COLUMBIA, Mo. • Class 1 champion Whitfield led the way, winning all five of its title matches Saturday evening as the St. Louis area made another solid showing in the finals of the 82nd Missouri wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena.
The Warriors ran away with their third team title in five seasons, finishing with 169½ points, well ahead of runner-up Blair Oaks (123). In Class 4, Seckman earned the third-place trophy, while Timberland was fifth.
Whitfield sophomore Rodney Hahn (145 pounds) picked up his second championship while teammates Chris Wilkes (126), Austin Smith (132), Will Hahn (152) and Ethan Sherertz (182) all earned their first titles.
In the upset of the day, Parkway South heavyweight Donnell Walker stunned four-time medalist and defending champion Evan Boehm of Lee's Summit West, pinning the Mizzou football recruit in 4 minutes 50 seconds.
“I don't know what happened. Honestly, I'm going to have to wait and look at the tape,'' said Walker (35-1), who finished sixth and fifth, in two previous state appearances. “Everybody talks about (Boehm) like he's the king of heavyweight wrestling, and I felt that way, too. This is like a fairy tale; I just hope I don't wake up.''
Boehm beat Walker 4-2 in last year's semifinals. He won the heavyweight title a year ago after placing fourth in both 2009 and 2010.
With another workmanlike effort at 160, Lindbergh's Michael Slyman picked up back-to-back Class 4 titles with a 5-2 victory over Rockhurst's Drew Daniels.
“I get myself pretty pumped up beforehand, but once I take the mat, it's just another match,'' Slyman said after wrapping up a 44-0 senior season. “As long as I stick to the game plan, I'm confident I'll be successful.''
Ritenour's Eric Bowman, a third-place qualifier at districts, capped an emotional stay in Columbia with an 11-5 win over Troy's Skylar Weber in the Class 4 title match at 152. Bowman (36-4) is the Huskies' first champion since 1998. Earlier in the tournament, he knocked off Austin Eads (55-2) of Blue Springs South and Lee's Summit West's Matt Lemanowicz (52-2).
Jarrett Franklin (47-3) of Francis Howell took the Class 4 title at 170, winning 8-3 over Blue Springs' Chris Lattner. At 182, Eureka's Matt McClimens (45-1) followed up on a fourth-place finish in 2011 with a solid 5-0 title-match victory over Park Hill South's Chase Gray.
Timberland's Devan Richter (38-3) pinned Park Hill's William Erneste in the first round for the Class 4 championship at 113. For the Class 4 title at 120, Seckman's Brock Wingbermuehle (45-6) came up with a pair of third-period back points in a 2-0 win over Jefferson City's Hunter Neighbors.
In Class 3, St. Charles West's Austin Rugraff, who fell 3-1 in overtime in last year's finals, needed just 85 seconds to pin Kearney's Blain Drescher for the title at 160.
“I wasn't taking any chances,'' said Rugraff (54-1). “I went after him with everything I had.''
Four-time medalist Cory Lester of John Burroughs fell short in his bid for a second title, losing to Fulton's Cody Pae in the Class 2 final at 126. Lester (54-3) was a state champ in 2010.
In a championship rematch at 113 in Class 3, Kearney's Jaret Singh (52-4) beat four-time medalist Zach Nelson of Fort Zumwalt North 3-1 for the second consecutive season. It was the first loss of the season for Nelson (44-1).
Other area finalists were Seckman's Weston Basler (106) and Holt's Clayton Ream (145) in Class 4, St. Charles West's Casey Bartee (152), Zumwalt North's Ryan Thomas (170) and McCluer's Jon Cain (220) in Class 3 and previously unbeaten John Williams of McCluer South-Berkeley (120) in Class 2.
