tate bound!
Israel Potoczny israel@lebanondailyrecord.com
Feb 16, 2009
Missouri Class 4?
No sweat.
Wrestling in the state’s largest class for the first time, Lebanon placed fifth in the 13-team meet and will send its largest class of state qualifiers in 12 seasons to Columbia. Six Yellowjackets qualified for the state tournament at the District 3 meet on Saturday in Jefferson City.
Justin Britt (285 pounds), Trevor Byrd (215), Zach Drinkall (189), Austin Brawner (145), Tyler Zimemrman (140) and Kyle Hansen (125) placed in the top four and will compete at the state meet on Thursday in Columbia.
“We went to seed meetings thinking we would get three or four (state qualified),” Roark said. “We pulled off six, and we could have had a couple more.”
Lebanon last sent as many as six wrestlers to state in 1996. The Yellowjackets had a total of 31 state qualifiers in a four-year span from 1992-1993 to 1995-1996, including nine in 1994, and eight in both 1995 and 1996.
Justin Britt, heavy weight
Britt set the tone at the district meet early, pinning his first opponent in 13 seconds.
Britt pinned Kamron Davis of Waynesville in the first period in his second match, then won in an injury default against Casey Wiener of Kickapoo in the finals.
Britt will start the state tournament against Jerry Holmes of Truman.
“He has got a good chance to get in the finals,” Roark said.
Trevor Byrd, 215 pounds
Byrd faced Kickapoo’s Travis Allison, an opponent he was 1-3 against this season, in an epic first round that went four overtimes.
“Byrd was just smart,” Roark said. “He had to get away to win, and he got away real fast and got him momentum going.”
Byrd defeated Blake Schoeniger, ranked No. 5, in the semifinals, whom he had split with at the Blue Springs South Tournament.
“Trevor came out and just put it to him,” Roark said.
Byrd fell to Isaac LeBlanc, of Fort Zumwalt West in overtime in the title match.
“He (Byrd) wrestled the kid tough,” Roark said.
Zach Drinkal, 189 pounds
Drinkal lost on Friday, then had to win three matches on the backside to advance to the medal round.
“He had to wrestle his but off,” Roark said.
In the match to advance to state, Drinkal had to defeat a tough opponent from Blue Springs South.
“The kid from Blue Springs South had been winning all the tournaments we had been to. He was 41-6, I believe, and Zach beat him in the third period,” Roark said. “The kid ran out of gas and we scored all our points late in the third period.”
Austin Brawner, 145 pounds
Brawner was 2-0 with two pins on Friday, then ran into Greg Amos of Holt the state’s No. 2 ranked wrestler.
“He got major decisioned in that match,” Roark said.
But Brawner rebounded to win the match to advance to state, getting a five-point move early, then Roark said he stalled the rest of the match to protect his lead.
Tyler Zimmerman, 140 pounds
Zimmerman had two pins early at the district meet, then fell to Blue Springs sophomore Josh Howk, 20-4.
Zimmerman came back through the backside of the bracket and defeated Waynesville’s Russell Flores to take the third-place match, 13-4. Zimmerman also defeated Flores to win the Ozark Conference title.
“He was wrestling well,” Roark said. “He had the one tough one (Howk) that whupped him pretty good, but the rest of them, he (Zimmerman) dominated.”
Kyle Hansen, 125 pounds
Hansen began with the district meet with a win over Joplin’s Caleb Friend, an opponent he had lost to earlier in the season.
Trailing throughout the match, Hansen came back to record a pin in the third period.
“He was getting beat pretty bad in the match, but never gave up,” Roark said.
Hansen lost in the semifinals, then defeated Waynesville’s Jake Main 8-4 to advance to the third-place match.
Others who came close
As many as three other LHS wrestlers came close to qualifying for the state meet on Saturday.
Nick Nekola lost by a point in the semifinals. On the backside he gave up a reversal with 20 seconds remaining and ended up losing in the match that would have advanced him to the medal round.
“It was a bad time to have a bad match,” Roark said.
Senior Jeff Vance was within one win of advancing to the medal round at 130 pounds.
“I thought we had it early,” Roark said. “But that is just kind of how it goes.”
Steven Griggs, a senior, was also one win from advancing at 189 pounds.
“Same way, he ran into a tough opponent,” Roark said. “It was a tough tournament.”
