North Platte will have five boy wrestlers compete at state – Ryder Coons, Owen Stockbauer, Seth Cruz, Grant Schuster and Colton Kirkham – in the co-op Mid-Buchanan wrestling team that bumped up to Class 2 this year.
Mid-Buchanan became Class 2 District 4 Champions with ease, finishing with 27 points more than the next team and becoming a district champion for the fourth straight season. The Dragons had 191 points and Cameron was in second place with 164 points at Excelsior Springs High School on Feb. 18.
Coons was a district champion in the 132-weight class to make it back to state with an impressive 29-14 record. Coons pinned his first opponent then had a pair of decisions to close out districts, ending with a 4-2 victory over Ryne Marcum (Excelsior Springs).
Kirkham is also making it back to state – coming off a second-place overall finish in Class 1 a year ago – after the senior claimed second place in the 165-weight class. Kirkham pinned Excelsior Springs’s Anthony Circo in 2:52 and narrowly defeated Savannah’s Chance Phillips in an ultimate tiebreaker before losing on a 14-1 decision to St. Joseph’s Lafayette’s Jay Greiner in the championship match.
Stockbauer made the final-4 in the 215-weight class after winning three of his five district matches. Stockbauer went 3-1 to qualify for the third-place match where he lost on a 9-4 decision to Cameron’s Paul Viena.
Cruz moved to 34-9 on the season and claimed third place in the 285-weight class after beating Kort Watkins (Maryville) on a 1-0 decision. Cruz finished in third place in the 285-weight class in the Class 1 State Wrestling Championships last season.
Schuster ended in fourth place in the 106-weight class for his first state appearance after fighting back to make it to the third-place match and losing on a 6-1 decision to Landon Scarborough (Odessa). Schuster pinned Excelsior Springs’ Wyett Shipman in 1:06 in his first match before falling by a 15-5 major decision to Cameron’s Dylan Pratt and bouncing back with a 41-second pin over Benton’s Kemper Gehring.