Four out of the five Park Hill boys’ wrestlers who made it to Mizzou Arena for state wrestling ended the tournament with a medal.
Cael Keck (132) and Kal Miller (145) both ended their prolific careers off by making it to the championship match. Both were unable to become the state champion but earned silver medals.
Keck won each of his two matches by a major decision before defeating Staley’s Davis Gleason with a sudden victory. In the championship match, Liberty’s Christopher Coates won on a 3-0 decision.
Park Hill freshman Erik Egstad, above, earned a fifth-place finish at state at Mizzou arena on Feb. 19.
Miller pinned the first three opponents that the Trojan faced at the state tournament, by falls over Chris Gibson (Francis Howell), Gavin Shoulders (Lafayette) and Tyler Bierman (Holt). In his final career match for Park Hill, Liberty’s Kyle Dutton won with a 5-3 decision.
“The ones who came down here came down here to compete and I think they laid it all down on the line,” Park Hill Head Coach Jacob Beck said. “Sometimes it doesn’t turn out the way you want it to, but we talk a lot about representing yourself well for six good minutes and I think they all did that. No matter the result, I think they have to be happy with their performances.”
Keck was third place medalist in the 106-weight class in 2020 and the runner-up in 120-weight class in 2021. The third Park Hill senior that made it to state was Kody Ketchum who ended his Trojan career on a high note by taking down Hickman’s Ethan Barr in the Class 4 138 Pound Fifth Place match to secure a medal.
Ketchum wrapped up his Park Hill tenure with two state medals as the senior was the 2020 runner-up in the 120-weight class his sophomore year. The three senior state qualifiers were freshmen when Coach Beck took over the program and have helped change the culture at Park Hill.
“Anything I say isn’t going to do it justice – they were the first class I had coming here, and they helped change an entire culture. They got it moving in the right path, and even helped the girls’ program move forward – we have a bunch of young Trojans ready to get in the room and it’s because of what they have done. They have shown what it takes to be successful in the right way and I love them; it’s going to be weird not seeing them in the room every day,” Beck said.
Freshman phenom Erik Egstad (106) capped off his first high school season with a fifth-place medal after he opened with back-to-back victories by fall. In the semifinals, Hank Benter (Hickman) pinned the Trojan in 31 seconds and Damien Moseley (Ozark) won the next matchup, before Egstad secured a fifth-place finish by a medical forfeit over David Gleason (Staley).
Park Hill junior Ethan Vande Ven fell in 3:54 to Braxdon Tate (Carthage) in the consolation second round in the 152-weight class. Marquette’s Tommy McBride pinned Vande Ven in 3:05 in the opening round, before the Trojan advanced with a pin (fall 1:57) against Republic’s Maddox Wilkins