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Sparta wrestled tough over two days in Missouri. Here is Morgan Leis after his 3rd place finish.
Derek VonRuden, Nick Winchel, Morgan Leis and Tom Tourdot all brought home third place medals to lead the Spartans to a second-place team finish in the 36-team Harrisonville Christmas Invitational. VonRuden and Winchel went 5-1 over two days (excluding byes) while Leis went 6-2 and Tourdot 6-1 to bring home their bronze medals.
Other top finishers for the Spartans included Dylan Winchel (6th at 103), Michael Murnane (4th at 140) and Toby Mosley (6th at 145). Ten Spartans finished in the top 10 of the 36-team tournament while every Spartan placed in the top 15. It was a great tournament with some memorable moments including…
- Derek VonRuden’s victory over Nick Koon of Carl Junction (20-6) by a score of 3-2 in the second round
- Derek VonRuden’s victory over Jake Bradbury of Deer Creek (15-6) by a score of 5-2 in the 3rd place match
- Nick Winchel defeating previously unbeaten Antoine Jones of KC Center by a score of 10-7. Jones was sixth at state the previous year in Missouri
- Nick Winchel’s pin in 3:54 over Brandon Johnson of Holden (16-4)
- Nick Winchel’s victory by 10-4 decision over Trever Glynn of Holden (16-3)
- Michael Murnane’s 15-7 major decision victory over Matthew Woodcock of St. Clair (17-2)
- Toby Mosley’s 11-9 overtime victory over Christian Buchanan of St. Charles West (18-2)
- Morgan Leis’ one point loss to Missouri state runner-up Trent Landes of Carl Junction (23-2)
- Morgan Leis’ 3-1 victory in the third place bout over Casey Bartee of St. Charles West (16-4)
These were just a few of Sparta’s better moments in a tournament filled with many of them. To see how each Spartan’s tournament went, check out the records below. At the end of the stat line in parentheses is each Spartan’s record on the year so far.
103 — Dylan Winchel, 6th Place, 4-3 with two pins (10-4)
112 — Tristan Zurfluh, 7th Place, 4-3 with three pins (9-5)
119 — Bryce Nowaczyk, 10th Place, 3-4 with a pin (7-6)
125 — Derek VonRuden, 3rd Place, 5-1 with two pins and a major decision (9-4)
130 — Nick Winchel, 3rd Place, 5-1 with two pins (11-3)
135 — Paul VanTassel, 7th Place, 4-3 with two pins and a major decision (11-3)
140 — Michael Murnane, 4th Place, 5-3 with two pins and a major decision (11-3)
145 — Toby Mosley, 6th Place, 4-3 with two pins (11-3)
152 — Morgan Leis, 3rd Place, 6-2 with two pins (8-2)
160 — Alex Hemmersbach, 11th Place, 4-3 (7-7)
171 — Xavier Lopez, 14th Place, 4-4 with two pins (8-6)
189 — Clinton LaBeause, 15th Place, 2-5 with a pin (4-9)
215 — Tom Tourdot, 3rd Place, 6-1 with three pins (13-1)
285 — Chris Beeler, 12th Place, 3-4 with two pins (10-4)
Sparta finished the tournament in second place with 752 points, which was two points better than St. Charles West who finished with 750 points. Deer Creek ran away with the team title with 853 points. The second place finish was an improvement for the Spartans over last year’s third place finish and 727 points.
If you would like to see how every Spartan did in every single match, then click here.
The Spartans are off until Thursday when they travel to Madison for the Badger State Tournament hosted by Stoughton. More on that to come. Congrats Spartans on a great tournament and have a safe trip home!!
