The drama of Districts has already begun, what with Class 4 District 3 host Nixa debating what weight class to enter senior John Gholson for Saturday’s action.
The Eagles’ back-and-forth deliberating to have Gholson at 220 pounds or 285 may go all the way until the seedings meeting Friday.
“We haven’t made up our minds, yet, if we will have him at 220 or heavyweight,” Eagles coach Dustin Martin said. “We’ll have to make a final decision by the night before Districts.”
Gholson (30-5) finished third at State at 220 last season. But he made quite a splash at 285 earlier this month, when he finished first as Nixa’s lone representative at the Kyle Thrasher Tournament in Wentzville.
“We sent him to St. Louis to see where he was at heavyweight,” Martin said. “He did very well in that tournament, beating (MissouriWrestling.com’s) No. 1-ranked and No. 4 kids (in Class 4).”
Gholson defeated No. 1-ranked Liam Bryant (29-3), of Jackson, 5-2, in the final round and downed No. 4-ranked William Nelson (21-2), of Eureka, 7-2 in the semifinals.
“I feel like I’m a top competitor at either weight class,” Gholson said. “Going to St. Louis really opened my eyes to that.”
The Thrasher Tournament title was Gholson’s first championship on the season. He’s faced formidable foes from all around the Midwest, having placed second at the Lafayette Invitational and third at the Winnetonka Tournament, in addition to competing at the Kansas City Stampede and the Walsh Ironman.
Gholson has been at 215 or 220 for 28 of his 35 matches. He’s 7-0 at 285.
“Going to those tougher tournaments really prepared me well to get a good idea of where I’m at and where I need to be for this post-season,” said Gholson, who was also at 220 for his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons.
Martin feels Gholson is strong enough to possibly give up 50-60 pounds to some foes, if he does compete at 285 while weighing 220-ish.
“We wouldn’t move him there if we didn’t feel that way,” Martin said. “He’s strong, quick and very intelligent. He’s got a big motor and high confidence. I’m not worried about the weight issue.”
Gholson is glad Nixa is hosting. He has not lost on the Eagles’ mats since dropping four home matches his freshman season. He started his high school career with three straight losses at home.
“I like the fact we get to host Districts for my last year,” Gholson said. “I’m gonna go out and show what I got and leave my mark.”
Nixa is MissouriWrestling.com’s highest-ranked team in the Class 4 District 3 16-team field. The Eagles are ranked seventh. But Ozark and Lebanon will be the favorites to take the team title, after the Tigers claimed the COC Tournament championship and the Yellowjackets won the Ozark Conference Tournament title.
“Ozark had a good showing at COC and is the kind of team that is built for a conference tournament or Districts,” Martin said. “We’re going to be in the running, but it is going to be tough. We have clear-cut leaders in Zan Fugitt, Peyton Moore and Gholson and Brennan Carey tends to do well also. But we don’t have many middle-tier kids who can score points. We’re the type of team that may score as many points at the State level as at Districts.”
Fugitt is 39-1 at 120, Moore 29-4 at 126 and Carey 26-8 at 195.
Moore won’t see Lebanon’s Canon Roark, who beat Moore 7-2 and went on to finish third at 120 in Class 3 last season. Roark was due to wrestle at 126 this year, but will miss the entire season due to a suspension.
Moore could receive a challenge from Lebanon’s Davis Joiner (31-8), an OC Tournament champ. Joiner went to 120 to face Fugitt earlier this month and was pinned in 4:51.
Ozark’s Braxton Strick won his third COC Tournament title and is eyeing his third District championship. He’s 38-3 at 152 this season.
Strick has beaten Carthage’s Braxdon Tate (25-5) in two tournament finals.
The Tigers had five runners-up at the COC Tournament. That group includes Damien Moseley (33-8) at 106, Caden Harrington (31-11) at 113, Keaton Hurst (25-14) at 120, Nolan Moeller (31-10) at 138 and Lucas Campbell (28-9) at 145.
Ozark and Nixa could have showdowns against each other at 132 and 145, with State berths on the line.
At 132, the Eagles’ Aidan Ward (20-7) has won two of three matches against the Tigers’ Levi Maskrod (27-15).
At 145, Campbell has taken two of three matches against Nixa’s Nate Brower (18-18).
Martin said most of Nixa’s responsibilities as the host school do not involve him.
“There is a lot to it, but we have outstanding administration,” he said. “Dr. Jared Webster, our junior high principal, takes most of the burden off of ourselves. That gives me the opportunity to coach, which is awesome.”
In addition to Nixa and Ozark, the field is made up of Belton, Carthage, Springfield Central, Joplin, Kickapoo, Lebanon, Lee’s Summit, Lee’s Summit North, Lee’s Summit West, Ray-Pec, Republic, Sedalia Smith-Cotton and Waynesville.
The top four finishers in each weight class move on to State.
