.
Battling injuries throughout the season, the Missouri commit competed in a tournament in this format for the first time since December.
“Ethen is a grinder, he guts things out,” Beck said.
Kal Miller was watching his brother’s match while he stood in the tunnel awaiting his match, which was in the next weight class up — 145 pounds.
“I was getting into it screaming and everyone was looking at me like ‘what the heck’” Kal Miller said of watching his brother’s match before his bout. “We have always dreamed about that (winning it together) and it was awesome.”
Kal Miller gave up only seven points in four victories — all in the same match — and blanked Liberty’s Logan Rathjen in the finals, 5-0, in a rematch of a district title match that Miller won as well.
That was part of a dominating stretch for Class 4 District 4, which had five straight matches in the finals that were rematches of district championship clashes. Three of the top four teams in the standings were from that district, with Liberty winning its first-ever state championship and Staley taking third place, ahead of 2019 team champion Christian Brothers College of St. Louis.
Kal Miller’s closest match was a 15-7 major decision over Cannon Newhouse of Northwest Cedar Hill in the semifinals. It was the third straight match where Kal Miller had 15 points, opening up with 15-0 tech falls over Ray-Pec’s Jacob Quest and Marquette’s Alex Nicozin.
That all preceded a fourth showdown with Rathjen, all wins by Kal Miller (35-2).
“I knew Logan could make a run for it,” said Kal Miller, who took fourth last year at 120. “I just did the same thing. I got a takedown and a takedown and if I could turn him, I can turn him and get on my feet. Before the match, I knew I’d go out and do what I do and I would get to my stuff.
Kody Ketchum, Trey Crawford and Grayston DiBlasi all made the finals for Park Hill and finished as runners-up.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Park Hill’s Kal Miller won the 145 pound title in Class 4 on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.
Ketchum (120) and Crawford (132) both lost to Liberty wrestlers in rematches of district matches. Ketchum lost to Jeremiah Reno in the finals at districts and lost by a 12-3 major decision in the finals. The Nebraska signee closed out a perfect career with the win over Ketchum, going 179-0 in four seasons with four state titles.
Ketchum closed out his season with a 29-9 record and dominated foes prior to the finals. He pinned Troy Buchanan’s Seth Littrell in the first round, before getting shutouts against Nixa’s Deagan Fugitt (15-0) and Blue Springs’ Cayden Dotson (5-0) in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.
Crawford bested Kyle Dutton in the district finals but lost 5-3 in the state finals.
Dutton (45-4) took a 2-1 lead in the first period and got another point in the second to take a 3-1 lead into the final period. Crawford (28-3) ended his career with three medals in three trips to state, the exception came his sophomore year when an injury ended his season early.
“We were talking about the match that special people don’t always have the easy route,” Beck said of Crawford, who signed to wrestle at Missouri. “I wouldn’t trade him or anyone on this team for anybody else, success or not or championship or not, we have a great group.
“He didn’t wrestle his best match but that doesn’t define his time at Park Hill. He won big matches and sacrificed for the team being at 132 and he is a reason we took second as a team.”
Crawford got pins in all three of his matches to reach the finals, all three coming in the first period to reach the finals for the first time after getting a third-place and fifth-place in previous trips to Columbia.
DiBlasi had the lone finals that wasn’t a rematch of a district matchup as he battled Waynesville’s Gaven Sax, losing 6-1. The match was scoreless after two minutes and Sax took a 2-0 lead on a reversal in the second period and led 4-1 after four minutes. DiBlasi almost got two points in the final seconds on a takedown but he didn’t get them despite Beck talking to the official.
Instead of being down 4-3, he was down three and couldn’t make up the difference against Sax (43-1).
The two met last year in the third-place match at 145 and Sax won that matchup as well.
DiBlasi (36-7) pinned Jackson’s Garner Horman (40-4) in the semifinals and won 6-3 against conference rival Ray-Pec’s Kanen Huff in the quarterfinals on Friday. DiBlasi opened the tournament with a 15-1 technical win against Brody Valleroy of Mehlville.
Park Hill also got medals from sophomore Cael Keck (106) and Ryker Smith (113) and all eight wrestlers who came to Columbia got at least one win.
Keck lost in the consolation semifinals, 5-4, to Nixa’s Zan Fugitt on Friday but moved into the third-place match with 9-0 major decision over Seckman’s John Banvakais in the consolation semifinals on Saturday, Feb. 22. In the third-place match later that morning, he got a 4-3 win against Francis Howell Central’s Peyton Shepard.
RANDY SPEER/Warrensburg Daily Star-Journal
Park Hill’s Chris Bizzle holds the second place trophy in Class 4 on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Mizzou Arena.
Keck (43-5) beat Shepard in the first matchup of the tournament in the quarterfinals, 5-3.
“It feels pretty good,” Keck said of his first medal at state. “I didn’t wrestle well in the semifinals, I didn’t wrestle my match, but I came back and got the next best thing. I was pretty upset because I had beat the kid that I lost to the semifinals but to come back to take third feels good.”
Smith, another sophomore, had the most matches for the Trojans after he recovered from a quarterfinal lost to Columbia Rock Bridge’s Carter McCallister, 3-1. Smith kept his season alive with a 14-3 major decision over Jacob Wooten of Oak Park and then 8-3 against Seckman’s Blake Jost.
Smith dropped his second match of the tournament in the consolation semifinals against Liberty’s Easton Hilton, 6-1. Smith capped his week with a 3-1 win against Nixa’s Peyton Moore in the fifth-place match. Earlier this season, Moore got a victory over Smith in the Winnetonka Tournament.
Smith (29-15) and Moore were tied at 1 before a takedown by Smith with 12 seconds left won it.
“I shot and he stuffed me on the single so I cut back to the double and got the takedown,” said Smith of beating Moore, a state runner-up last year at 106. “It’s been hard to improve a lot after not placing at state. I’m excited to play with all these kids, it is a tough bracket in 113. I look forward to placing next year and I’m coming to win it.”
Chris Bizzle (195) went 1-2 in the tournament for the Trojans, but opened with a 4-2 win in overtime against Springfield Central’s Gabriel Fletchall on Thursday, Feb. 20. In day two, Bizzle lost in 8-2 to CBC’s Luke Ebers and then lost 5-2 to Aaron Barnhill of Lee’s Summit North in a rematch of the third-place match at districts the previous week.