St. Clair had one wrestler reach the finals and picked up a 13th-place team finish with 68 points last Friday and Saturday at the Eric Lewis MICDS Wrestling Invitational.
Leading the Bulldogs was Matt Gordon, who placed second at 195 pounds with a 2-1 record.
Holt cruised to the team title with 278 points. St. Charles West finished second with 169.5.
McCluer North placed third followed by Whitfield, Ladue, Pacific, De Soto, Union, Westminster, SLUH, Ritenour, Hazelwood West, St Clair, MICDS, John Burroughs, St. Charles, Principia, Chaminade and Parkway North.
“We wrestled very tough Friday night. We had some key wins in the lower weights that probably shocked a couple of schools,” said St. Clair Head Coach Brent Yule. “Our youth showed the second day. We got mentally tired and lost some close matches that we could have won.”
Gordon, now 25-4 on the season, received a first-round bye and pinned Union’s James Lewis in 2:36 in the quarterfinals.
In the semifinals, Gordon won by tiebreaker over Holt’s Brad Jones.
In the finals, Gordon was pinned in 5:30 by Westminster’s Bennett Lewis, who remained unbeaten on the season with a 37-0 record.
“Gordon wrestled well all weekend, much like he has all year. His senior leadership really showed,” Yule said. “I was very happy for him after his semifinal match. He defeated a very tough wrestler from Holt on criteria.”
St. Clair’s Colton Huddleston finished sixth at 285 pounds with a 3-3 record.
Huddleston (10-7) opened by pinning Parkway North’s George Bruns in 40 seconds.
After losing to De Soto’s Lucas Fann in the quarterfinals, Huddleston won a pair of matches by pin over MICDS’ Christian Hain in 1:07 and Westminster’s Matt Kimberling in 2:53.
Huddleston then lost in the consolation semifinals to Union’s Joe Lasky and in the fifth-place match to Holt’s Jerry Harris.
Chris Algiere finished eighth at 120 pounds with a 2-3 record.
Algiere (14-16) opened by pinning Ladue’s Boruch Smason in 3:39. He then lost to Holt’s Colby Smith, but then won a 9-6 decision over Principia’s Jason McEntire.
Algiere lost his final two matches to St. Charles’ Reid Hanmore and McCluer North’s Terrell Pampkin.
Skyler Hutchison finished ninth at 182 pounds with a 3-2 record.
Hutchison (21-4) opened by pinning Pacific’s Andrew Cooper in 1:51.
He then lost matches to Holt’s Zack Wagster and Hazelwood West’s Raamish Saiid.
Hutchison ended with wins over Westminster’s Chris Cacciarella (forfeit) and Ritenour’s Devin Beach by an 11-10 decision.
Chase Cohen was 10th at 126 pounds with a 2-3 record.
Cohen (16-15) opened by pinning Ritenour’s Austin Wanta in 2:23.
He then suffered losses to Whitfield’s Kurtis Hahn and Ladue’s Jonas Miller-Stockie.
Cohen then won by injury default over McCluer North’s Paul Granberry and lost to Westminster’s Dominic Francescelli.
Kris Heembrock (106) had a 1-3 record, falling to 21-9 overall.
Heembrock pinned MICDS’ James Archie in 1:11 in the opener. Two of his losses were by decisions of 7-6 and 5-3.
Ethan Koenig (113) had a 1-3 record, dropping to 13-9 overall. He won his first match over Principia’s Alex Kamau by a 9-6 decision.
Austin Koenig (132) lost both of his matches, falling to 14-15 overall.
Hayden Norton (152) went 1-3, dropping to 8-15 overall. He pinned SLUH’s Justin McManemin in 1:05.
Dustin Conner (170) had a 1-3 record, falling to 20-6 overall. He pinned St. Charles’ Alex Hightower in 1:43. He lost his final match by injury default.
