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WRESTLING: Local girls advance to state tournament; Joplin’s Washom makes history

Posted on by Jason Peake

Local girls wrestling teams competed at district tournaments on Saturday.

The top four finishers in each weight class advanced to the state tournament. 

Five Joplin area schools had state-qualifiers.

 

CLASS 2 DISTRICT 3

OZARK, Mo. — Joplin High School junior Erika Washom made history by finishing fourth at 135 pounds at the Class 2 District 3 tournament to advance to the state tournament. 

Washom will be the first female to represent JHS at the state tournament. 

Washom was the lone local state-qualifier from this district tourney, which was held at Ozark High School.

After an opening round bye, Washom won by fall over Waynesville’s Gabriela Hoag. Washom suffered a loss by fall to Nixa’s Brenya Crahan, but she recorded a win by pin over Webb City’s Kylie Jennings.

In the third-place match, Willard’s Ashlan Thompson earned a 4-1 decision over Washom. 

Unable to advance for Joplin were Coryaunna Mueller (110 pounds), Amy Kessler (145), Mya Ndedi Ntepe (155) and Illahna Burtrum (190).

Competing but unable to advance for Neosho were Jilian Ramirez (135) and Carmen Peren (170). 

Webb City’s Jennings (135), Layla Espinoza (140) and Emma Combs (170) competed but were unable to advance. Jennings won three matches by fall but suffered losses to Lebanon’s Taylor Johnson and Washom.

Lebanon (224) and Nixa (194) were the top two teams.

 

CLASS 1 DISTRICT 3

CLINTON, Mo. — Athletes from Seneca, Cassville, Monett and Nevada secured state berths on Saturday at the Class 1 District 3 tournament at Clinton High School. 

Seneca had a pair of district champs, as Liberty Cornell was the top finisher at 155 pounds and Isabella Renfro took first at 190 pounds. Also for the Indians, Louzella Graham placed third at 115 to give Seneca three qualifiers.  

Cassville had three district champions— Annie Moore (115), Kailey Artherton (120) and Faith James (130). Also for Cassville, Hailey Roark was the runner-up at 140 and Taylor Glidewell finished third at 190. 

For Monett, Brooke Bluel was the runner-up at 120, Mary Jastal placed third at 105 pounds and Kayrie Burdett (110) and Jenna Spencer (115) both finished fourth.

Nevada had four qualifiers, as Drew Leer was the runner-up at 235, Sydnee Baldwin finished third at 110, Teresa Dawn was third at 145 and Xaveria Dawn placed fourth at 100 pounds.

Athletes from Carl Junction, McDonald County, Diamond and Aurora concluded the season at the district tourney.

Holden was the team champion with 141.5 points and Cassville was second with 137 points.

 

WRESTLING NOTES

In a change this year, Missouri now has two classifications for girls wrestling.

The state wrestling tournament will now be a four-day affair at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. It was previously a three-day event.

The Class 1 girls and Class 1-2 boys tournaments will be held on Feb. 22-23, while the Class 2 girls and Class 3-4 boys tourneys are slated for Feb. 24-25.

Area boys wrestling teams will compete at district tourneys on Friday and Saturday, with state berths on the line.

GIRLS WRESTLING: Joplin shows much improvement at COC tourney

Posted on by Jason Peake

WEBB CITY, Mo. — The Joplin Eagles placed fourth with 63.5 points on Friday at the Central Ozark Conference Girls Wrestling Tournament inside the Cardinal Dome.

The Nixa Eagles defended their conference title with 216.5 overall points, followed by their county, conference and district rival Ozark with 210.5 points.

Willard finished third at 119.5, Branson fifth at 55, Republic sixth at 38.5, Carl Junction seventh at 34, Webb City eighth at 31.5, and Neosho ninth at 18 points.

Joplin’s six wrestlers all finished in the top five of their respective weights: CoryAunna Mueller second at 110 pounds, Erika Washom third at 135, Olivia Higdon fifth at 140, Amy Kessler second at 145, Mya Ndedi Ntepe third at 155, and Illahna Burtrun fourth at 190. Higdon finished with a medical forfeit in her matches.

“We ended up placing fourth,” Joplin coach Jeremy Finley said. “Not bad. CoryAunna wrestled real tough at 110. She got second. Ericka Washom placed third in a really tough bracket, probably the toughest bracket here in my opinion, at 135. At 145, Amy Kessler got second. At 155, Mya Ndepe got third.

Joplin’s Erika Washom is pictured during Friday’s Central Ozark Conference wrestling tournament at Webb City. Washom took third place at 135 pounds. Photo by Jessica Greninger.

“We wrestled OK. A lot of girls on our team, it’s their first year wrestling. They’re starting to get a full year of experience on their belt, and I think they’re starting to come around a little bit.”

The Eagles finished seventh with 23 points at the conference tournament last season, represented by only Washom at 130 and Higdon at 135 who placed second and fourth overall at their respective weights.

“It’s a big improvement,” Finley said. “It goes to show the girls that their hard work pays off. All the girls who wrestled finished in the top four. That’s pretty good.”

Mueller (11-8) pinned Branson’s Emma Melton in 3 minutes and 46 seconds and Nixa’s Ellie Moore in 4:48, with her only loss coming by pinfall against Ozark’s Victoria Dunn (34-8).

Washom (27-8) pinned Ozark’s Hannah Maskrod in 1:48 and Webb City’s Kylie Jennings in 2:35 but lost by major decision against Willard’s Ashlan Thompson (24-4) and by pinfall against Nixa’s unbeaten and returning state champion Brenya Crahan (42-0).

Kessler (10-6) won a 6-4 decision against Nixa’s Taelor Dorr and lost 8-5 against Ozark’s Delaney Cardin.

Ndepe (13-20) won 6-0 against Ozark’s Faith Shepard and lost by pinfall against Nixa’s Calyese Dupree and Willard’s Gina Sellers.

Burtrun (14-11) won a 11-4 tiebreaker against Nixa’s Jessie Nelson in the night’s last match and lost 4-1 against Willard’s Harmony Moore and by pinfall against Republic’s Kylie Vance.

The Joplin girls saw their number of wrestlers triple at the conference tournament in one year, and it’s quite possible their numbers will expand in future years to compete with Nixa and Ozark, who had 14 and 12 wrestlers competing Friday night.

“There’s a lot of girls who are hard-nosed that don’t have anything to do in the winter because maybe basketball is not the right thing for them,” Finley said. “Maybe wrestling is, and I think that’s starting to show. Numbers will be going through the roof next couple years, I bet.”

Neosho’s Carmen Peren clashed with Carl Junction’s Sarah Tyler on Friday at the COC girls wrestling tournament in Webb City. Photos by Jessica Greninger.

Carl Junction, Webb City, Neosho finish 7th, 8th, 9th

Carl Junction junior Bryanna McCabe led the Bulldogs with a second place at 120 pounds and freshman Isabella Montez finished third at 130.

McCabe pinned Willard’s Kamayah Mace in 34 seconds, Branson’s Daphne Worley in 1:06, and Republic’s Anna McBroom in 1:31, and lost by pin against Nixa’s Mylee Harper (31-13) and Ozark’s Maelynn Sundlie (37-6). McCabe improved to 13-7 overall.

Montez (13-10) pinned Branson’s Priya Raghani in 2:15 and Willard’s Gabriella Rogers in 1:05 and lost by pinfall against Nixa’s Abigail Weitzel, Ozark’s Clarice Wheeler, and Neosho’s Jillian Ramirez in her debut conference tournament.

Tournament host Webb City had sophomore Emma Combs third at 170, senior Kylie Jennings fourth at 135, and freshman Layne Espinoza fourth at 140.

Combs (7-15) pinned Nixa’s Katy Wilson in 2:23 and won 11-9 against Neosho’s Carmen Peren, and she lost by pinfall against Ozark’s Sarah Cazier (35-10) and Willard’s Haley Autterson (25-13).

Jennings pinned Ozark’s Maskrod in 1:07 for her only win in four matches.

Ramirez and Peren represented Neosho with a fourth and a fifth at 130 and 170, respectively.

Ramirez (6-10) pinned Raghani in 1:22 and Montez in 2:45, and she nearly secured an upset victory against Nixa’s 33-win Weitzel, taking a 4-3 loss in the second round.

Peren (3-12) pinned Carl Junction’s Sarah Tyler in 3:41.

 

Webb City’s Layla Espinoza is pictured during Friday’s COC wrestling tournament. Espinoza was fourth at 140 pounds.

GIRLS WRESTLING: Area athletes fare well at COC tourney

Posted on by Jason Peake

 

NEOSHO, Mo. —  The Central Ozark Conference Girls Wrestling Tournament was held on Friday at Neosho High School. 

With 10 individual champions, Nixa easily won the team crown with 143 points. With two individual champions, Ozark was second with 61 points.

A number of area athletes fared well.

Joplin’s Ericka Washom was the runner-up at 130 pounds, while teammate Olivia Higdon placed fourth at 135.

For Neosho, Abby Manwiller was the runner-up at 110, Jilian Ramirez took third at 135, Erika Ramirez was third at 235, Skye Holmes placed fourth at 120 and Jamie Patterson took fifth at 115.

Carl Junction’s Mykah Strausbaugh was the runner-up at 194, while Constance Graham (120) and Bryanna McCabe (125) both finished third.

Webb City’s Laney Taylor placed fourth at 130.

 

COC Girls Wrestling Tournament

Team scores: Nixa 143, Ozark 61, Willard 41, Branson 26, Joplin 18, Neosho 17, Republic 13, Carl Junction 7, Webb City 4, Carthage 0. 

 

 FULL RESULTS:  2022 COC Girls Wrestling Tournament (trackwrestling.com)

GIRLS WRESTLING: Area athletes advance to state tournament

Posted on by Jason Peake

 

HARRISONVILLE, Mo. — Eight area athletes secured a trip to the state tournament at the MSHSAA sectional girls wrestling tournament on Saturday at Harrisonville High School. 

The top three in each weight class advanced to the state tournament on March 9 in Independence.

Competing at Sectional 3, the area produced three sectional champs—Seneca’s Isabella Renfro (174 pounds), Monett’s Abigail Jastal (107 pounds) and Cassville’s Annie Moore (112).

Diamond’s Josey Crisp advanced by placing second at 112 pounds, while Nevada’s Claire Pritchett finished third at 235 to advance. 

Also advancing were Cassville’s Kailey Artherton (122), Hailey Roark (132) and Faith James (137). James was the runner-up in her bracket, while Artherton and Roark both placed third. 

Seneca’s Kirsten Bruegel just missed moving on after finishing fourth at 151. 

Carl Junction’s Shiloh Sluder and Joplin’s Erika Washom were unable to advance. Sluder went 1-2 at 117 pounds. Washom went 0-2 at 127 to end the season. 

McDonald County’s Jaslyn Benhumea (102) and Gisel Aragon (159) also competed, but failed to advance. 

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