Stubbornness can be a good thing. Just ask Nixa wrestler Lane Reppond. No way was he about to let anyone spoil his Senior Night. And not with a chance to keep building momentum toward his hopeful first-ever state tournament berth.
“My mentality going into tonight was, ‘100 percent, go hard,” Reppond said.
That he did.
The 145-pound senior scored two wins, including an overtime victory against Kickapoo’s Camden Schmitz in arguably the most exciting match of Tuesday night at Nixa High School, where there were no shortage of storylines.
For Nixa, which routed Republic 55-24 and Kickapoo 63-15, it marked the Eagles’ final tune-up before they host a Class 4 district tournament on Feb. 13.
That’s the day Reppond would love to earn some hardware and qualify for state for the first time since he began wrestling in the seventh grade.
Fortunately, Schmitz provided a quality match that could serve both well for the postseason. Certainly, their head-to-head battle contrasted much of the night, in which Nixa turned opponents for a combined 11 pins and took advantage of a combined six forfeits.
Reppond’s 4-2 overtime victory against Schmitz came on a double-leg, two-point takedown.
It also came about 30 seconds after Reppond got whistled for a one-point penalty – with 19 seconds left in the third period – in which the referee ruled the Nixa wrestler fleed the mat by dragging Schmitz out of bounds. Awarded a point, Schmitz forged a 2-2 tie.
Their tight match might have been expected. The two had split a pair of matches over the prior two years and knew each other well because Schmitz joins Nixa during its summer freestyle club.
“I think going into this season, my mentality was the biggest thing I needed to work on,” said Reppond, now 25-18. “I’d say my last 10 matches, it’s really come on. It’s kind of like flipping on a switch. It’s definitely reflected on my success.”
Nixa coach Dustin Martin expressed appreciation that Reppond scored an early two-point reversal and overcame the third-period penalty.
“(His season) has been a little bit of a roller coaster, but we’re definitely climbing up right now,” Martin said. “We started out pretty slow, and a lot of it was just him believing in himself. He’s a good technician, works really hard in practice. I think he was just missing some confidence early in the season. But in the last two weeks, we’ve done pretty well. He’s starting to win his tight matches.”
Kickapoo coach Billy Buckley doubts the loss with affect Schmitz.
“He’s been wrestling good,” Buckley said. “His season has kind of been up and down. He’s wrestled some tough kids, and he’s hung with the tough kids. (Reppond) is tough and we’ll get to see him at districts. At 145, that weight class is loaded.”
Apparently, the entire Class 4 district coming up appears loaded with talent, too, as it will feature No. 3-ranked Jefferson City, No. 9 Lee’s Summit West and No. 11 Waynesville.
Martin, however, designed the schedule to make Tuesday the Eagles’ final matches before districts, ensuring about 10 days of rest and prep time. Nixa on Tuesday withheld 195-pound Jonathan Ghering (injuries) to help the process.
“As a tournament, (districts) will have several state qualifiers and several returning state champions,” Martin said. “I feel good about where we’re at. Some of our individual kids are wrestling a little better than they started. But we’re going to have to over-wrestler some of our seeds.”
Meanwhile, the Republic Tigers beat Kickapoo 66-12, with heavyweight Shayne Piles improving to 33-2. However, the Tigers were without 126-pound Hunter Powell, 152-pound Brandon O’Connell, a two-time state qualifier, and 170-pound Hunter Pyle as all were nursing injuries. Pyle has missed the past month.
“We’re just trying to hang on until districts,” Republic coach Jerry Morton said. “It’s just been up and down the line as we’ve been dealing with injuries. We’re waiting for that break to get healthy again so we can get back to the way we started the season.”
Nixa 63, Kickapoo 15
120 – Mason Wilcox, Nixa, def. Tanner Raymond, Kickapoo, by pin, 1:44; 126 – Connor Langdon, Nixa, def. Cade Schmitz, Kickapoo, by pin, 1:16; 132 – Nicholas Baxter, Nixa, def. Tanner Stoops, Kickapoo, by pin, 1:45; 145 – Lane Reppond, Nixa, def. Camden Schmitz, Kickapoo, SV-1 (4-2), 152 – Colin Harper, Kickapoo, def. Mason Simmons, Nixa, 6-4; 160 – Jye Harris, Nixa, won by forfeit; 170 – Anthony Patinsky, Nixa, def. Blake Greve, Kickapoo, by pin 1:15; 182 – Skylar Barber, Nixa, won by forfeit; 195 – Donovan Benetti, Nixa, won by forfeit; 220 – Misael Garcia, Nixa, def. Tim Goetz, Kickapoo, by pin, 3:48; 285 – Marquise Jacoby-Davis, Kickapoo, def. Oswaldo Garcia, Nixa, by pin 1:03; 106 – Brayden Middleton, Nixa, won by forfeit; 113 – Jake Wannenmacher, Kickapoo, won by forfeit.
Nixa 55, Republic 24
113 – Sean Carter, Republic, won by forfeit; 120 – Mason Wilcox, Nixa, won by forfeit; 126 – Connor Langdon, Nixa, won by forfeit; 132 – Nicholas Baxter, Nixa, def. Johnathan Beckett, Republic, by pin 2:23; 138 – Floyd Marshall, Nixa, def. Payton Cron, Republic, 0:22; 145 – Lane Reppond, Nixa, def. Christian Richardson, Republic, by pin 2:22; 152 – Mason Simmons, Nixa, won by forfeit; 160 – Jye Harris, Nixa, def. Nicholas, McClarnon, Republic, by major decision, 19-6; 170 – Nathaniel Gimlin, Nixa, def. Michael Cox, Republic, 2-0; 182 – Donovan Benetti, Nixa, def. Austin Evans, Republic, by pin 2:49; 195 – Zach Dickens, Republic, def. Skylar Barber, Nixa, by pin 1:36; 220 – Misael Garcia, Nixa, def. Julian Richardson, Republic, by pin 1:46; 285 – Shayne Piles, Republic, def. Oswaldo Garcia, Nixa, by pin, 3:13; 106 – Michael Taylor, Republic, def. Brayden Middleton, Nixa, by pin 1:16
Republic 66, Kickapoo 12
106 – Michael Taylor, Republic, won by forfeit; 113 – Sean Cross, Republic, def. Jake Wannenmacher, Kickapoo, by pin 1:28; 120 – Tannor Raymond, Kickapoo, won by forfeit; 126 – Hunter Powell, Republic, def. Cade Schmitz, Kickapoo, 7-4; 132 – Jonathan Beckett, Republic, def. Tristen Upp, Kickapoo, by pin 2:49; 138 – Tanner Stoops, Kickapoo, def. Payton Cron, Republic, by pin 0:45; 145 – Christian Richardson, Republic, def. Gene Keiber, Kickapoo, by pin 3:24; 152 – Brandon O’Connell, Republic, def. Colin Harper, Kickapoo, 12-5; 160 – Nicholas McClarnon, Republic, won by forfeit; 170 – Michael Cox, Republic, def. Blake Greve, Kickapoo, by pin 1:31. 182 – Austin Evans, Republic, won by forfeit; 195 – Zach Dickens, Republic, def. Logan McGee, Kickapoo, by pin 3:48; 220 – Julian Richardson, Republic, def. Tim Goetz, Kickapoo, by pin 2:43; 285 – Shayne Piles, Republic, def. Blake Chambers, Kickapoo, by pin 1:25.
