COLUMBIA, Mo. — One goal didn’t materialize for Eli Rocha but instead he adjusted the goal a bit.
The sophomore for Platte County finished in sixth place at the Class 3 MSHSAA Wrestling State Championships on Saturday, Feb. 22.
The medal is the second in two trips to Mizzou Arena for Rocha, but this one didn’t end the way he wanted.
He re-aggravated a knee injury in the 132-pound wrestlebacks but battled back and got two wins to earn a medal. But on the final day of the state tournament, the decision was to made forfeit the last two matches.
“It felt good to at least medal,” said Rocha, who was fourth last year at 120 pounds.
Rocha hurt his medial cruciate ligament in practice the week before districts but battled through and earned a return trip to state.
Rocha (37-7) opened with a pin in 48 seconds against Matthew Wilson of Hannibal, but then lost a heartbreaker, 3-2, to Neosho’s Kolton Sanders — the eventual champion.
ROSS MARTIN/Special to the Citizen
Platte County’s Eli Rocha battles Lebanon’s Hayden Dearborn in the consolation bracket on Friday, Feb. 21 at the MSHSAA Wrestling Championships in Columbia, Mo.
In that match, there were two particular moves that Rocha felt he could’ve gotten points against Sanders.
“On my first throw I thought I should’ve had points but I looked (at the video) and my foot was out of bounds,” Rocha said. “The second one I feel my feet were in bounds and he was on his back. They called it out and that is when the points should’ve happened.”
The call is one that even coach Reggie Burress had his doubts about.
“It is a disappointing outcome,” he said. “Everyone could see it was two (takedown points) and two (near fall points).”
Rocha said he watched the replay a few times since the early match on Friday morning. He had to come back and wrestle not long after and that is when the bad break in the loss turned into more bad news.
In a 10-6 win against Lebanon’s Hayden Dearborn his knee was tweaked. Rocha thought his tournament was over but he came back to wrestle that night against Isaac Roberson of McCluer North and got a pin in 57 seconds.
Back at the arena on Saturday for the final day of the tournament, his quest to return to the third-place match ended.
“He got through the day but it swelled back up and he can’t hardly take shots on it,” Burress said. “We warmed up and he didn’t have the mobility he needed to and we faulted out.
The decision led to losses against Hillsboro’s Dalton Litzsinger and Willard’s Timothy Stevens.
“After I lost last year (in the semifinals), my main goal was to be a three-time state champion,” Rocha said. “When I lost in the quarterfinals, I wanted to be a four-time medalist and a two-time state champion. The goal changes a little bit but we will still be going for the best I could do.”
Rocha was one of four Pirates that competed at the state meet, one less than scheduled following the district tournament. Junior Gabe Davis qualified weeks after having an appendectomy but wasn’t given clearance from his surgeon to continue his season.
“It was paining him pretty good at districts,” Burress said of Davis, who injury defaulted the third-place match districts. “Just walking around at state he was still hurt. We want to make sure he is healthy and ready to do stuff this spring and summer and go down there and get on the stand next year.”
The only other Pirate to secure a win at state was sophomore Jared Parsons (145).
He lost his opening round match against Willard’s Ryder Heimbach by a technical fall, 18-2. Heimbach ended up taking fourth place.
Parsons kept his season alive by winning the next two matches. He won 5-3 against Rockwood Summit’s Liam Hedrick and then 10-7 against Hannibal’s Tyler Hardy.
In the bubble match, a win from a medal, Parsons lost by a 15-3 major decision to Marshfield’s Ruger Leppert, who finished sixth.
“Jared made the bubble match and he had seven wins heading into districts two weeks ago,” Burress said of Parsons, who finished 12-18. “The progress is there. Everyone is back that we took down there and a couple lost close matches at districts. I don’t see a reason why we can’t qualify 10 boys and have five placers next year.
The other two qualifiers were Drake Lacina (170) and Jesse Schillinger (220), who both went 0-2.