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Some clouds this morning will give way to generally sunny skies for the afternoon. High 81F. Winds N at 10 to 15 mph..
A few passing clouds. Low around 60F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Maryville junior Kort Watkins pins Chillicothe's Bo Smith to seal the heavyweight MEC Championship on Saturday in St. Joseph.
Maryville junior Kort Watkins pins Chillicothe's Bo Smith to seal the heavyweight MEC Championship on Saturday in St. Joseph.
ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — Maryville junior Kort Watkins had to wait his turn to capture Midland Empire Conference gold. As a freshman, Watkins was third. Last season, he was the heavyweight runner-up behind eventual state champion Camren Hedgpeth of Cameron.
This season, it was Watkins’ turn to come in as the favorite to take the heavyweight title. He came into the tournament with just one loss this season — to a non-conference opponent Austin Colvin from Stanberry, a defeat he later avenged.
“Kort has had a couple great weeks of practice leading up to this,” Maryville assistant coach Howard Dumke said. “We’ve talked about expectations and for today, it was just a box to check. He knew what he wanted, he knew he had to win this and he was expected to win it. When we walked in this morning, he knew it was his title to take.”
The top-seed for Saturday’s MEC Championships at Benton High School, Watkins displayed his dominance over the conference with a trio of pins and a forfeit.
“Coming out here today and being able to take home the title feels pretty good,” Watkins said.
The heavyweight bracket had four of its five wrestlers with at least 20 wins and 10 or fewer losses. It took Watkins just over four and a half minutes combined to pin St. Pius X’s Lucas Knabe, Benton’s Kevin Machado and Chillicothe’s Bo Smith.
“I felt good,” Watkins said. “Waking up this morning, it felt like it was going to be a good day. Came out and did what I needed to do to take home the title, so I feel like I wrestled pretty good.”
Cameron’s Cole Henderson lost to Machado and then opted to forfeit his match with Watkins.
Watkins was not the only Maryville wrestler to earn a higher place on the medal stand this year. Tanner and Tucker Turner each improved his standing from his freshman season to earn third in the conference.
Tucker Turner faced a tough 126-pound bracket with St. Pius X freshman Noah Gonzalez and Cameron senior Tanner Riley combining for just four losses this season. The Maryville sophomore pinned Lafayette’s Austin Allen to take third-place.
Tanner Turner finished his day strong with a pin of Chillicothe’s Joel Edwards to take third place at 120 pounds.
“No sophomore slump with those boys,” Dumke said. “They both performed really well today.”
Maven Vette added a third-place medal to the Spoofhounds’ count with a podium spot at 160 pounds.
Vette recovered from a loss to open the day against Chillicothe’s Lucas Reynolds to pick up back-to-back wins. Vette lost to undefeated Lafayette star Jay Greiner, but ended the day strong with a pin of Cameron’s Josiah Morones. Greiner earned his 150th career win on Saturday on his way to another MEC championship.
“I’m really happy I faced Greiner,” Vette said. “I haven’t faced him yet this year and that was a really good match. He is a really good wrestler.”
Vette hasn’t wrestled as much as many of the Spoofhound wrestlers this season due to injury and other commitments, but he is feeling good about where he is as the season enters the stretch run.
“I’m exhausted,” Vette said. “I’m going to go home and take a good nap.”
Other good finishes for the Spoofhounds included Zeke Adamson, who won a pair of matches and took fifth at 220 pounds. Canon Creason was fourth at 138 pounds and Dylan Meyer was fifth at 145 pounds. Preston Adwell rounded out Maryville’s lineup and took sixth at 132 pounds.
“He (Adamson) showed a lot of grit coming through and winning those last couple matches,” Dumke said.
Reinforcements are likely on the way for Maryville with Drew Spire missing the tournament with a knee injury, but expected to be back before districts and Aikley Nicholson missing Saturday’s tournament with an illness. Spire would have been the top seed at 170 pounds.
The Spoofhounds have a busy home slate this next week hosting Bedford/Lenox and Mount Ayr on Thursday before hosting the Quad State Tournament on Saturday.
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