By Riley Bean
rbean@ky3.com
Republic, MO – The Tigers hosted a wrestling triangular and won both of their duals against Webb City (46-31) and Glendale (38-36) on Tuesday.
Republic participated in the Bolivar Tournament over the weekend, but Tuesday marked the first duals of the season for the Tigers.
Glendale was leading Republic 36-33 heading into the final match between Glendale’s Kolter Hackworth – a first-year wrestler – and Republic’s Michael Taylor – a returning state qualifier – at 113 pounds. Taylor beat Hackworth 15-0, but Hackworth showed toughness by not giving up the fall.
“Talk about some pressure on a kid,” said Glendale head coach Bud Donnell. “Kolter is a first-year wrestler, he’s never won a match, so he’s just out there as green as can be facing a returning state qualifier with the whole dual on the line.”
During the middle of the match, Hackworth suffered a minor injury that looked not-so-minor at the time.
“I don’t normally rush out to the mat like that, but it looked like he snapped his arm,” said Donnell. “It looked broken. So all the kids really got on Kolter’s side and started cheering for him, because he was tough… We came up a little short, but we gave them a heck of a run.”
Michael Taylor won both of his matches on the night, beating Hackworth by tech fall and Webb City’s Josh Copher by fall in the third period.
Taylor’s teammates Jonathan O’Connell (126 pounds), Seth Wild (152 pounds), Sean Carter (170), Hunter Pyle (195 pounds), Julian Richardson (220) and Tyler Dawson (heavyweight) all beat both of their opponents in the triangular.
“We had a lot of our young kids step up,” said Republic coach Jerry Morton. “A lot of our kids that are first-year in the program are stepping up and making big wins. I wasn’t sure where we were going to be this year early in the season with some of these young guys, but they seemed to step up tonight.”
With these being the first two duals of the year for Republic, Coach Morton is pleased with his team’s ability to come out and record a sweep in their home gym.
“[We showed] a lot of that grit and determination,” he said. “Even though we were down early in the dual, we fought right back and again, it was a lot of those younger kids and those first-year varsity guys that stepped up and did what they needed to do tonight.”
Webb City’s Hunter Vanlue impressed in both of his matches. Vanlue was able to pin both of his opponents in the opening period, making for a short night for the senior.
“We are showing a little bit of growth,” said Webb City coach Larron Hurst. “We basically have one young man, Hunter Vanlue, that has quality varsity experience. We’re in a rebuilding process. I have seen these young ones and we have improved each time that we’re out there. When we’re improving like that, it’s going to be okay.”
Vanlue and the Cardinals are battling through this season with a glaring absence from the roster. Reigning state champ Brandon Musselman will likely miss the entire wrestling season due to an injury suffered on the football field. He’s set to undergo surgery next week, according to Coach Hurst.
“It’s tough,” Hurst said. “We can’t replace Brandon, just his leadership and his work ethic and stuff. We miss it, especially with these young kids… It’s tough for all of us, it’s tough on him. He’ll be missed.”
Republic, Glendale and Webb City all belong to the same district, so this triangular will serve as valuable experience for each young wrestler on these teams.
“When we wrestle a team like Republic and Webb City, they are district opponents, so we want to do well,” said Donnell. “But in all honesty, this is all just practice for a lot of these guys depending on their goals. Like someone like Drew Hayes, he picked up his first varsity win, so he’s going to remember this night forever. It’s a big night for him. It’s a big night for some of those kids.
“But for my guys trying to make it to that state tournament, this is just one more match, one more practice just to get them amped up and ready to go.”
As for Republic, they’ll head off to Branson to compete in another triangular with Springfield Central next week.
