Nevada's trip to state wrestling ends well

Tanner Charles took third at 126 pounds in Class 2.

By Jason Peake

Daily Mail Sports Editor

Nevada High School sent five athletes to the Missouri state wrestling championships and two, Slade Stiles and Tanner Charles, earned third place medals on Saturday.

"Two third place medals is something to be proud of," Nevada Coach Devin White said Saturday at Mizzou Arena.

Having two athletes win third place matches was a nice way to end a successful season for the Tigers.

Charles earned his first state medal. He went 50-2 this season. White said Charles is now Nevada's career wins leader with 143.

As far as Stiles, he earned third for the third-straight season and finished with a record of 33-6.

Others fail to medal

Three others from Nevada -- sophomore Johnathon Ireland (132), senior Zach Shepherd (145) and junior Colby Smith (195) --competed at state but were unable to finish in the top six in their respective brackets.

Shepherd's career ended at state, though.

Shepherd lost a first round match to Brennan Johnson of Excelsior Springs 14-8.

Shepherd won by fall in the consolation bracket over Brennen Dixson of Moberly in 2:30. Shepherd had a tough opponent in the next round, as he fell to Adam McMain of Cameron (45-2) by fall in the first period. McMain was the number-one seed in the bracket, but was upset in the quarterfinals. Shepherd went 50-7 this season.

"I would have liked to see Zach get on the medal stand," White said. "He had a tough bracket. There aren't going to be any easy matches at state."

Next, Ireland lost in the first round to eventual state champion Austin Roper of Kirksville (54-1).

Ireland won by forfeit in the consolation bracket, before falling 7-4 to Dominic Barressi of Westminster Christian Academy. Of course, Ireland will have two more years of high school left.

As far as Smith, he lost by fall to John Orscheln of Moberly in the first round. Orscheln ended up third. Smith won a match by fall over Will Simpson of Excelsior Springs before falling to Marcus Roberg of Harrisonville by fall.

"I would have liked to see Colby and John go a little deeper than what they did," White said. "But those two will be back."

Overall, White, who was assisted by Josh Smith, said the team had a stellar 2011-12 season.

"The team had a great season," he said. "We brought five guys to state."

White said that's the most he's taken to state during his tenure.

Nevada finished 18th in the final Class 2 team standings. Kirksville was first and Oak Grove second. Harrisonville finished third and Seneca was sixth. Monett finished just below Nevada at 19th. In all, 50 different schools were represented in Class 2.

State notes: It's always important to be on time. Just ask the Sumner wrestling team. Sumner's athletes arrived late for Thursday morning's weigh-ins. Because they missed the weigh-in, the Class 2 school's five wrestlers were all disqualified. Nevada's Ireland would have wrestled Sumner's Courtney Williams in a consolation match, but since his opponent could not wrestler, Ireland won by forfeit.

Kirksville's Justin VanHoose won his fourth state title, becoming the 21st athlete to pull off the feat in Missouri history. VanHoose went 55-0 this year and took first at 138 in Class 2, beating Monett's Cristobal Renteria.

Richmond's Savanna Noble became the 10th female to compete at the state wrestling tourney in Missouri history. Noble went 2-2 at 106 in Class 1.

In three days of action at Mizzou Arena, there were 1,624 matches held. It was the 82nd state wrestling tourney.

Nevada native David Dade was an official at state.