COLUMBIA • Even though a state title was sewn up the night before, there still was plenty work to do.
The Whitfield wrestling team entered Saturday's final day of the Missouri state wrestling championships with the Class 1 championship already in hand after two days of domination. The Warriors then added five cherries to the top of its sundae, one for each of the five individual titles they won.
Saturday was Whitfield's third state title in five years. The Warriors also won in 2008 and 2009. The Warriors tallied 169.5 points to finish far ahead of rival Blair Oaks for the Class 1 championship. Blair Oaks was second with 123 points.
"We came up here with a mission," Whitfield sophomore Rodney Hahn said. "Our coaches had us prepared for this, and it has been amazing."
Junior Chris Wilkes got the day off started at 126 pounds against Troy Kyser of Knob Noster. Wilkes, methodically built leads of 10-5 and 18-8 before eventually winning 18-8.
"Everyone tried their best today," Wilkes said. "That is all our coaches ask of us."
Wilkes wrestled most of the season at 132 but made the cut for the postseason to allow room on the roster for older teammates.
"I felt OK," Wilkes said. "My coaches and family helped me get down. At the start it was tough but I got used to it."
Wilkes finished third as a sophomore, and he finished this year with a 49-1 record.
Senior Austin Smith ran into defending state champion Kevin Steeby of Mid-Buchanan for the 132 title. The match was stalemated at 1-1 with 1:50 left in the third period. But a whipping takedown by Smith led to an eventual 3-2 victory. It was the first loss of the season for Steeby, and Smith finished 49-6.
For Hahn, it was his second state title in as many years. He felt things out for the first period and led 4-3 before he started to work on Grant Schottell of Mid-Buchanan. Hahn built a 8-3 lead with the help of a neck whip takedown before finally winning 13-6. He finished the season with a 46-3 record.
"I have three other state champions that I train every day with," Hahn said.
After suffering a knee injury as a freshman, Will Hahn has been on the shelf for nearly two years. This season the junior emerged as a champion at 152. Hahn won a 4-2 decision against Holden's Max Mickey in the 152-pound title bout. Hahn was up on Mickey 3-0 before giving up a takedown to make it a one-point match in the third period. Hahn was able to get an escape and then stuffed a Mickey takedown attempt to hang on for a 4-2 victory and end the season 50-5
Senior Ethan Sherertz was down briefly in his championship match against Jake Riggs of Maysville at 182-pounds. Sherertz fell behind 5-2 at the end of the first period, but scored on a big takedown to make it 5-4. He then caught Riggs in a cradle to get a pin with 52 seconds left in the second period.
"Once he chose down to start the second period, I knew I had a good shot to get a stick," Sherertz said.
After watching four of his teammates win state titles, Sherertz was determined not to be left out of the fun.
"When I saw Austin Smith takedown a defending state champ, I wasn't going to let my teammates down," Sherertz said.
Sherertz finished the season 42-3.
Also medaling for Whitfield was Stephen Scobee (31-23) with a fifth-place finish at 220 pounds.
Whitfield was so far ahead of the Class 1 field after the first two days of wrestling that it could have lost all its matches on Saturday and still walked off with the state championship.
"That lifted a lot of weight off," Rodney Hahn said. "We did Thursday and Friday for the team. Saturday was for us."
