Three Tiger wrestlers — Cody Sandridge, Brandon O’Connell, and Shayne Piles — represent Republic at the state wrestling tournament in Columbia. Watch this spot for updates throughout the weekend!
Saturday
Update
Sandridge defeats Norman Conley of Chaminade to capture third place with a 1-0 decision. Sandridge ends his season with a 44-2 record, and wraps up his career at Republic with his best-ever finish at the state tournament. He medaled at state in three of his four seasons at Republic.
Update: 12:30 p.m.
Cody Sandridge defeats Kyle Caldwell of Willard in a 5-0 decision. He advances to the third place match, where he will wrestle Norman Conley of Chaminade later today.
Cody Sandridge still has an opportunity to finish as high as third place when action gets underway today. Here are photos from an earlier match. A big thanks to Jared Lankford at The Monett Times for passing these along.
Friday
9:30 p.m.
Cody Sandridge’s quest for a state title has fallen short, but he is still alive in the medal rounds. Sandridge lost his semifinal match in overtime. Hunter Shelton, a sophomore from Oak Park, advanced on a 5-3 decision in the first overtime period. Sandridge will next wrestle a familiar foe: Kyle Caldwell of Willard. Sandridge defeated Caldwell to pick up his 100th career win earlier this year, and also defeated him at districts. The winner of that match will then wrestle for 3rd place. The loser will wrestle for fifth place.
Shayne Piles was eliminated from contention when he lost his second match of the tournament in the 285-pound weight class. Piles was defeated by Patrick Megown of Webster Groves by fall at the 4:05 mark.
Gallery: Shayne Piles (Courtesy Jared Lankford, The Monett Times)
3:15
Cody Sandridge is into the state semifinals. He defeated Jacob Orsay of Ladue in the semifinals (Fall, 1:27). He improves to 42-1 this season.
Sandridge will meet Hunter Shelton of Oak Park in the semifinals. Shelton is a sophomore with a 25-1 record this season. A win would mean Sandridge is wrestling for the state championship at 152 pounds in Class 3.
Shayne Piles is still waiting for his next match in wrestlebacks at 285.
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Class 3 quarterfinals are set to get underway around 1:30 p.m. Cody Sandridge will be wrestling in that round. Shayne Piles will continue to work his way through wrestlebacks immediately after the quarterfinals. I’ll have updates here as I receive them.
Thursday
Through day one, two of Republic’s wrestlers are still alive. Cody Sandridge, wrestling at 152 pounds, won his opening match with a 7-0 decision over Kaulic Williams of Raytown South. With the win, Sandridge advanced to meet Jacob Orsay of Ladue in the quarterfinals Friday.
Shayne Piles, in his first trip to state, also stayed alive, despite dropping his first match. In the opener, Piles lost to #1-ranked Collin Braun of Warrensburg (Fall 4:32). In his second match, Piles defeated Jason Harrington of Farmington with a 6-4 decision. Piles will meet the loser of the quarterfinal match between Patrick Megown of Webster and Dillon Greime of Kearney on Friday.
Brandon O’Connell, making his second trip to Columbia, was eliminated Thursday. Zach Wilhelm of Chaminade, with only one loss all season, won by fall at 2:51 in the opening round. In the second round, O’Connell dropped a 6-3 decision to Caleb McIntosh of Rockwood Summit.