By Cody Thorn (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Brady Roark and Simon Hartline both got on top of the medal stand this year — after battling for one spot last year.
Seneca’s Roark won a second straight title, this one at 120 pounds, while Monett’s Hartline stayed at 106 pounds and took first after finishing as the runner-up last year.
“I thought about it every day, every day,” Hartline said of the loss in the championship match last year to Roark.
Hartline, who went 46-4 this year, capped off a 4-0 run to the title with a pin in 1 minutes, 40 seconds facing School of the Osage’s Zach Green.
It was Hartline’s third pin of the three-day MSHSAA State Wrestling Championships that wrapped up on Saturday night at Mizzou Arena. He finished the year on a 7-match winning streak after falling to Spencer Cunningham of Mid-Buchanan in the championship match of the Oak Grove Classic on Feb. 5.
Cunningham won the Class 1 title. Other losses for Hartline this year came to Class 4 106 runner-up Devon Harrison of Liberty and twice to Carl Junction’s Lukas Walker, who took third in Class 3 at 106.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE TITLE MATCHES
Was there any nerves heading into this tournament?
“It was kind of like another tournament, I’ve seen everyone around,” Hartline said.
Hartline beat half of the medalists that were on the podium as his path to the title included wins over Hallsville’s Paxton Martin (fourth place) and Kirksville’s Jaden Crisp (fifth place).
Roark (48-0) ran his winning streak to 76 matches in a row with a decisive win over Jefferson City Helias Catholic’s Carter Prenger by a 20-4 technical fall.
Out of the 56 boys championships on Saturday, only one other ended on a tech fall: Nixa’s Zan Fugitt’s 15-0 win over Fort Osage’s Colby Gray in Class 4 120 pounds.
The win over Prenger was the second in a 7-day span for Roark, who beat him in the district title match the week prior by a 17-6 major decision.
“He didn’t get the tech fall at district and that is one thing he was upset about,” Seneca coach Jeff Sill said. “He felt he left points out there (last week). I told him just get the win, that is what we need to worry about. He worked hard and got the tech fall. I think he had only one match this year that didn’t end in a pin or tech fall.”
Roark now has two titles, passing his brother, Max, who had one. He is now in second place in the family standings, trailing Will, who won three.
“That is an amazing family, not only wrestling-wise, but just a great family,” Sill said.
Monett’s Harrison Merriman came up short in winning his second title in three years when he gave up a late takedown – with 1 second left in overtime – to lose 3-1 to Peyton Hahn of Boonville, 3-1.
Hahn tied the match up with an escape in the third before taking down the Northwest Missouri football signee in front of the Boonville coaches.
CLICK HERE FOR PHOTOS OF THE THIRD & FIFTH PLACE MATCHES
Merriman ended his career with four medals, a first (2020), second (2022), third (2021) and sixth (2019).
The reach the finals, he had three pins that were just a hair over 2 ½ minutes of mat time between Thursday and Friday. The big win came in the semifinals beating Oak Grove’s Caleb Groff, a state finalist that beat Merriman in the same round last March.
Groff (54-3) handed Merriman his only regular season loss this year back on Jan. 8.
Merriman was 41-2 this year and had wins during the regular season against Class 4 champion Brock Sullivan of Blue Springs and Class 1 champion Simpson Stillwell (St. Michael the Archangel).
The area’s third finalist was Buffalo’s Brock Maverick, who lost 9-2 to Oak Grove’s Zander Brinegar in the 195-pound finals.
A four-time medalist, Brinegar finished this year with a 43-0 mark. Maverick, a senior, was 43-4 and had his win streak of 18 in a row snapped. Three of his four losses this year came against other state medalists: Class 3 third-place finisher Michael Friederich of Jefferson City and Class 3 fifth-place finisher Brady Griffin from Willard.
In the team standings, Pleasant Hill won a second straight championship. Seneca took fifth with 77 ½ points, three ahead of School of the Osage. Monett placed 12th.
