Sophomores Quinn Smith, Sam Crane, Jason Kiehne, Cody Maly and seniors Harry Schauwecker and Trent Johnson placed in the top four of their weight classes, competing against 13 teams from across the state.
In the Jefferson City High School field house, three matches occurred at once, allowing each wrestler from weight classes 113 to 285 two individual losses to be able to continue through the brackets to the semi-finals and finals.
In a match, there are three two-minute quarters where each opponent must try to score as many points as they can.
Throughout the tournament, the younger class showed strength and stability. Both Crane and Kiehne won their semifinal matches, immediately qualifying them for a state appearance.
A rather exciting match was that of Kiehne, who was behind his Nixa opponent, senior Lane Corya, four to six, until the last six seconds when Kiehne pinned Corya, causing an uproar from his coaches and fellow RB wrestlers in the bleachers. Continuing on to the finals, Keihne lost 7-4 to senior Hunter Neighbors from Camdenton and No. 1 state-ranked in the 120 division.
“I’m psyched about wrestling [Neighbors] again in the state finals because I’m pretty sure we will make it there,” Keihne said. “I need to work on my shots and make them better because I lost my last match because I didn’t finish my shots.”
Crane won his semifinal match handily against Freshman Cole Foley from Blue Springs South in the 132 weight class. After two, two-minute sessions and one to go, both wrestlers were tied at zero. After 13 seconds in the last session, Crane scored one point off of an escape from his competitors grasp, and with 44 seconds left in the match he scored two points from a near pin to secure the win, 3-0.
The six RB qualifiers will be at the Hearnes Center next weekend for the state championships and a shot at possible state titles.
“I’m very excited because I think I could win state,” Kiehne said. “Earlier this year I almost beat [Neighbors] – I was winning with 20 seconds left and I ended up losing by two so if I learn from my mistakes like I have been doing then I’ll be able to beat him. I came off that mat saying ‘I could beat that guy’ when I lost.”
By Kaitlyn Marsh
