Twaddle advances to quarterfinals
BLAIR TWADDLE/ FOR THE DAILY FORUM
Maryville wrestler Matt Twaddle, sporting a black eye from last week’s district tournament, gets ready to battle with Clinton’s Adrian Ransom in the first round of the Class 2 Missouri State Wrestling Championships at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. Twaddle beat Ransom to advance to Friday’s quarterfinal round. Twaddle, a four-time state qualifier, is vying for his first state medal for the Spoofhounds.
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Matt Twaddle’s quest for a first state medal got off to a good start on Day 1 of the 87th Annual Missouri State Wrestling Championships at Mizzou Arena.
The Maryville senior opened with a 7-3 win against Clinton’s Adrian Ransom in the Class 2 170-pound class.
Twaddle, a four-time state qualifier, won his first round match for the second year in a row.
Scoreless after the first period, Twaddle (37-9) got the first points of the match with a takedown on Ransom (31-22). After giving up an escape, Twaddle got another takedown and another escape followed by Ransom.
Twaddle went up 5-2 in the third period and after Ransom pulled within two thanks to a third escape of the match, a takedown sealed the win for the Spoofhound.
Next up for Twaddle is a second straight quarterfinal match, albeit in a different classification this year thanks to Maryville’s moving up from Class 1.
Twaddle, ranked No. 4 in the MissouriWrestling.com final regular-season rankings, will face a bit of an underdog in the second round.
His foe is Sullivan’s Dalton Ward (28-16), who posted a victory by fall against Richard Gillespie-Taylor, the No. 5-ranked wrestler from Soldan International Studies in St. Louis.
“You have to stay focused on the task at hand and take it one match at a time,” Twaddle said of his Friday morning quarterfinal match. “You have to wrestle your hardest and keep your motor up for all three periods.”
The winner of the Twaddle/Ward winner will face the winner of Pleasant Hill’s Cole Lightfoot and St. James’ Nick Wilson in the semifinals on Saturday night. Lightfoot is a No. 2-ranked wrestler, while Wilson posted a 11-5 win against No. 3-ranked Colton Bristol of Fulton.
The other two Maryville wrestlers saw the season come to an end with a pair of losses on Thursday.
Jackson Sanders (160) and Ryan Owens (220) both opened up with tough draws in the first match.
Sanders, a junior, had one of the most unfortunate draws when he got pitted against Mexico’s Kellen Ekern, the reigning state champion.
Ekern needed 1 minute, 23 seconds to defeat Sanders (34-14).
Ekern (42-1) dominated the match prior to the pin with a takedown and then built an 8-0 lead thanks to a pair of near fall points.
Sanders then got matched up with Owensville’s Tanner Rector in the first-round wrestlebacks and lost by a pin in the second period.
Rector (30-12) led 2-0 after the first period, but got an escape to start the second round and then got a takedown that led to the pin.
Maryville coach Conner Kellerstrass thinks this could be a learning experience for Sanders.
“Just based on down here, not being hesitant,” he said of what Sanders could look to improve on next year. “Just trust the things he is good at and go get them. He needs to make sure he is wrestling his match and not their match.”
Owens, a senior, fell in 55 seconds in his first-round match against Nevada’s Jacob Johnson, the No. 5-ranked wrestler.
Johnson (43-2) went up 2-0 with a takedown and finished Owens off with the pin in the opening period.
In his first-round wrestlebacks, Owens came up against Moberly’s Johnathan Chapman (35-12) and lost 9-2.
The two were scoreless after the first period before Chapman went up 5-0 thanks to a reversal and a near fall early in the second after being in the down position to start the frame. Owens, a Central Missouri track and field commit, got on the board with a reversal of his own later in the frame.
Chapman got an escape to open the third and then a takedown to account for the final score.
“Obviously, it is disappointing we only have one going on to Saturday,” Kellerstrass said. “One thing we talked about all week is finding a way to survive to the next day. Unfortunately, two of our wrestlers didn’t. Coming in as a four seed, you have to wrestle a No. 1 seed right off the bat and they lost the first against very tough wrestlers.
“We felt we could win the second-round matchup and it didn’t shake out like we wanted. It is a heck of a season for those guys. Getting down here is an accomplishment and we will try to improve on it next year.”
