Cape Central's Connor Poole advances to second day of Class 3 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships 

COLUMBIA — Every wrestler enters the mat by himself, but no wrestler is ever alone.

One thing that has been proven true about the MSHSAA Wrestling Championships is that it takes a village to raise a champion. As the victor emerges, look around to see how much he is supported, from the coaches in his corner to his family and friends in the stands and his fellow state-qualifying teammates.

Cape Central junior Connor Poole (25-15) made his first appearance in the Class 3 state tournament Friday, Feb. 28, looking to make history at the Mizzou Arena.

Not just program history, but family as well.

“Nobody in my family has made it as far as I have,” an emotional Poole said, “and it’s very important to me, not only for Cape Central, but also for my family’s name. I don’t want to let them down.”

By defeating Luke Jenkins of Jefferson City in a 6-3 decision, Poole advanced to the second day of the state tournament. He has won more matches than many of the Tiger wrestlers before him.

As he battled through his three matches, his brother and teammate, Colton Poole, was there balancing the act of cheering him on and getting his phone camera focused on the action.

“I just love seeing my family and being able to succeed in front of them,” Poole said.

Poole enters Saturday, March 1, one win away from guaranteeing himself a place on the podium. A win over Stevan Benhumea of McDonald County will send Poole to the consolation semifinals, which will either get him to the third-place match or fifth-place match.

It is the pursuit of the podium that fuels Poole, to be the first Tiger “in a long time at Cape” to earn all-state honors.

“When I was growing up, that’s all I wanted to do,” Poole said. “That’s what’s fueling me right now.”

He’s not alone in that pursuit. A year ago, Davarious Nunley competed in the same tournament under the same bright lights as a senior. Now a graduate and a freshman on the Southeast Missouri State football team, Nunley returned to coach Poole through his journey to the state tournament.

“It’s amazing. I’ve known Davarious borderline my whole life,” Poole said. “I’ve been wrestling him, wrestling with him and practicing with him since I was like in the fourth grade. I’ve known him a really long time and we’ve got a very special bond.

“As teammates, we were very close,” he said. “Now that he’s my coach, we’re a lot closer because he sees a lot of things that I don’t see. Since we have a very good bond, we can communicate well and figure out a good game plan and what I need to do to succeed.”

Poole had a rough start to his first state appearance after falling to Brock Lepage of Helias Catholic by a 7-3 decision. He then recovered to defeat Andrew Westbrook of Chaminade College Prep by fall to advance through the consolation portion of the bracket.

“The first match, I was really nervous,” Poole said. “I kind of held back, got the jitters out of me and really just been wrestling like I’ve been wrestling.”

Class 3 roundup

Cape Central freshman Dane Armstrong (31-8) went 1-2 in his first state appearance. He defeated Daylin Houston of Hillcrest in an 18-second pin in the first consolation round.

Sikeston sent three wrestlers to the state tournament, and all three of them were making their first appearance. Senior Colin Scott (28-11) and freshman Wesley Patterson (28-15) each went 2-and-out in their respective weight class. Sophomore Sam McGill (27-7) defeated Darius Hendricks by fall in 2:16 to advance to the second consolation round where he lost to Tyce Jones of Marshfield by an 11-0 major decision.

Poplar Bluff sent two wrestlers to the Class 3 tournament with similar results. Freshman Payton Edelman went 2-and-out and junior Branson Crum (29-15) won a match in the first consolation round by a 16-2 major decision over Henry Wheeler of Warrensburg before falling to Luke Cline of St. Pius X in the second consolation round.

Local girls advance in Class 2

Jackson junior Kayleigh Milam and Poplar Bluff senior Zoe Freeman represented Southeast Missouri in the girls Class 2 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships on Friday.

Milam (36-8) won both her opening matches by fall to advance to the semifinals Saturday, guaranteeing her a place on the podium.

Freeman (27-1) fell to Yisel Perez of Waynesville (39-4) in the first round, but rebounded with a pair of pins in the consolation rounds to advance to the third consolation round with all-state status at stake. Freeman won third place last season and is on track to repeat.

Jackson junior reaches semis

Jackson sent seven wrestlers to the Class 4 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships but it was junior Grady Rice who broke through the quarterfinals to reach the semifinal round of the 120-pound bracket.

Rice (42-7) earned all-state status by defeating Shawn Lang of Glendale by a 3-2 decision in the quarterfinal round. He was overwhelmed with emotion soon after overcoming his opponents. With tears dropping down his face, he sprinted to his coach, leaping towards his excited embrace.

Kade King joined Rice in the 40-win club and became one of three Indian wrestlers to advance to the third consolation round. A victory for King, Brysen Wessell and Joah Moore will mean a place no lower than sixth.

Up next

Poole’s round will start at 8 a.m. Saturday in the third round consolation. If he wins, he’ll wrestle again at 9 a.m. The third and fifth place matches start at 2:30 p.m.

Milam and Freeman begin their matches at 10:15 a.m. Should Milam win her semifinal match, she will compete for the state championship at 5:45 p.m.

Jackson’s four remaining wrestlers will wrestle at 12:15 p.m.