Area boys wrestling sectionals are scheduled for Saturday.
At the sectional, the top three finishers in each weight class will advance to the state tournament in Independence.
The state tournaments will run from March 9-13 and will be held at Cable Dahmer Arena.
Below is a look at the sectional qualifiers from Joplin area squads.
CLASS 4 SECTIONAL 3 AT OZARK
Joplin and Carthage combined to advance 17 wrestlers to the sectional round.
JOPLIN
The Eagles had six wrestlers advance to the sectional with their top-four showings at the district tourney.
Joplin’s Sam Melton was the district runner-up at 106 pounds, while Josiah Vaughn (132) and Gunner Price (285) both won third-place matches.
Advancing by finishing fourth in their respective brackets were Rocky Walker (126), Drew VanGilder (170) and Scott Lowe (195).
CARTHAGE
The Tigers had 11 wrestlers advance.
Capturing district titles were Davion King (145) and Luke Gall (182), while Dagan Sappington (132), Eli Sneed (138), Braxdon Tate (152) and Grey Petticrew (160) all finished second in their brackets.
Bradyn Tate (113), Carlos Reyes (120), Kip Castor (126) and Kanen Vogt (220) all finished third, while Dylan Huntley (106) placed fourth.
CLASS 3 SECTIONAL 3 AT WILLARD
There are 37 athletes from four regional schools competing at this sectional.
NEOSHO
The defending state champion Wildcats will have 12 athletes competing at the sectional.
Nine Neosho wrestlers took first place in their respective brackets at the district event—Raymond Hembree (106), Landon Kivett (120), Hayden Crane (132), Eli Zar (145), Trent Neece (152), Cayden Auch (160), Eric Holt (170), Jeremiah Larson (195) and Jacob Fry (220).
Neosho’s Jonathan Chrisco finished as the runner-up at 126, while Nathan Copeland was third at 138 and Wyatt Black was fourth at 113.
CARL JUNCTION
The Bulldogs had 12 athletes advance to the sectional with their top-four finishes at the district tournament.
Carl Junction’s Jesse Cassatt captured a district championship at 182 pounds.
Lukas Walker (106), Max Matthews (113), Dexter Merrell (138), Cole Stewart (145) and Kameron Bennett (285) all finished second in their respective brackets at the district tourney, while Dylan Frazier (126), Lucas Watkins (152), Chance Benford (170) and Brennan Carey (220) all won third-place matches.
Finishing fourth at the district tournament were Keaton Colburn (120) and Cayden Bollinger (195).
MCDONALD COUNTY
The Mustangs will have seven wrestlers competing at the sectional.
Blaine Ortiz (113) and Jayce Hitt (285) captured district championships, while Levi Smith (132) and Sam Murphy (220) finished second in their brackets.
Victor Lopez-Sebastian (106), Cross Spencer (138) and Alexis Molina-Cruz (160) also advanced after finishing fourth in their brackets.
WEBB CITY
The Cardinals will have six athletes competing at the sectional.
Webb City’s Colton Taylor (120), Roger Carranco (182) and Jacob Ott (195) were district runners-up, while Brayden Hollingsworth finished third at 160.
Dominic Boles (132) and Jackson Ward (170) advanced by finishing fourth.
STILL UNDEFEATED
Neosho’s Cayden Auch (43-0) and Jeremiah Larson (38-0) and Carl Junction’s Jesse Cassatt (43-0) are all currently undefeated ahead of the sectional meet.
CLASS 2 SECTIONAL 3 AT SENECA
SENECA
The Indians will have a wrestler competing in all 14 weight classes.
Seneca’s district champs were Brady Roark (106), Kendon Pollard (126), Andrew Manley (132), Clayton Swadley (145), Gabriel Commons (170) and Zane Cotten (195).
Alex Mejia-Jerez (113), Brayden Thiel (120), Lincoln Renfro (152), Dane Napier (182) and Jakob Tate (220) all finished second in their brackets.
Garret Babbitt finished third at 285, while Cole Whitehead (138) and Jeremy Williams (160) both placed fourth.
Competing for Cassville will be Kurt Deaver (106), Matthew Whittenburg (126), Gavin Moore (132), Gabe Hunter (138), Jake Anthonysz (145) and Zach Coenen (220). Coenen was a district champ.
Competing for Monett will be Simon Hartline (106), Karey Anderson (113), Ben Bluel (132), Elias Barrientos (152), Corbin McCully (160), Ethan Umfleet (182), Joe Korasick (220) and Harrison Merriman (285). Anderson, Barrientos (15-0), McCully, Umfleet and Merriman are district champs.
Nevada had seven move on to the sectional—Kynndrick Brooks (106), Braylin Brooks (113), Mokey Dawn (126), Ethan Dighero (132), Jace Lee (170) and Skylur Mashek (285). Brooks and Mashek are district champs.
STATE WRESTLING SCHEDULE
The girls tournament will be held on March 9.
As far as the boys tournaments, Class 1 is slated for March 10 and Class 2 is March 11. The Class 3 event is March 12, with the Class 4 event to be held on March 13.
Matches begin at 9:30 a.m. each day, with championship matches scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.
GIRLS STATE QUALIFIERS
GIRLS WRESTLING: Area athletes advance to state tournament – SoMo Sports (somo-sports.com)
