Gallatin’s unbeaten varsity wrestling team conquered The Valley on Saturday, besting 40 other squads to take first place in The Battle of the Valley Tournament held in Marshall.
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The Bulldogs, in winning the team title, piled up 450.5 points to best the second place Lathrop Mules, who finished with 405 points.
Leading the way for Gallatin were 106-pounder Keegan Allen and 113-pounder Ross Critten, who both wrestled six times over the course of Friday and Saturday without a loss. Allen captured a 104 decision over Lawson’s Garrett McCutchen to take first place in his weight division. Critten won his championship match, 8-1, over Lathrop’s Tanner Dalinghaus, who last season won a state title at 106 pounds.
Drayton Harris won his first six matches in the 138-pound class before losing in the semifinal round to Higginsville’s Ethan Skinner. Harris took third place with a 4-2 win over Lawson’s Braden Carpenter.
Graydee Rains nearly came away with a title in the 220-pound weight class. Rains won six matches before facing Hamilton’s Kenny Pulley in the semifinal round. Pulley pulled off an upset, winning 6-5, sending Rains to the third place match, which he won, 5-1, over Lone Jack’s Justin Leath.
Rian Critten and Gaven Gray-Walker each came home with sixth place finishes. Critten finished with seven wins in nine matches in the 132-pound class. Walker won six of nine matches to take sixth in the 152-pound division.
Ayden Wayne and Tom Crouse were seventh place finishers on Saturday. Wayne decisioned St. Michael’s Spencer Gosselin at the end of the day to run his tournament record to 6-3 in the 120-pound class. Crouse finished 7-2 in his matches and took seventh at 160 pounds with a 5-0 win over Polo’s Joseph Hilburn.
Owen Schweizer lost in the quarterfinal and second round of consolation but won seven matches on the day, including a pin of Higginsville’s James Wilkson in the 170-pound, ninth place match.
Caleb Boyd finished in 10th place in the 145-pound class with a 6-3 record. Jonathan Carder placed 12th at 195 pounds with a record of 4-5. Gage Wright, wrestling in the 182-pound class, finished in 15th place with a 5-3 record. At 126 pounds, Diego Huerta finished 3-6 and in 28th place.
The Bulldogs resume their schedule on Jan. 6 in another tournament held in Marshall.
PICTURES: Keegan Allen works toward a championship victory over Lawson’s Garrett McCutchen in Saturday’s 106-pound competition at The Battle at Valley in Marshall. Ross Critten works out of the grip of Lathrop’s Tanner Dalinghaus. Critten won the match and 113-pound title on Saturday. Dalinghaus was a state champion last season. Photos by Macon Schweizer
