Gallatin varsity wrestlers came into Saturday’s Marshall Tournament full of confidence. They exited with another championship team finish.
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The Bulldogs, ranked #3 in Missouri’s Class 1 behind Whitfield and Seneca, came away with three individual champions and eight other top seven finishes in the 19-team tournament.
Ross Critten, Drayton Harris and Graydee Rains each brought home a championship for Gallatin.
Critten, the #1 ranked Class 1 wrestler in Missouri, stayed unbeaten after taking a 4-2 decision over James Jury of Brookfield, the #5 ranked wrestler in the 113-pound weight class. Critten won five matches on his way to the title.
Harris, ranked #5 in the 138-pound weight class, won five matches on his way to the 138-pound title. He pinned his final three opponents, including Lebanon’s Elijah Arl in the championship bout.
Rains upheld his #4 state ranking in the 220-pound class with five victories on Saturday. He scored a 12-0 major decision over Boonville’s Gabe Rumbaoa for his second tournament championship of the season.
Ayden Wayne won four straight matches before squaring off against Teague Travis of Father Tolton Regional Catholic. Travis, the #4 wrestler in the 120-pound weight class with but one loss on the season, pinned Wayne in their title match.
Caleb Boyd and Gage Wright were each third-place winners for the Bulldogs.
Boyd finished 4-1 on the day in the 145-pound class, losing but once to Boonville’s Brant Whitaker in the class’s semifinal match. Boyd battled back to pin Jack Creasy of Osage to take third.
Wright opened the tournament with a pair of byes before he pinned Father Tolton’s Montgomery Mills in the third round. A loss to Michael Trotter of Versailles sent Wright to the third place match of the 195-pound class, where he pinned Hallsville’s Ian Hayden.
Fourth-place finisher Owen Schweizer was on a roll with three straight victories in the 170-pound class before suffering an injury in the fifth round. He gutted it out in the class’s third-place match but was forced to retire with a medical forfeit.
Tom Crouse’s lone loss in five matches in the 160-pound class came in the quarterfinal round by a 5-2 decision at the hands of Lebanon’s Jake Henson. Crouse won his consolation round match by an 8-3 decision over Carrollton’s Jonah Frank, then pinned Marshall’s Ethan Stickels to claim a fifth-place finish.
Gaven Gray-Walker placed sixth in the 152-pound class with a 3-2 record for the day. His wins included one bye in the second round and wins over Chillicothe’s Kaleb Mullikan and North Callaway’s James Haubner.
Rian Critten finished 3-2 and in seventh place in the 132-pound weight class. Critten pinned Clayborn Galloway of Father Tolton Catholic in his final match of the day.
Jacob Maize also competed for Gallatin in the 126-pound class.
The Bulldogs travel to Brookfield on Thursday to face their Bulldogs and the Chillicothe Hornets. They will also try to keep their tournament winning streak alive on Saturday at the Plattsburg Tournament.
PICTURE: Gallatin’s unbeaten wrestling team added another first-place trophy to their season’s haul on Saturday after taking the top spot in the Marshall Tournament. Posing with their trophy are, front row, from left: Jacob Maize, Keegan Allen, Ayden Wayne, Ross Critten, Drayton Harris and Rian Critten; back row: Coach Tim Michener, Owen Schweizer, Gaven Gray-Walker, Graydee Rains, Tom Crouse, Caleb Boyd, Gage Wright and Coach Zach Morrison. Photo by Macon Schweizer.