Gallatin varsity wrestlers got their first taste of tournament competition on Saturday and performed well against some of the best small school wrestlers the state of Missouri has to offer.
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Gallatin varsity wrestlers got their first taste of tournament competition on Saturday and performed well against some of the best small school wrestlers the state of Missouri has to offer. Six GHS grapplers, led by senior Marc Maillet and sophomore Dale Ray Curtis, finished third place or better at the Lexington Tournament.
“This was a very tough tournament,” said GHS varsity wrestling coach Phillip Limb, “but it gave our wrestlers some good experience, and will make them better,” he added. “All the weight classes were tough, but 135, 160 and 189 proved to be among the toughest, having multiple state qualifiers and state medalists. I am proud of the kids and the heart they showed.”
Maillet won all five matches on the day to grab the championship of the 171-pound weight division. Three of his victories came by pins. He defeated Lathrop’s James Thompson for the title by piling up points to win by technical fall, 20-2.
Curtis also finished 5-0 for the tournament, winning four matches by pin and another by a 13-3 decision. He pinned Albany’s Dakota Johnson to take the title at 152.
Senior Clayton Baker won his first four matches to qualify for the championship match in the 189-pound class. There, he lost an 11-4 decision to Nixa’s Trevor Collins, who was the 2005 state champion in Class 3. Baker won a pair of matches by decision, and two more with pins.
Third place finishers for Gallatin included Trey Newberry, Devin Robinson and Logan Corwin.
Newberry finished 3-1 in the 145-pound class after pinning Warsaw’s Alex Brosnahan in his final match of the day. He beat Brosnahan earlier in the day with a 22-7 technical fall. His other match victory came by pin over Fulton’s Brett VanVactor.
Robinson pinned Maryville’s Andrew Farnan to take third place in the 215-pound class. His other win was a pin of Tony Dillivan of Albany. Robinson finished 2-2 in tournament competition.
Corwin, 2-2, pinned Levi Fraze of Lathrop to finish third in the 275-pound division. He also won his first match of the day by pinning Nathan French of Wentworth Military.
It was a tough day for Gallatin’s other competitors. Andrew Hood finished 1-3 in the 130-pound class. Cody Selby was 1-4 in the 135-pound division. Trae Pyfrom won one of four matches in the 140-pound class. Riley Rains was forced to retire after an injury in his fourth match of the day.
Bulldog wrestlers taste tournament action again on Saturday when they travel to Trenton High School for the final competition of 2005.