Six high school wrestling teams from Texas travelled to Kansas City, Mo., to compete in the Kansas City Stampede last weekend to get a taste of some of the best competition the Midwest has to offer.
The tournament featured wrestlers from Missouri, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Iowa, Colorado, Florida, Georgia and others.
Randall, Rockwall, Klein, Red Oak, Conroe Woodlands College Park and Melissa sent teams up north to compete in one of the biggest tournaments of the year.
Conroe Woodlands College Park had the best finish of anyone in the state, finishing ninth with a team score of 115.5. Randall was 13th with 102.5, Melissa was 18th with 91, Rockwall was 40th with 57, Klein was tied for 70th with Platte County, Mo., with 24 and Red Oak was 76th with 10 points.
Stillwater, Okla. won the event with 178.5 points.
Randall had two wrestlers finish as runner-ups, including senior Daniel Acosta (165 pounds). After winning handily in his first three matches, he took down Baylor’s Christopher Phillips 4-0 in the quarterfinals and edged Missouri’s Lake Waters 2-1 in the semifinals to set up a championship match with Miguel Rojas out of Lake Highland Prep. He fell in that one 4-2 and took second place.
“I think I wrestled pretty good,” Acosta said of his championship match. “I was staying in a solid position. I was hand fighting well. I got a little lazy at the end. I think I should have cut him.
‘I finished seventh in this tournament last year, so this is an improvement. My hand fighting has gotten a lot better since last year. I am getting people out of position, especially at the high-level tournaments.”
Acosta said he enjoyed facing higher level competition at the Stampede.
“I love getting some good scraps in,” Acosta said. “It’s different being able to wrestle at a higher level. I love being able to wrestle an entire six minutes.
His teammate, Mikey Ruiz, won his weight class last season at the Stampede, but had a stiffer challenge this time around against Ignacio Villasenor in the championship match of the 126-pound weight class. He won comfortably in all his matches, including a 15-3 major decision on the semifinals over Misssouri’s Jordan Bell, before the final bout.
Against Villasenior, he couldn’t get an offense going in a 10-3 loss.
“I wasn’t keeping my hands down like I should have,” Ruiz said. “I got to look back at the match and see what I need to improve.”
Below is a summary of other wrestlers from Texas who finished in the top eight of their weight divisions:
106: Nick Payne of College Park took sixth place and finished his day with a 15-3 loss to Kaemen Orine of Seckman, Mo.
126: Melissa’s Maddox Fields finished in eight in his weight class after a 7-1 defeat to Piedmont, Oklahoma’s Brody Heussel in the seventh-place match.
132: Mason Milsaps of College Park had a close match with Missouri’s Park Lutz but came out on top 8-7 and he edged Melissa’’s Vinny Ferrari 8-4 in the semifinals to set up a championship match with Eric Casula of Stillwater, Okla. He lost in the championship match 8-4 and took second place.
132: Melissa’s Vinny Ferrari took fourth place as he fell to Basehor-Linwood, Kansas’ Trevor Christenson in the consolation finals.
144: College Park’s Logan Milsaps ended his day on a high note as he took down Stillwater’s Calan Manley 4-0 in the consolation finals to take third place.
144: Rockwall’s Hunter Gordon finished in seventh place and finished his tournament with a 21-5 tech fall win over Airic Conn of Dowling Catholic in Iowa.
157: Rockwall’s Dom Wilson took fourth place and ended his tournament with a medical forfeit victory vs. Christian Brothers College’s Colin Rutlin.
190: Randall’s Marky Gallegos took eight place after he fell 5-2 in his final match against Missouri’s Isaac Ward.
