Eight Warrenton wrestlers competed at the state wrestling tournament this past week.
Seven Warrenton boys wrestlers competed in Class 3 at the state tournament. Levi Penrod and Jacob Ruff both won two matches at the state tournament. Wrestling in the 145 pound weight class, Penrod pinned Platteco wrestler Jared Parsons at the 5:54 mark to win his first round match and advance to the quarterfinals. Penrod lost a back-and-forth match against Damian Dockery of Marshfield by a 4-3 decision in the quarterfinals. Penrod executed an escape early in the second period to claim a 1-0 lead. Dockery took a 2-1 lead after a takedown of Penrod with 51 seconds left in the second period. With 34 seconds left in the second period, Penrod executed a reversal move to reclaim a 3-2 lead. With just eight seconds left in the period, Dockery escaped Penrod to tie the match at 3-3. With 1:55 left in period three, Dockery executed an escape to earn a point and take a 4-3 lead, which ended up being the difference.
Penrod rebounded in the second round wrestleback to defeat Vianney senior Anthony Lentz by a 7-0 decision. Penrod lost in the third round wrestleback to Farmington’s Trace Dunlap to end Penrod’s run at the state tournament. Dunlap won by a 4-2 decision. Dunlap took a 4-0 lead in the match. Penrod executed a reversal with 44 seconds left in the final period to trim Dunlap’s lead to 4-2.
Sophomore wrestler Jacob Ruff competed in the 195 pound weight class. He also won two matches at the state tournament. Ruff pinned Neosho High School junior wrestler Ulysses DeLeon at the 3:47 mark in his first round match. Jefferson City’s Michael Friederich pinned Ruff at the 1:31 mark in the quarterfinals. After defeating Jose Avitia of Washington 3-1 in overtime with a takedown with 46 seconds left, Ruff fell to Asa Foeller of DeSoto in the third round wrestleback to end his tournament. Foeller pinned Ruff at the 3:46 mark.
Warrenton wrestler Kyler Flowers won his first round match before falling in his next two matches to end his run at the state tournament. Flowers pinned Blake McKay of Pacific at the 42 second mark to advance to the quarterfinals. Flowers lost to Davis Lewis of Van Horn in a 5-3 decision in the quarterfinals. Flowers lost a 1-0 decision to Kearney wrestler Zach Olson in the second round wrestleback to end his run at the state tournament.
Warrior wrestlers Jeremiah and Joshua Kassing each won one match at the state tournament. Noah Lohrman and Nicholas Schulze also competed at the state tournament for the Warriors but did not win a match.
Caelyn Hanff was the lone girls wrestling representative for Warrenton at the state tournament. DeSoto wrestler Hannah Eberhardt pinned Hanff at the 5:46 mark in Hanff’s first match. She responded to defeat Nixa High School wrestler Taelor Dorr in the first round wrestleback. Hanff advanced to the third round wrestleback after Seraphina Blackmon of Lafayette Wildwood forfeited the second round wrestleback match. Hanff lost in a rematch of the district final in the third round wrestleback. Maria Slaughter of Holt High School pinned Hanff at the 0:43 mark.