Even with juggled lineups, when two wrestling teams battle three times in one week, they get to know each other down to the shoelaces.
The Eureka and Seckman boys and girls teams faced each other, along with many other potential postseason contenders, at the Fred Ross Invitational at Lafayette Jan. 6. They met again in a Suburban Conference Yellow pool dual meet Jan. 10, and at the St. Charles West Invitational Jan. 13. The Wildcats and Jaguars will tangle yet again next month in Wildwood in the Class 4 District 1 tournament that will decide who advances to the state championships in Columbia Feb. 23-24.
At St. Charles West, Seckman seniors Draegan Orine (138) and Drake Jenkins (165) won their weight classes to boost the Jaguars to the championship with 215.5 points. Eureka, led by senior champions Noah Richardson (144) and Braedan Trower (175), finished second with 199.5 points.
One of the many rematches at St. Charles between the Yellow pool rivals pitted Jenkins against Eureka senior Caden Gousetis in the 165 final. Sixth in the state at 157 last season, Gousetis (27-1) was unbeaten going into his most recent encounter with Jenkins (18-4), and had won a 6-3 decision over him at Fred Ross. They didn’t meet at the dual, but in a scoreless match at West, Jenkins scored an escape and takedown in the third period to win 3-0.
“I stayed patient and didn’t make a mistake and capitalized off his,” Jenkins said. “Toward the end, he got ahead of himself and forced something that wasn’t there. Then I rode him for two minutes to keep him from scoring.”
Richardson and Seckman freshman Chance Ruble are at the opposite ends of the spectrum in their prep careers. Richardson just missed qualifying for his first state appearance in 2023, while the talented Ruble watched his older brother, Cole, win two state titles before graduating last year. Richardson (23-8) and the younger Ruble (24-5) did not square off at Fred Ross (Ruble finished second at 144), but Richardson beat Ruble 8-1 at the dual, and used five near fall points to win an 7-0 decision (also at 144) at West.
“(Ruble is) hard to move around and score on, but a big thing I do is wear (opponents) down and after a couple of periods it’s easier to do,” Richardson said. “At home and at the West finals, I was able to break him and started racking up the points. By the time he’s a junior or senior, he’s going to be really good.
“I’ve had a pretty good season. I took a couple of hard losses at Helias (the Missouri Duals Dec. 8-9), but when I’m healthy I feel like I’m one of the best wrestlers at the state.”
Eureka junior Blake Forke beat two different Seckman wrestlers in three matches at 150. Forke got past Jaguar sophomore Colton Fowler in the Fred Ross quarterfinals, and beat senior state qualifier Matt Cook (17-10) with pins in the dual and the West semifinals. Forke finished second at both tournaments.
Orine (22-3), third in the state at 120 in 2022, pinned his first opponent at West, won by tech fall in the next two rounds and scored four takedowns against Francis Howell senior Brayden Eikermann for an 8-2 decision in the final.
A state qualifier at 175 last season, Trower (23-6) steamrolled through the weight class at West, pinning three of four opponents. In the final, he took down Francis Howell North junior Collin Conley, scored three near fall points and pinned him at 1:30. Trower was second at Fred Ross, getting pinned by Jenkins, who moved up to 175 for their dual.
Seckman girls narrowly win at St. Charles
At the Fred Ross meet, the Eureka girls finished third and Seckman was fourth. After Eureka beat Seckman 48-33 in their girls dual Jan. 10, the Jaguars turned the tables by edging the Wildcats 206-203 for the St. Charles West championship Jan. 13. It’s the first tournament victory for the Jaguar girls in their six-year history.
Junior Kaylee Horman (26-8) pinned all three of her opponents to win the 115-pound class for the Jaguars. Horman pinned Hazelwood Central junior Carrington Reed (22-5) at 4:52 of the final.
“I went through the normal warmup process, and my teammates and coaches gave me a pep talk,” Horman said. “My coach told me to go out there with swagger and that I own that mat.”
Unlike the boys, the Eureka and Seckman girls didn’t have the impact crossover matches, but at 155, Wildcat junior Mya Willis (19-8) pinned Jaguar junior Summer Hohman (11-22) in the semifinals at 1:26, on her way to a 53-second pin in the final over Francis Howell freshman Addison Marshall. Willis pinned Hohman in 55 seconds in the dual.
Richardson’s sister, Mira, won the St. Charles West title at 125 and improved to 24-4 in just her second season. She won an 11-2 major decision against St. Charles West sophomore Payton Hammack in the final.
“Whenever I first wrestle someone, I feel them out. I could feel I could do it,” Mira said, adding that Noah inspired her to step on the mat.
“I remember when he’d win, how it looked like so much fun,” she said. “Sometimes, if I want to know a move, (he and I) go over it at the house.”
Trower’s sister, Ardynn, a sophomore, won the West title at 190 with three pins to improve to 16-5. At Fred Ross, she lost a 3-1 sudden victory to McCluer North sophomore Lexington Johnson, who was undefeated at the time. She pinned Seckman freshman Emily Chronister at the dual. Chronister (6-11) finished sixth at West.
Eureka senior Addison Neumann (24-4), a state qualifier at 235 last year, pinned her way through Fred Ross and West for 235 titles.
Seckman and Eureka boys and girls medal winners from the St. Charles West Invitational
GIRLS
100 pounds: 2. Mckenzie Liles, Seckman; 3. Lillian Legens, Seckman
105: 2. Emma Donze, Seckman; 6. Ellie Smith, Eureka
110: 3. Amara Vanderhoof, Eureka
115: 1. Kaylee Horman, Seckman; 3. Kirra Dunscombe, Eureka
120: 2. Autumn Ashlock, Eureka; 6. Tiara Corman, Seckman
125: 1. Mira Richardson, Eureka; 5. Zoe Thomas, Seckman
130: 2. Nadia Steinhoff, Seckman
135: 3. Cameron Beck, Seckman
140: 3. Caroline Owens, Seckman; 6. Keanna George, Eureka
145: 4. Kendall Altman, Seckman
155: 1. Mya Willis, Eureka; 4. Summer Hohman, Seckman
170: 5. Sydney Kiefer, Eureka; 6. Laila Mueller, Seckman
190: 1. Ardynn Trower, Eureka; 6. Emily Chronister, Seckman
235: 1. Addison Neumann, Eureka; 5. Madison Clover, Seckman
BOYS
106: 2. Dorrian Clark, Seckman
113: 2. Ahmad Farzad, Seckman; 4. Braxton Vanderveen, Eureka
120: 2. Landon Tilley, Seckman; 3. Elijah Woods, Seckman; 7. Micah Rhea, Seckman
126: 2. Liam McAuliffe, Eureka
132: 5. Quinten Bernat, Eureka; 8. Erik Kamradt, Seckman
138: 1. Draegen Orine, Seckman; 5. Andrew Craven, Seckman
144: 1. Noah Richardson, Eureka; 2. Chance Ruble
150: 2. Blake Forke, Eureka; 4. Colton Fowler, Seckman; 5. Matt Cook, Seckman
157: 2. Kevin Majewski, Eureka
165: 1. Drake Jenkins, Seckman; 2. Caden Gousetis, Eureka; 3. Jeremiah McClain, Seckman
175: 1. Braeden Trower, Eureka; 5. Austin Stinchomb, Seckman
190: 2. Graham Bruenger, Seckman
215: 5. Antonio Lotte, Seckman; 6. Noah McCollum, Eureka
285: 8. Jacob Boucher, Eureka