Competing at the 20-team Lindbergh Wrestling Tournament last Thursday and Friday, Washington had nine medalists and finished second in the final team standings.
Lafayette claimed the team title with 244.5 points while Washington finished second with 229 points.
Rounding out the top five in the team standings were Lee’s Summit West with 202, Troy with 182 and Francis Howell with 175.5.
“As a team, I thought we had a very solid meet. Once again, we had quite a let down in the finals,” said Washington Head Coach Josh Ohm. “We really need to work on getting those big wins.”
Nine different teams had individual champions in the 14 weight classes.
Washington’s lone individual champion was Kyle Summers at 170 pounds. He won by decision 11-4 over Lee’s Summit West’s Tyler Nelson in the finals.
It was the first action of the season for Summers.
“I was very impressed with Kyle. It was his first time on weight and his first matches of the season,” Ohm said. “We were a little concerned with his slow start, but he really picked it up with each match. He beat an extremely tough kid from Troy, who medaled at state last year up a weight. The more mat time Kyle gets, the tougher he will be.”
Five other Blue Jays reached the finals of their respective weight classes, settling for second-place honors.
Placing second for Washington were Nicholas Solter, Cody Summers, Cole Hamai, Caleb Summers and Jared Rennick.
Solters (126) lost in the finals by technical fall to two-time state champion Noah Teaney of Oak Park.
Cody Summers (132) lost in the finals by decision 6-4 to Lafayette’s Alec Reid.
Hamai (138) suffered his first loss of the season in the finals by a 10-5 decision to Francis Howell’s Connor Flynn.
Caleb Summers (160) lost in the finals by a 4-3 decision to Troy’s Tim Hoffman.
Rennick (182) lost by pin in the finals to defending state champion Jarrett Franklin of Francis Howell.
Earning third-place finishes for Washington were Parker Neptune (113) and Spencer Baird (152).
Logan Baird (195) wrestled to a fifth-place finish.
Also wrestling for the Blue Jays were Cole Fregalette (106), Cody Gardner (120), Luke Knight (145), Jacob Kliethermes (220) and Matt Pecka (285).
Washington wrestles at Granite City, Ill., Thursday at 4:30 p.m. and competes at the Gateway Athletic Conference Tournament Friday and Saturday at Ft. Zumwalt East High School.
“This was a good warm-up for a really tough GAC meet this weekend,” Ohm said. “I think you will see us picking up some big wins this weekend against some kids that we have already wrestled that may of not gone our way before.”
