“I want to make sure there’s someone to fill our spots,” Foeller said moments after she pinned Ste. Genevieve junior Kaylee Gross in 2:48 of the 166-pound state championship at the Mizzou Arena in Columbia on Saturday night. Gross (30-3) lost all three matches this season to Foeller.
Foeller and Gross sized each other up for the first 1:30 of their match before Foeller shot for a takedown to take a 2-0 lead. Foeller scored another takedown in the second period to lead 4-0. About a minute later, Gross was squirming on her back before the referee slammed his hand down signifying Foeller’s second state crown by fall.
“I was trying to feel the match out and seeing if I’m going on offense or whether I need to turn my defense on,” Foeller said. “I’m not going to rush anything. I’m going to do it play-by-play. I’m not going to force anything if I don’t need to.”
Wrestlers are often a confident lot, bordering on arrogant. Foeller has confidence in spades but she knows her unbeaten record can end quickly if she doesn’t keep working.
“Any given day I can be undefeated and then get pinned five straight times,” she said. “I’m going to concentrate on what I want to do. I’m not going to worry about my (opponent) at all. I’m going to wrestle like it’s my match.”
Surprisingly, Foeller said she hasn’t gotten much contact from college coaches.
“I think that will change this summer,” she said.
Truman sophomore Ava Miller lasted the longest (3:24) of Foeller’s four state opponents. Foeller won by fall in the first period in the first two rounds.
Next season, Foeller and Lafayette sophomore Faith Cole (53-0) will try to become the first girls three-time undefeated champions in state history. Troy Buchanan senior Autumn Flanigan (56-0) won two state titles but wrestled in her last match Saturday.
“There are several other girls here who are undefeated,” Foeller said. “It’s awesome for my school that I am, but for me I have bigger goals.”
Harrisonville won the girls team competition with 76 points. Lafayette (73.5 points) finished second for the second straight season. The Dragons (30 points) finished 16th for the second straight year.
If the girls increase their numbers at the same rate (39 percent) they did from the first season to this one, the Missouri State High School Activities Association will have to look hard at adding a second class. MSHSAA officials said that could mean an end to the boys and girls competing at state at the same venue at the same time.
“I think the big schools need to start looking out for the little ones,” Foeller said.
Landon Porter qualified for state all four years at 285. Porter reached the summit on Saturday with a 7-4 decision against Neosho senior Zane Persinger to finish the season 45-0.
Porter had a career record of 162-13 and had more than 100 pins in his career.
Senior Connor Zimmermann qualified for state at 132 as a sophomore, 138 as a junior and at 152 this season and captured his first state medal in sixth place.
De Soto senior Hunter Lebel made his first state appearance, qualifying at 220. Lebel finished the season 30-17 after losing his two matches at state.
Young Hawks rise in state team standings
Three seconds stood between freshman Gavin Alexander and a Class 3 state wrestling championship.
With the 106-pound match against Neosho freshman Raymond Hembree tied 4-4 with 59 seconds to go in the third period, Alexander scored a reversal to take a 6-4 lead. With 37 seconds left, Alexander was awarded three near-fall points to go ahead 9-4.
A stoppage in the action with three seconds left gave Alexander the choice to restart in the up position. He gave Hembree a tap on the back and quickly moved away so Hembree couldn’t reach him. Hembree got the point but Alexander (46-2) won the match 9-5 for Hillsboro’s first state championship since Jacob Vondebruegge in 2008.
If Alexander’s finals match was a football game, he would have lined up in the victory formation in the final seconds.
“I felt him a little bit and he broke a little bit and that’s when I kept up my pace like my coaches told me,” Alexander said. “I did that through this whole tournament.”
In the brief time between the stoppage and Alexander’s victory, Hillsboro head coach Matt Mitchell had some sage advice for one of the three freshmen the Hawks took to state.
“I told him to stay away and play it safe,” Mitchell said.
In about half of his last 10 matches, Alexander has given up the first takedown.
“Maybe that’s how the story was supposed to go,” Mitchell said. “Getting that reversal, you could tell we were in good shape.
“He does everything right. He comes to my classroom every morning at about 6:15 and works on homework. We talk. He’s a freshman and has matured so much this year. I’m so happy for him because he had a great tournament and he beat some good kids. I was so excited for the program.”
Hillsboro was a distant 25th with 27 points in last year’s Class 3 team standings. The Hawks moved up to 10th this year with 67.5 points. Fittingly, since Hillsboro won its first Jefferson County Activities Association championship this year, it had the highest state finish of the other teams in the conference. De Soto was 18th with 37.5 points, mostly on the strength of senior Landon Porter’s first state title at 285 pounds.
“At the beginning of the year we sat down as a team and talked about our goals,” Mitchell said. “We won a conference championship. We were runners-up in districts. And now a top 10 team state finish. Our kids have wrestled absolutely outstanding this week. I’m so proud of them. All of our (state) points are coming back.”
Those will be coming from Alexander and sophomore Dalton Litzsinger (third, 132) and freshman Griffin Ray (fifth, 138). Freshman Evan Morris lost an 8-3 decision to Smithville junior J.T. O’Rourke in the “bubble match” or the Hawks would have had another medal from an underclassman.
“We preached from Day 1 that these guys are a top-10 team in the state,” Mitchell said. “They took that and ran with it. All seven of our (state qualifiers) wrestled hard and six scored team points.”
Litzsinger (47-4) won his first two matches before falling to McDonald County senior Oscar Ortiz in the semifinals at 132. Litzsinger was pushed to the third-place match after winning in the wrestlebacks by injury default. There, Litzsinger beat Farmington sophomore Blake Cook in a 12-0 major decision.
“His goal was to be a state finalist and he fell short of that,” Mitchell said. “Then the goal was to get as high as he could get. He wrestles year round and that all paid off today. He was upset after the semifinals. He wants to be a state champion. I think he’s going to have a great offseason.”
Ray (46-5) also reached the semifinals before his first loss at state. Then Ray dropped a 3-2 decision to Rolla senior Dathan Mickem, kicking him to the fifth-place match where he won a 5-0 decision over Kearney junior Ben Locke.
In the quarterfinals, Ray pinned Belton freshman Luca Riley with eight seconds to go to end what had been a scoreless match.
“You’re not going to find many freshmen at this weight who are state medalists,” Mitchell said. “(Ray) got arguably the toughest draw on our team.”
Other Class 3 state results
Listed as Justin Shaver in the 2019 state wrestling media guide, Luke Shaver (51-2) took the mat for Festus in Columbia at 170 pounds this year.
Justin didn’t get to the medal podium last year at 152, but Luke climbed all the way to third place after he pinned Union junior Ryder Kuenzel in 4:07.
“I had an awesome time here,” said Shaver, who along with senior Justus Labrayere were the only two Tigers to qualify for state. “It’s the first time I placed. I came out in a dominant way in every match. Even in the semifinals.
“It wasn’t the best version of me. But I’m going to be back here next year and win a state championship.”
Shaver’s route to a title was interrupted by Kearney senior Coby Aebersold in the semifinals, where he lost a 3-2 decision. Aebersold pinned his opponent in the finals to win the weight class.
“It was more of a position battle,” Shaver said. “He kept me out of position to take my shots. In the last 30 seconds, I shot and got between his legs and was about to score when he sprawled and got into a defensive position. As I came up, he arm-dragged me and that made it 3-2. It was very close.”
Windsor junior Chris Butts plans on sprinting for the track and field team this spring to get faster on the wrestling mat. Butts is a running back on the gridiron in the fall, and now he can add fourth-place medal winner at 182 pounds to his resume. Grain Valley junior Hunter Newsom beat Butts (38-13) in a 9-0 major decision in the third-place match.
“I had never wrestled him and didn’t know how he wrestled,” said Butts, who was one of five Owls to qualify for state but the only one to reach the medal stand. “I was already happy knowing I medaled, but I still gave it my all. I should have been more aggressive and it would have come out better. But he’s a strong wrestler.”
Butts lost in the quarterfinals, then had to win three matches to get to the third-place bout.
“I was nervous about that,” he said. “I was like, ‘Man, I don’t want to be the one who doesn’t get to the podium.’ I got the medal so I’m proud of the season.”
Windsor senior Seif Elkhashab won the District 1 championship the week before state, but after losing in the quarterfinals, Elkhashab (45-7) fell 13-6 in the bubble match.