Michael Smith
Special to the Citizen
Park Hill South head wrestling coach Dan Dunkin admitted he was a little surprised at how well his team was doing in the Lydia’s Lights Invitational.
The Panthers were competing against many quality teams like Lee’s Summit North, Blue Springs, Platte County, Rockhurst and Lee’s Summit.
They more than held their own as they took second place as a team with 348.5 points Saturday at Blue Springs South High School. Lee’s Summit North won with 527.5 points, Blue Springs was third with 305 points and Platte County took sixth with 211.5 points.
“I am really happy,” Dunkin said. “Any time you can get ahead of Blue Springs and Platte County and those kind of teams, it’s a good day. We started well yesterday and we were pinning people. We continued that today.”
Senior 170-pounder Max Rosario was a big part of the Panthers’ success. He took first place after earning five pins, a 7-5 decision over Platte County’s Drake Lacina and a 13-5 victory over Raytown’s William Mayfield in the title bout. Rosario fell behind 2-0 early before coming back and controlling the match.
“He’s a strong kid and he’s hard to turn on bottom,” Rosario said of Mayfield. “I worked some ankle picks, but he gave me a good fight.”
Dunkin raved about Rosario’s mental toughness in the championship.
“(Mayfield) kept coming at us and it could have gone either way,” Dunkin said. “We started winning scrambles three and four minutes into it. Now we’re starting to control the match. When you see that late in the season, it makes coaches happy.”
It’s been an impressive comeback for Rosario, who tore his meniscus last season in practice just before districts started, effectively ending his season. This year, he’s come back strong as he currently has a 29-6 record.
“It feels good being back,” Rosario said. “Last year, after tearing my knee before districts it broke me down a little. I was upset. I just wanted to redeem myself and come back stronger this year.
South 182-pounder Connor Gillespie (ranked No. 2 in the MissouriWrestling.com poll in Class 4) won his weight class after defeating Lee’s Summit North’s Zane Ragland (ranked No. 3 in the state) 7-2. He had four pins before his title match, and it was his seventh time facing Ragland in the past two years.
“Seven matches in two years gives your opponent a lot of opportunities to learn your style,” Gillespie said. “I think he’s figured me out pretty well because we’ve wrestled so many times.
The scoring doesn’t come quite as easy.”
Gillespie improved to an impressive 38-1 and he looks like one of the favorites to win an individual state championship. However, Liberty’s Greyden Penner (ranked No. 1 in the state and ranked No. 4 in InterMatWrestle.com’s national poll, a two-time state champion, will stand in his way).
“I try not to look too much at the rankings,” Gillespie said. “I believe that I am one of the better guys in the state. It’s cool to get noticed by the media. Greyden Penner should be coming back for districts. He’s a fantastic opponent. He’s one of the most impressive wrestlers I ever watched.”
Connor Detty (120) and Gage Baska (126) came close to winning gold medals as they both took second. Detty was pinned by North’s Caden Schweitzer in 1:58 and Baska lost a nail biter in a 4-3 loss to North’s Hunter Ross.
Other South wrestlers who placed in the top four included Dylan Taylor (106, third), Kaven Slater (126, fourth), Ashton Kuhn (152, fourth) and Clay Cronkleton (285, fourth).
For Platte County, Grant Stathopoulos was the lone Pirate to take first place. He controlled the match throughout and worked a pin against North’s Alex Noble in 3:59. Noble rode him well from the top position for most of the second period. However, Stathopoulos managed to get a reverse later and turned it into a pin just before time expired.
“He was riding me pretty tough and he had some legs in,” Stathopoulos said of Noble. “My coaches kept telling me to catch it and throw it out. I finally got through it and everything opened up. I swam the head and got the pin.”
Trey Pham (126) reached the championship round but finished second after getting pinned by North’s Ryan McNeel. Pham pinned McNeel in 1:46 in the pool rounds earlier in the day.
Ben McDaniel was the only other Pirate to place in the top four as he took third after a 18-2 tech fall victory over Staley’s Derrick Finnell.