COLUMBIA • Seckman needed a strong showing from three underclassmen to post the area's top finish of third place in the large-schools Missouri wrestling championships Saturday at Mizzou Arena.
Sophomore Brock Wingbermuehle won at 120 pounds, while freshmen Weston Basler (106) and Luke Weiland (113) placed second and fourth, respectively. Seckman has had a long string of medalists dating back to the days when coach Cody Greene was on the team, but Basler and Weiland are the program's first freshmen to win medals.
Seckman's Danny Farrell (126) and Matt Kraus (132) also contributed with third-place finishes.
"I was definitely happy with how we did," Greene said of the showing.
It was the second year in a row Seckman walked off with a state trophy. Last year, the Jaguars were fourth at the Class 4 meet.
Seckman qualified 10 wrestlers for the state meet but didn't have the horsepower to keep up with champ Blue Springs and second-place Park Hill. Blue Springs won with 164 points. Park Hill finished with 144, Seckman with 103.5.
Wingbermuehle, who finished at 45-6, was a powerhouse during the state tournament. He posted three consecutive pins to reach the finals and then won a 2-0 decision against Hunter Neighbors of Jefferson City in the title match.
"He wrestled unreal," Greene said. "He was lights out this weekend."
The only downside in the Seckman weekend was seeing Kraus' run of titles end. A two-time state champ, Kraus lost a 2-1 decision to Russell Coleman of Park Hill in the semifinals. The Seckman senior bounced back to win his last two matches and place third.
"It just came down to one move (in the semifinal loss), and they made it and we didn't," Greene said.
Seckman was one of five area teams to finish in the top 10. The others were Timberland (fifth, 75.5 points) in Class 4; Hillsboro (eighth, 56) and St. Charles West (ninth, 51.5) in Class 3; and Whitfield (first, 169.5) in Class 1.
FAMILY TIES
State titles delivered a little something extra for two area champs and their families. Michael Slyman of Lindbergh and Ethan Sherertz of Whitfield followed in their fathers' footsteps when they powered to titles.
Slyman capped a perfect season with 5-2 decision against Drew Daniels of Rockhurst in the Class 4 160-pound final. The Mizzou-bound Slyman is a two-time state champ. His dad, Mike, won as a 112-pound senior in 1974. Mike Slyman, who headed the Lindbergh wrestling program for several years, now is the Lindbergh athletics director. Along with coach Josh Hansel, Mike Slyman was in one of the coaching chairs for Michael's tournament matches.
Sherertz won the 182-pound championship in Class 1 and leaped into the arms of his dad, Whitfield coach Charlie Sherertz. Ethan Sherertz is the latest in a long line of wrestling success stories in his family. Charlie was a state champ in Nebraska, a college wrestler at Iowa and Mizzou and now the coach of three-time state champ Whitfield.
"I'm still on Cloud 9," Charlie Sherertz said.
WINNING MOVES
Fifty-six wrestlers climbed to the top step of the awards podium at Mizzou Arena, and all of them have a story to tell about how they got into wrestling. None can match the story of Eric Bowman of Ritenour.
In a wrestling world full of family connections and little league success stories, Bowman might be the only state champ to arrive at the top via trampoline.
"I was fascinated with WWE (professional wrestling), and I used to do WWE moves on the trampoline in my backyard," said Bowman, the 152-pound champ in Class 4.
"My uncle saw me and he told me, 'Eric, you've got great balance, you should come up to this little league program,'" he said. "He got me into it, and from there I started beating kids who had been wrestling forever."
Bowman is the wrestler who gives hope to the sport's late arrivals. He didn't connect with a youth league program until eighth grade.
Bowman credits a lot of his motivation and training approach to keeping up with mixed martial arts standouts, and there's more than a little full-speed-ahead MMA feel to Bowman's physical style. College is next on the Ritenour wrestler's things-to-do list, but he is tempted by MMA fighting.
"That's my dream job," he said.
ALMOST PERFECT
Fort Zumwalt North standout Zach Nelson was one of four wrestlers in the state to see his perfect season run off the rails in the state finals. The senior won 44 consecutive matches until running into Jaret Singh of Kearney in the final of the 113-pound division in Class 3. In a rematch of the 2011 final, Singh beat Nelson 3-1 Saturday. It was the same score as when the two met in the 2011 title match.
In a tournament that was chockablock with tough guys, the 5-foot-5, 113-pound Nelson din't take a backseat to anyone. He shifted into wrestling mode in November after a terrific football season as an undersized running back and kick and punt returner for the Panthers. He was among the area leaders in return yardage last fall, ringing up 709 yards and averaging 26 yards on kick returns.
NUMBERS AND NOTES
Slyman was the only area wrestler to come through the state meet undefeated. Nelson and sophomore John Williams of McCluer South-Berkeley each finished with one loss. Williams (28-1) lost a 6-3 decision in the 120-pound title match in Class 2.
A dozen undefeated wrestlers won state titles. There were three in each enrollment class.
If there had been a Most Outstanding Wrestler award at the three-day state tournament, Jayden Cox would have been at the front of the line of contenders. A junior who has committed to Mizzou, the Hickman 220-pounder won his third consecutive state title and finished the year with a state-best 57-0 record.
