A handful of area wrestlers took part in the Southern Plain Greco Roman and Freestyle Championships last month in Mulvane, Kan.
The group represented Missouri in a field that featured wrestlers from Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Wyoming, Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma.
Platte County standout Eli Rocha was a champion in the freestyle event, going 4-0. Rocha (16U 126 pounds) got a pin in his first match, then rattled off three straight tech falls. In the finals against Benjamin Gravel of Illinois, he won 14-1.
Jaydon Walls added a fourth for Missouri. The Pirate all-stater lost his opening match in the 16U 182 division, but won his next two. His 5-4 win against Carlos Alvarado of Oklahoma sent him into the third-place match. Walls lost by an 8-7 decision to Camron Timmons of Oklahoma in his final freestyle match.
Platte County’s Grant Stathopoulos went 2-2 in freestyle in the 16U 113-pound division.
Park Hill’s Kal Miller, Ethen Miller and Trey Crawford won championships for Missouri
Kal Miller (16U 132) went 4-0, starting with three straight technical fall wins. He topped Missouri teammate Kyle Dutton in the finals, 10-7.
Ethen Miller (Junior 126) went 4-0 with two tech falls and two pins. He took down Missouri teammate Josh Kyle by a 10-0 tech fall in the finals.
Crawford (Junior 132) secured two wins by tech fall to reach the semifinals, where he topped Illinois’ Brody Norman by a 6-4 decision. In the finals, he beat Tagen Jamison of Texas by a 14-11 decision.
Submitted photo
The Park Hill trio, from left, of Ethen Miller, Kal Miller and Trey Crawford all had success at the Southern Plain Championships last month in Mulvane, Kan.
Another Park Hill wrestler there was Grayston DiBlasi, who went 2-2 in the junior 145-pound class.
In Greco Roman, Rocha, Walls, Ethen Miller and Crawford all were champions.
Rocha went 4-0 again, getting two tech falls and two wins by decision, including a 9-6 win versus Averee Abben of Iowa in the finals. Rocha won a tiebreaker against Colorado’s Carter Stephenson in the quarterfinals to advance after they tied 1-1.
Walls won all three of his matches, getting revenge of a loss to Timmons in freestyle with a 7-2 decision in the semifinals. In the finals, Walls pinned Alvardo in 3:01.
Ethen Miller went 3-0, getting a 13-11 decision against Missouri teammate Jack Lenox in the semifinals. In the title bout, Miller beat Kyle — another teammate — 8-4 to win.
Crawford opened with a pin in 16 seconds and then won two straight by tech falls to move on into the finals. He beat Norman for the second time in the event, this time, 9-4 in the finals.
Crawford was named the USA Southern Plain Junior Greco Roman Regional Championship outstanding wrestler for his efforts.
Kal Miller was third, winning three straight after a loss in the quarterfinals against Ivan Morris of Colorado, 12-6. In the third-place match, Kal Miller blanked Dylan Elmore of Kansas by tech fall, 10-0.
Stathopoulous went 1-2 and DiBlasi was 2-2 in Greco.