By Bill Battle
Missourian Sports Editor
Winning five weight class titles, the Union wrestling Wildcats placed second in their pool and fourth overall in the event.
While Union dominated, having open weight classes hurt the Wildcats, according to Head Coach Justin Cranmer.
“The team scores are a little skewed because of the way we scored the tournament,” Cranmer said. “It was dual meet scoring and we had five open weight classes, so a team that had a full lineup got forfeit points against all the open weights from other schools.”
Holt and Brentwood were the pool winners. Holt won the overall title with 237 points while Logan-Rogersville was second at 205. Brentwood scored 204 points while Union finished with 180.
Webster Groves was next at 176 points while Sullivan scored 170, Lutheran South ended with 156, Hancock had 75, Winfield posted 63 and Borgia was last with 45 points.
Union also had one wrestler finish in third place and another take fourth. Union only had nine wrestlers in action due to ACT testing, injuries and illness. A number of junior varsity wrestlers also saw action in the event.
“The guys who were wrestling did great,” Cranmer said. “Our varsity kids only lost seven matches all day. We are wrestling tough and it is going to be an exciting season when we get healthy and fill out our lineup.”
Winning titles for Union were Jordan Nowak (126), Alex Gaebe (138), Devon Fennessey (145), Cody Pace (152) and Dalton Kuenzel (170).
Nowak went 4-0 in actual matches and also won one walkover match. All four wins were by pins, including a 34-second pin of Lutheran South’s Cameron Moore and an overtime pin of Logan-Rogersville’s Michael Shebesta in 6:58.
He also pinned JaQuan Jones of Webster Groves in 3:55 and Gary Silerio of Brentwood in 1:30.
“Jordan Nowak pinned all of his opponents this weekend on his way to the championship and pushing his record to 13-2 with nine pins,” Cranmer said. “He went into overtime in his final match and ended up pinning his opponent with just a few seconds left. That was the match of the tournament.”
Gaebe also won all five matches with four by pins and one in a walkover.
His fastest pin came against Caleb Colvin, representing the JV teams, in 1:16.
“Alex Gaebe had a great tournament pinning all of his opponents,” Cranmer said. “That pushed his record to 14-1 with 11 pins.”
Gaebe’s other pins came against Webster Groves’ Benjamin Killeen (2:34), Brentwood’s Blake Kelley (4:56) and Sullivan’s Travis Mogat (5:41).
Fennessey continued his winning ways with four pins and one walkover victory.
“Devon Fennessey continued his pin streak, pinning all four of his opponents this weekend on his way to his second tournament championship this year,” Cranmer said. “He is now 15-0 with 13 pins and two forfeits.”
Fennessey pinned Brentwood’s Deshaun Johnson in 10 seconds and also earned a 39-second pin over Brody Smith of Webster Groves.
The other pins were against Holt’s Austin Keller in 1:25 and against Devin Maidard of the JV teams (no time given).
Pace won all five of his matches with four of the wins coming by pins.
“Cody Pace won his four matches in his pool by pin and beat the Logan-Rogersville wrestler (Joseph Whittington) 3-2 in the finals,” Cranmer said. “That was another great match. He is now 13-2 with 10 pins.”
Three of his pins came in under a minute. He pinned Brentwood’s Kyle Pudlowski in 31 seconds, Borgia’s Dylan Voss in 33 seconds and Lutheran South’s Evan Koenig in 39 seconds.
The fourth pin was over Dorsey Lawrence of Webster Groves in 1:17.
Kuenzel wrestled for the first time this season and won four matches by pins and one by a major decision.
“Dalton Kuenzel wrestled well in his first matches back,” Cranmer said.
The major decision came in the title bout against Cee Monsivais of Holt, 8-0.
The pins were over Reed Dietiker of Webster Groves in 15 seconds, Majesty Mukulu of Brentwood in 24 seconds, Alexander Enloe of Lutheran South in 39 seconds and Nate Farabee of the JV teams in 1:16.
Tyler Pace (120) was Union’s third-place finisher. He went 1-1 in contested pool matches with a pin of Brentwood’s Rayce Lynch in 1:40 and a loss by pin to Eli Paetow of Lutheran South in 4:39. He also took walkover wins against Webster Groves and Borgia.
He pinned teammate Dennis Dodd in the third-place bout in 3:59.
Dodd finished fourth, winning two of his contested bouts.
Besides the third-place match, Dodd pinned Winfield’s Brendan Politte in 3:02 and won a 14-7 decision over Brennen Lipp of Holt. He also earned a walkover win against Hancock.
Dalton Fennessey (132) went 3-2 on the day. He won two matches by pins and one by walkover. He lost once by pin and once by technical fall.
Shane Foster (138) went 3-2 with three pins. The losses came by pin and decision.
Jake Siddens (160) ended at 3-2 with all decisions ending in pins..
Joe Lasky (220) went 3-2 with one pin and two walkovers. He was pinned twice.
Devin Maidard (145) won one match by a pin and one in a walkover. He also lost twice by pins.
Logan Meyer (160) lost all four of his matches.
“This weekend we travel to Cape Girardeau for the Tiger Classic,” Cranmer said. “It will be a good test for our wrestlers. We should be competing for a team trophy this year.”
