WEBB CITY — Caden Harrington bounced back in a big way Saturday from a season nearly full of struggles.
Ozark's 126-pound sophomore rolled to a COC Tournament championship. Harrington and 150-pounder Braxton Strick won titles to lead the Tigers to a repeat of the tourney's team championship.
Harrington earned redemption.
"I started off this season okay and wrestled well at the (Kansas City) Stampede. But I've had some stuff go wrong with injuries and not wrestling well mentally," he said. "I knew for this tournament I had to be here mentally and not worry about what has happened in the past."
Harrington endured disappointing trips to the Branson Tournament and Winnetonka Tournament earlier this month largely due to a recurring wrist injury.
"I hurt it a couple months ago. I jammed my growth plate (in the wrist). It was painful," Harrington said. "At Branson and Winnetonka, I was too worried about my injury. I let it get to me. You use your wrists so much, with shooting, defending, (being on) top and bottom — they all have something to do with your wrists."
A couple reluctant days off the mat proved to be what Harrington needed more than anything else.
"I took some days off to let (the wrist) heal," he said. "I feel great now. It's 100 percent better."
Harrington upped his record to 30-11 by pinning Carl Junction's Max Mattews in 2:43 in the final round at the COC Tournament.
"One of my goals coming into high school was to win a conference championship," Harrington said. "I didn't get it done last year. It's extremely exciting now to have that under my belt."
Looking ahead to Districts, he has his sights set on qualifying for State for the first time.
"I didn't wrestle to my abilities (at Districts) last year," Harrington said. "But we're going to fix that this year."
Strick became a three-time COC champion and improved to 43-2 in easy fashion. He pinned Carthage's Grey Petticrew in :46.
The only season Strick didn't win a COC championship was two years ago, when he sat out the tournament due to an illness.
Ozark won back-to-back COC Tournament team championships for the first time in school history.
The Tigers received runner-up finishes from Damien Moseley at 113, Daniel Laney at 144 and Brock Sundlie at 157.
Moseley (35-8) lost 7-4 to Carl Junction's Lukas Walker in their title tilt.
Laney (32-13) was pinned in 1:04 by Willard's Caleb Caldwell in the final round.
Sundlie lost 3-1 in overtime to Neosho's Collyn Kivet in the final round.
The Tigers' Johnny Williams (34-10) placed third at 190 and Lucas Campbell was fourth at 165, as was Logan Luder at 120, Levi Maskrod at 138 and Eric Shephard at 175.
Ozark had 10 medalists en route to beating runner-up Neosho by 12.5 points.
In the COC Girls Tournament on Friday, Ozark had seven individual champions crowned.
That group includes Adilyn Hoelzle (100), Emily Price (105), Victoria Dunn (110), Maelynn Sundlie (120), Clarice Wheeler (130), Janelle Spohn (140) and Delaney Cardin (145).
