NEOSHO, Mo — Neosho had quite the showing as the hosts of the 34th annual Neosho Wrestling Tournament on Saturday, closing the day with two first-place finishes as well as a bevy of wrestlers placing in the top five as well as coming away with the top team score.
Neosho’s Eli Zar (170 pounds) and Hayden Crane (136) eached earned first-place finishes, while Fisher Butler (120), Johnny Chrisco (126) and Nico Olivares (285) each took second place.
Wyatt Black (113), Nate Copeland (145), Jack Lankford (132), Trent Neece (160), Bostyn Patterson (162), Collyn Kivett (182) and DeLeon Ulysses (195) each finished in third place. Gabe Mabery (170) and Nathan Rogers (220) each finished in eighth place for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats also took first place in a 14-team field with a 211 score. Farmington (185.5), Belton (153), Willard (140.5) and Har-Ber (113) rounded out the top five team scores.
Crane finished pool play with a 3-0 record while defeating Har-Ber’s Lane Parrish by a 15-0 technical fall 1:42 into the third period in the 138-pound first-place match. At 170, Zar finished pool play with a 4-0 record and defeated Gary Walker of Willard by ultimate tie-breaker (2-1) in the first-place match.
Butler went 3-0 in pool and fell to Farmington’s Presley Johnson by major decision (10-2) in the first-place match at 120, while Chrisco went 4-0 in pool play and lost to Belton’s Lane Cross by technical fall (15-0) in the first-place match. Olivares closed his day at 285 with a 4-0 record in pool play before falling to Belton’s Zach Masteller by fall 1:46 into the third period.
At 113, Black went 3-2 in pool play with wins over Kickapoo’s David Duer by fall 31 seconds into the first period, Willard’s Chris Trudell by fall 30 seconds into the first period and Bentonville West’s Ryan Swain by fall 1:50 into the third period.
Lankford went 3-1 in 132 pool play and defeated Fayetteville’s Gavin Biggerstaff in the third-place match by a 9-5 decision, with Copeland finished 2-0 in pool play at 145 with a win by fall over Belton’s Brady Littleton 1:04 into the third period.
Patterson had a 3-1 pool play record and defeated Willard’s Andrew Keithley by fall 1:13 into the third period at 152, and Neece closed with a 3-1 record in pool play and defeated Har-Ber’s Hunter Reynolds by a 13-6 decision at 160.
Kivett finished 3-1 in pool play and finished his day with a 20-6 major decision over Bentonville West’s Kaden Heintz at 182. Ulysses closed with a 2-1 pool play record and defeated Belton’s Zach Attebury by fall 1:42 into the second period at 195.
