The Wright City boys wrestling team recently had a fifth-place team finish at the Missouri Military Academy Colonel Classic on Feb. 8. The Wildcats competed with 13 teams and earned 63 points total. 

Four Wildcats – Joseph Beitel (23-10), Lane Graves (24-9), Bentley Teubner (12-12) and Quincy Rice (28-11) – placed in the top three of their respective weight classes. 

James Guinn (4-24) and William Hepperman (1-2) finished sixth. 

In the 144-weight class, Graves started out the day with a bye to move on to the semifinals. There, Graves won by technical fall over Fatima’s Zachary Kloeppel. In the championship match, Graves went three rounds with California’s Jackson Barnard but eventually fell to place second. 

At 215, Rice won two matches by fall in a combined time of 2 minutes, 25 seconds. In the semifinal match, he swiftly took down Stover’s Noah Woodard in 31 seconds. Rice fell to Fatima’s Conner Willis in the championship match by fall and medaled second.
Beitel competed in the 132-class. In his first match of the day, he lost by technical fall to St. Louis University High’s Lang Hung in the third round which sent him to the consolation bracket. From there, Beitel defeated MMA’s Marcus Miller and California’s Jose Martinez to medal third. 

At 190, Teubner won three matches to medal third. He defeated two opponents by fall in a combined time of 1 minute, 40 seconds. In the semifinal match, Teubner encountered his only loss of the day to MMA’s Adam Swenson. In the championship match, he won by fall in the second round over Stover’s Trevor Ramer. 

Guinn competed in the 120-class and won one match. He lost to two opponents by fall but defeated Parkview’s Quentin Muenks. Hepperman made his high school debut in the 215-class and won one match as well. 

In round one, the freshman won his first high school match by fall over Stover’s Samuel Durand but fell to Fatima’s Conner Willis and Rock Bridge’s Robert Velesco later in the day.