Poplar Bluff wrestlers advance to quarterfinals at state tournament

By BRIAN ROSENER, Daily American Republic

Friday, February 18, 2022

Poplar Bluff's Alexis Rowland, seen in this Jan. 22 file photo, earned the program's first win at the state meet by a female wrestler Thursday, Feb. 17, 2022, in Columbia, Mo. Freshman teammate Zoe Freeman later joined Rowland in the quarterfinals with a pin.

DAR FILE/Brian Rosener

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Poplar Bluff wrestlers got off to a good start Thursday at the MSHSAA championship tournament at Mizzou Arena.

Zoe Freeman and Alexis Rowland earned pins to advance in the girls tournament before Gatlin Taylor, Lucas Robertson, Logan Hite all won by decisions in their opening match while Desmond Howell got a pin to advance.

“It definitely started rolling,” Mules coach Kelton Thompson said of the wins.

“Getting the first one was the main thing.”

Rowland opened the day for Poplar Bluff with a pin after falling behind for Poplar Bluff’s first win at state by a female wrestler.

Quarterfinal winners earn all-state honors and finish no worse than sixth while the loser falls into the consolation bracket and must win their next two matches to earn all-state honors.

The girls tournament resumes at 11:45 a.m. Friday while the boys return at 1:15 p.m. for the quarterfinals.

Freeman (39-1) won with a pin at 1:55 and will face Buffalo senior Jada Watson (41-5) in the 174-pound quarterfinals.

Rowland (37-6) will face Liberty sophomore Julia Breeden (38-6) in the 120-pound quarterfinal.

Rowland trailed in her first-round match as Cassville junior Kailey Artherton earned a takedown with 62 seconds left in the opening period to lead 2-0. Rowland chose the top position to start the second and needed 32 seconds to earn a pin.

Paige Earls was Poplar Bluff’s first female state qualifier in 2019.

“That kind of jump started us,” Thompson said.

Taylor (37-8) will face Ft. Osage freshman Noah Thorpe (18-11) in the quarterfinal. Taylor won his opening match 5-4.

Troy Buchanan junior Carter Barnes got a first-period takedown but Taylor’s reversal and two-point nearfall gave the Poplar Bluff senior a 4-2 lead. Barnes got a takedown with 49 seconds left in the second but Taylor chose to start the third in the down position and escaped for the lead.

Robertson (42-7) will face Holt senior Tyler Bierman (34-4) at 145 pounds.

Robertson led his match against Raymore-Peculiar senior Eli Van Trump 4-2 heading into the third period. He escaped to start but Van Trump’s takedown made it a one-point match with 1:12 remaining. Robertson escaped then got a takedown 12 seconds later before escaping in the final seconds after a late reversal to set the final score.

Hite earned a 4-2 overtime win over Raymore-Peculiar junior Zander Dombrowski, who won the previous meeting 4-3 in early January.

“We saw a few Ray-Pec wrestlers at Capitol City, that really made that trip to Jefferson City worth it,” Thompson said. “Being able to see those kids in advance and make those adjustments was huge.”

In the opening one-minute overtime, Hite got a takedown with 14 seconds left and held on after trailing 2-1 after the first period.

Hite escaped seven seconds after Dombrowski’s first-period takedown and started the second period in the top position but neither wrestler scored over the next two minutes. Hite escaped from the down position five seconds into the third.

Hite (41-8) will face Staley senior David Brooks (37-5) in the quarterfinal.

In Poplar Bluff’s final match of the night, Howell started a scoreless second period in the bottom position but got a reversal at the 1:13 mark and got a pin at 3:36.