By Cody Thorn (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Zan Fugitt officially won a second straight state championship on Saturday night, but in reality the title match happened in the semifinals the night before at the MSHSAA Wrestling Championships.
The Nixa junior won the Class 4 120-pound with a dominating 15-0 technical fall win over Fort Osage’s Colby Gray. Last year, Fugitt won the 113-pound championship with a 42-1 record.
This year, he did a few wins better, posting a 47-1 mark – winning his final 39 matches of the season. The only loss of the season came at the Walsh Jesuit Ironman in Ohio in December.
The biggest one at state was a 6-4 win over Seckman’s Draegen Orine in the semifinals. It was the third win of the year against Orine, a runner-up at 106 last year.
“I knew from the beginning it was going to be the big match and I needed to beat him (Orine),” said the Oklahoma commit. “(Today), I just wrestled like any other match, go out there and score points and have fun.”
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Facing a freshman in Gray, Fugitt needed only 3 minutes, 22 seconds to roll up the 15-0 spread to end the match early.
Fugitt was one of four medalists for the Eagles, which took fourth place in the Class 4 standings with 86 points. Liberty (214 ½), Seckman (114) and Staley (92 ½) made up the top three in the standings.
After tying for third last year, it marked the first time in program history the Eagle had back-to-back team trophies.
“Back-to-back-year with trophies is an awesome accomplishment,” Nixa coach Dustin Martin said. “It was really cool, we had a couple guys on the backside that we thought might be in the finals but after a little adversity on Friday they came out and finished the day off strong. That is what we work for and for it to happen, it is a stepping stone and an acknowledgment the program is in the right place.”
Peyton Moore (126), Brennan Carey (195) and John Gholson (285) all took third for Nixa.
Moore (38-5) lost to eventual champion Hayden Benter of Hickman in the semifinals, while Carey lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Wentric Williams III of Liberty. Finally, following the same path as the two aforementioned teammates, Gholson lost in the semifinals to Blue Springs’ Brock Sullivan, who won the state championship.
Two other Central Ozark Conference wrestlers were in the finals.
Ozark’s Braxton Strick claimed the 152-pound title with a 3-1 win over Liberty’s Logan Rathjen. Strick got a late takedown in the second period to take the lead after the one-time champion tried a shot.
“It was a good shot but my defense showed up today. My defense is one of my best aspects of my game. He went for the shot and I tried something I never tried before in a match, only tried it in practice the past few weeks and I did it.”
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE THIRD & FIFTH PLACE MATCHES
An escape seven seconds into the third period accounted for the final score.
Strick finished his junior season with a 46-3 and now has a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place medal to his collection in three trips to state.
Davion King had a runner-up finish for Carthage, falling in the 160-pound title.
Seckman’s Cole Ruble built a 6-1 in the first 40 seconds before getting a pin 50 seconds into the finals against King, who was 38-5.
It was the second medal for King, who took fifth last year to earn his first medal.
“Last year he ran into the state champion (Liberty’s Kyle Dutton) in the quarterfinals and he should’ve placed higher than fifth,” Carthage coach Kenny Brown said. “He wrestled a great tournament (this year). He came in basically unranked and we knew he was one of the better kids in the state and he has beaten three of the other state placers. He is where he belongs and hopefully he bumps up and gets on top of it next year.”
