INDEPENDENCE, Mo. — Carthage and Joplin combined for eight state qualifiers but only one of those brought home a medal from the MSHSAA Class 4 Wrestling Championships held on Saturday at Cable Dahmer Arena.
Carthage sophomore Davion King took fifth place at the 145-pound weight class to finish the year with a 40-6 mark.
King got a first-round bye in the shortened one-day tournament thanks to winning a sectional championship. That moved into a quarterfinal round against Liberty’s Kyle Dutton. The defending state champion got a win by fall in 3 minutes, 36 seconds – on his way to winning another state championship.
In the consolation bracket, where a loss would end the season, King won out on his way to a medal.
“I only lost one and I took fifth,” King said. “Usually we have an opportunity to wrestle back for third but this is way more cram-packed than the real tournament. But I do like the one-day tournament much better.
“This is nice (the medal) but I feel like I could’ve placed higher if I had the opportunity to go for third.”
King beat Nixa’s Dylan Carter (5-1), Lee’s Summit North’s Javi Gutierrez (2-1) and Ozark’s Brock Sundlie (1:43) to close his day.
The matchup with Sundlie was a familiar one for both of them. King beat Sundlie four other times this year, three coming late in the season at the Central Ozark Conference meet, districts and sectionals. The latter two meetings were both in championship matches.
King pinned Sundlie in five of the six matches – the exception was the first meeting on Jan. 5.
All six of King’s losses came against wrestlers that were state finalists: two against Neosho’s Eli Zar, Excelsior Springs’ Ayden Dolt, Pacific’s Callum Sitek, Dutton and Ozark’s Braxton Strick.
Dutton, Dolt and Sitek all won state championships.
The medal by King helped Carthage continue a streak that has featured at least one medal every year since 2001 – the oldest year MSHSAA’s record book goes.
The Tigers other state qualifiers included the Tate brothers – Bradyn and Braxdon – Dagan Sappinington, Eli Sneed and Luke Gall.
Braydn Tate went 0-2 in his first year at 113 and finished 25-6, while his older brother, Braxdon also went 0-2 in the 152 weight class. The junior finished 26-9.
Sappington (132) was ranked throughout most of the year by MissouriWrestling.com. The senior won his opener, 11-4, against Liberty North’s Joseph Knight. Sappington lost in the quarterfinals to eventual third-place finisher Tyler Bierman of Holt by a pin. Mitchell Huber of Fort Zumwalt West beat Sappingtton by a pin.
Eli Sneed (138) lost his two matches and finished 35-11, a season that included a Central Ozark Conference title.
Carthage’s Luke Gall was thought to be in contention for a title after winning a sectional title but was upset by Dai’Mont Mucker at the 5:13 mark in the quarterfinals. An injury then ended the run at state with a medical forfeit done out of precaution.
Gall finished his sophomore season with a 32-7 mark.
Joplin’s Sam Melton picked up a win at state but then dropped his next two.
The freshman beat Lafayette Wildwood’s Dylan Roth, 6-4, in overtime. Melton (27-7) then lost his next two, one by tech fall to Hunter Taylor of Liberty in the quarterfinals and another by decision, 11-4, to Mark Matschiner of Troy Buchanan in the wrestlebacks.
Josiah Vaughn, a Joplin senior, ended the year with a 19-14 record after falling in his first two matches by pins. Earning wins by fall over Vaughn were Liberty’s Jude Axsom and Hickman’s Ethan Barr.
