COLUMBIA — MSHSAA’s history book and Website will forever document Nixa’s Zan Fugitt beating Fort Osage’s Colby Gray 15-0 in the Class 4 120-pound final at the State Wrestling Tournament on Saturday.
But the consensus in Nixa’s camp all along last week was the championship essentially was going to be decided in the semifinal round Friday between Fugitt (47-1) and Seckman’s Dragen Orine (45-4).
The semifinal indeed lived up to the hype, with Fugitt edging Orine 6-4.
“I definitely do,” Fugitt said when asked if he felt that bout was the state championship match from his view. “I knew from the beginning it was going to be the big match. He’s great competitor and a great kid, too. I love wrestling him.”
“It was an enormous, epic match,” coach Dustin Martin said. “The finals match was maybe a little less intense.”
Fugitt obviously outclassed Gray (44-4), a freshman, and needed only 3:22 to record a technical fall. In a regular-season match, Fugitt pinned Gray in :46.
No one was playing the blame game for Fugitt and Orine meeting in a semifinal and not the final.
“MSHSAA has a rotation of (District) brackets they go through,” Martin said, referring to the four District winners statewide and their placements in brackets at State. “Luck of the draw.”
Fugitt and Orine met three times this season. All three matches went the distance and each decision saw Fugitt win by two points.
“The hardest thing in sports to do is beat someone three times in a row,” Martin said. “So, I felt the cards were somewhat stacked against us. But we had a game plan and an idea of what (Orine) was going to do. We tried to simulate that in practice all week.”
After beating Orine, Fugitt was mindful not to be complacent in the final.
“I wanted to wrestle just like it was any other match, score points and have fun,” he said.
Fugitt endured a bloody nose versus Gray, with the match twice being halted for officlas to wipe blood off of Fugitt.
“When it’s cold outside, my nose gets kind of dry and starts bleeding,” he said. “I got a lot of bloody noses my freshman year, so I’m used to it.”
Fugitt was his usual well-composed self all season. Nothing seemingly rattled him while winning back-to-back state championships.
“I stopped getting nervous after my freshman year. I decided to roll the dice and have fun,” he said. “I’m out there to impress myself and be the best person and wrestler I can be.”
Fugitt can put himself in elite company as a senior next season. He’ll try to join Trevor Collins and Joe Velliquette as Nixa’s only three-time state champions.
“To go down in Nixa history would be cool,” Fugitt said. “When I was in youth (wrestling), I would see Joe at the wrestling room. It was cool to watch him.
“I’ll probably wrestle at 132 next year,” he added. “I’m going to work on gaining some muscle and getting bigger and stronger.”
