Warrenton’s Drake Meine joined Dan Filipek atop the podium at Saturday’s St. Charles Invitational.

Meine, a wrestler in the 170-pound weight class, defeated Priory’s Tony Kraus with a pin in the first period of the championship match.

“He ran through the tournament honestly,” Warrenton Head Coach Kevin Fowler said. “This is the best year he’s had in the practice room, and he’s become a leader and it’s showing.”

Meine won all four of his matches by pin, and spent less than five minutes of match time on the mat.

With 25 schools invited to the event, Fowler compared the format to a state tournament, and he was pleased with Meine’s performance.

“He was at a different level than the kids at that tournament,” Fowler said. “Hopefully that builds on his confidence going into the latter part of the year. It’s impressive to come out of a tournament of this size with a title.”

Filipek continued his undefeated season with a 15-0 technical fall win over Jacob Orsay of Ladue Horton Watkins in the second period.

Orsay was undefeated coming into the tournament.

“He’s just rolling along,” Fowler said of Filipek. “He wasn’t pushed, so it was just another really good tournament for him.”

James Biship finished second in the 145-pound division, falling to Fort Zumwalt North’s Jack Ederer in the championship match, 13-6.

The duo had previously met Jan. 9 in the third-place match of the Gateway Athletic Conference Championships, when Ederer pinned Biship in the second period.

“We were winning until the third period, but we probably should have stayed on our feet with the kid,” Fowler said. “We’re probably not better than him at mat wrestling at this point, but we learned some things, and hopefully we learned that we can beat him. The first match he smoked us, but this time around we battled.”

Fowler expects a third meeting between the wrestlers in the district tournament next month.

Jacob Manion wrestled last year’s state runner-up, Mexico’s Jaylen Lee, in the 220-pound finals.

Lee escaped with a pin in the third period.

“We’re still not pulling the trigger and being as aggressive on our feet as I’d like,” Fowler said. “I think we’re getting better, but there’s still a little bit more we can do.”

Manion finished the tournament with a 2-1 record.

“We were right there in the final match, so I’m not disappointed,” Fowler said. “He did well until he got caught and got pinned, but was a good match for him.

The Warriors brought seven other wrestlers to the tournament in an effort by Fowler to get younger kids experience.

Varsity tournament regular Jerrett Villinger (152) won his first match of the tournament, and Adrien Gillette finished sixth in the 182-pound division with a 1-3 mark.

Warrenton will compete in a GAC North quadwrangler Jan. 27 at Winfield against St. Charles, St. Charles West and Winfield.

ON THE MAT — James Biship takes down an opponent during a match at the Gateway Athletic Conference championships Jan. 9. Biship recently finished second in the 145-pound division at the St. Charles Invitational.