There will be only one Class 1 wrestler from the area competing at the MSHSAA Wrestling Championships this upcoming week.
West Platte’s Thomas Tharp took third place at the Class 1 District 4 meet held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8-9 at Lathrop High School.
Tharp went 5-1 on the weekend and closed on a high note, avenging his only loss in the 285-pound bracket. The Bluejays heavyweight posted a pin in 1 minute, 25 seconds against Plattsburg’s Trevor Rush in the third-place match. In the quarterfinals, Rush pinned Tharp with six seconds left in the third period.
Four of Tharp’s five wins came from pins. He started with a pin against Stanberry’s Austin Colvin in 2:37 in the first match. In the consolation portion of the bracket, he started with a pin in 1 minute against Ashton Yeary of East Atchison. Tharp then stuck Gallatin’s Dyson Fry in 54 seconds.
DENNIS SHARKEY/MOUND CITY NEWS
West Platte’s Thomas Tharp, left, took third place in the 285-pound class at the Class 1 District 4 meet held on Saturday, Feb. 9 in Lathrop.
In the consolation semifinal — where a win was needed to punch a ticket to state — Tharp won 2-1 against Lathrop’s Drake Chisam.
Tharp (28-9) will draw 37-9 Monroe Mills of Father Tolton Catholic in the opening around.
The winner/loser of that match will face the same in a matchup of Justin McGough of Diamond and Jacob Bader of Bishop DuBourg.
The part of the bracket that Tharp is in features MissouriWrestling.com No. 2-ranked Caden Phillips of Macon, Mills who is ranked No. 3, McGough — who is No. 5 — and Mid-Buchanan’s Wyatt Callway, who is No. 6.
West Platte had a close call for Julian Trelow in the 160-pound class and Zack Esther (113).
Trelow won his quarterfinal match against Lathrop’s Brendon Arthur by a pin to reach the semifinals. There, he ran into No. 3-ranked Tom Crouse, who won by a 9-1 major decision. Klayton Kennedy of Plattsburg then beat Trelow by 6-2 decision in the consolation semifinals.
Esther lost his first match against Plattsburg’s Joseph Hofmeister, but then won in the third round of the consolation bracket, 9-4, against Lawson’s Trevor Gondran. In the bubble match, he lost to East Atchison’s Justin Stanton by a pin.
Lamar Henderson, Mason Taylor and Cameron Sadell all went 0-2 for West Platte, which finished 12th in the standings.
Lathrop won the district title with 214 points, while Mid-Buchanan was the runner-up. The Dragons had only one North Platte student competing for them in the field.
Aden Woolard was in the 160-pound class and went 0-2.