Republic continued its more challenging schedule with a seventh-place finish at the Lee’s Summit Holiday Tournament, placing five wrestlers in the top four against competition from Missouri, Kansas, and Iowa.
Three Tigers reached the championship finals. Corbin Massey (120 pounds), Keaton Overcast (138), and Daniel Gonzalez (144) each finished second. Chase Hicks added a third-place finish at 215 pounds, and Kam Sutton took fourth at 165.
Massey reached the finals with three pins and a technical fall before winning his semifinal match 5-0. He lost 9-2 to Centerville’s Matt Genobana in the championship bout.
Overcast dominated early with two major decisions before pinning teammate Shea Rogers in the quarterfinals. After a 4-3 semifinal win, he fell to Cooper Collins of Excelsior Springs in the finals.
Gonzalez bounced back from an early round loss to make the finals. He won his quarterfinal 5-2 over Jaxton Fetters of Lee’s Summit West, then took his semifinal 8-3. Excelsior Springs’ Ryne Marcum won by fall in the championship match.
Hicks won his first four matches by fall before dropping a 4-3 tiebreaker decision in the semifinals. He rebounded with a pin in the third-place match over Giorgi Natchkebia of Centerville.
Sutton advanced to the semifinals with a pin and a technical fall before losing to eventual champion Vance Provost of Olathe North. He finished fourth after a rematch loss to Rockhurst’s Cash Lewandowski.
Republic scored 193.5 team points in the 20-team field. Excelsior Springs won the team title with 255 points.
Other Republic wrestlers contributing to the team score included Coy Chrihfield (10th at 106), Adam Dunlap (7th at 150), Kaiden Patterson (9th at 157), Cooper White (12th at 215), and Mason Hartsock (10th at 285). Jaxston Feuerborn also competed at 285 pounds.
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Republic’s junior varsity finished fifth at the Lebanon Tournament. Will Barnum won his weight class, while Shelby Horton, Jamie Nieto, Devon Stumpff, Harper Jones, and Charles Goodnight each placed second. Jesse Kovalik, Bentley Packwood, and Abel Shade added third-place finishes.
