GARDNER, Kan. — Platte County got a strong test to open the season.
On Saturday, Dec. 1, the Pirates ventured west to Gardner-Edgerton High School to compete in the Gardner-Edgerton Invitational that was full of top teams from Iowa, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. The Pirates were the lone Missouri team in the field of 15 and are coming off a third-place showing last season.
CODY THORN/Citizen photo
Platte County’s Nick Filger, left, battles Trent Dooley, from Allen, Texas, in the championship bracket of the Gardner-Edgerton Invitational on Saturday, Dec. 1 in Gardner, Kan.
Platte County finished with four wrestlers placing in the top five in the event, led by a third-place showing from Nick Filger.
The returning state qualifier opened his run in the 138-pound class with three straight wins: beating Jackson Medina of St. James Academy by pin; Mill Valley’s Cameron Schwegman by pin and a 4-3 win against Jace Fisher of Goddard.
In the championship bracket, he lost by pin in 2:26 to Trent Dooley of Allen, Texas, a defending Class 6A champion. In the third-place match, Filger posted a 3-2 win against Nathan Marchand of Southeast Polk, Iowa.
Nolan Saale (152) followed the path of Filger, going 3-0 in pool matches, winning all by pins. He took down Dawson Radik of Omaha Skutt Catholic, Gardner-Edgerton’s Justin Garden and Olathe North’s Jose Cervantes. In the championship bracket, Saale was pinned in 58 seconds against Lance Runyon, a third-place finisher at state last year from Southeast Polk.
In the third-place match, returning state medalist Brodie Scott of Mill Valley bested Saale, 3-2.
Freshman Eli Rocha (120) and senior Glen Gammill (285) both placed fifth.
Rocha went 2-1 in pool matches and won his last two matches, capped with a 4-3 win against Rance Waigand of Allen. Gammill went 2-2 in pool matches and then won his final match against Damion Ilalio of Manhattan, Kan., by a decision, 9-3.
Platte County took ninth place with 90 ½ points. The teams in the standings ahead of the Pirates were full of state-championship caliber teams. Southeast Polk won with 250 points and it was third in Class 3A in Iowa last year — the largest classification in that state. Allen, the defending Class 6A champs in Texas, was second with 230 points. Three points behind them was Broken Arrow, Okla., the Class 6A runners-up last year. Goddard, the Class 5A champion in Kansas was fourth and Manhattan took fifth. Omaha Skutt Catholic, a state champion in Nebraska, was eighth overall.
30th annual Leavenworth Challenger
Park Hill South had seven wrestlers place in the top three at the Leavenworth Challenger on Saturday, Dec. 1 in Leavenworth, Kan.
The Panthers were sixth overall in the field with 106 points and third among Missouri teams, coming in behind the champion Liberty and Ray-Pec, which was third.
In the ‘A’ bracket, Max Rosario (160) was the runner-up for the Panthers, while Clay Cronkleton (220) took third.
Rosario went 3-0 in pool matches with two pins and a tech fall and then beat Leavenworth’s Julian Bell by pin in 1:36 to reach the finals. Liberty’s Wentric Williams II won by a 4-2 decision over Rosario in the finals.
Cronkleton went 2-1 in pool matches — both wins by pins —before falling to Liberty’s Callum Trester by a pin in 1:48 in the bracket match. In the third-place contest, Cronkleton won by injury default against Ray-Pec’s Ethan George.
In the ‘B’ bracket, Mohamed Ali (120) and Max Donohoe (126) were both second, while third place went to Trey Mastio (106), Payton Keedy (138) and Luke Hicks (182).
Other matches
Park Hill 40,
Broken Arrow, Okla., 26
Park Hill opened the season with a victory outside of Tulsa on Friday, Nov. 30.
In a battle of state runners-up in their respective states, Park Hill turned a 24-16 match into a blowout with four wins in a five-bout span. Kal Miller (120) and Ethen Miller (126) both won 1-0, while Trey Safford (138) won by a pin for the Trojans. Tyson Moore then had a 10-1 major decision to account for a 40-20 lead.
Cale Keck (106), Carter Goslee (160), Blake Hopson (170), Devin Winston (195), and Simon Tesafamarian (220) also won for Park Hill.
Park Hill South 42, Fort Osage 39
In a match that came down to the end, one non-pin made the difference in a bout full of falls and forfeits on Tuesday, Nov. 27 at Park Hill South High School in Riverside.
Park Hill South won only four matches, while losing seven to the Indians. However, three forfeits — totaling 18 points — were the difference. Another was a 9-7 loss by Max Donohoe against Fort Osage’s Bryan Herrera at 126 – the lone of the 11 matches to not end in a fall.
All four wins for the Panthers came in the first two periods.
Kale Slater (132) pinned Ethan Gotch with six seconds left in the second period. Max Rosario (160) took down Jeremiah Phillips at the 3:13 mark, while Cameron Gillespie (182) pinned Jake Jones at 3:29. Jackson Minor (170) had the fastest pin, taking down Jayden Richardson in 1:43.
Preston Dishman (195), Clay Cronkleton (220) and Michael Swope (285) won by forfeits for Park Hill South.