Prep wrestling roundup: Joplin's Josiah Vaughn downs higher-seeded wrestlers to qualify for state

Feb. 28—The prep wrestling career of Joplin senior Josiah Vaughn is peaking at the opportune time.

The 132-pound wrestler clinched his first appearance at the MSHSAA state tournament by placing third at Saturday's Class 4 Sectional 3 Tournament at Ozark High School.

Despite being one of two 3-seeded wrestlers in his bracket, Vaughn upset two higher-seeded wrestlers to finish the day 3-1.

"I'll tell you what, I could not be more proud of a kid than I am with Josiah Vaughn right now," Joplin coach Jeremy Finley said. "He's paid the price all year long and worked his tail off. and he came through in a match where, to be honest, he was the underdog. I'm really, really pleased with him. It was a great way to end the night."

Vaughn opened the tournament with second-period fall over 2-seed Eli Van Trump of Raymore-Peculiar. After falling in his semifinal match to Ozark's Elijah Maskrod, he bounced back with a technical fall over 3-seed Bryce McKeone and then claimed a 4-1 decision over 1-seed Hunter Walling of Jefferson City in a pivotal third-place match.

Vaughn, who moved to 19-12 on the season, was one of two state qualifiers for Joplin. Freshman Sam Melton also punched his ticket to the big stage with a second-place finish at 106. Melton ended the day with a 26-5 season record.

"Sam made it to the finals, and we were hoping to avenge a district loss against a kid from Waynesville," Finley said. "We wrestled tough, but that kid is just a really solid kid who's really hard to score on. We have to work on a couple things, and hopefully we see him again at the state tournament."

Carthage qualified six wrestlers to the Class 4 state tournament with a pair of sectional champions, one runner-up and three third-place finishers.

"I'm happy for the boys who made it, but I'm also disappointed for those who didn't," Carthage coach Kenny Brown said. "I mean, our 120-pounder (Carlos Reyes) lost a rough one for third place, and he's a senior. So I feel bad for him even though he had a great career as a Carthage wrestler. You wish those kids would have gotten to realize the state tournament again. Some of the boys were just in loaded brackets."

Davion King (145) and Luke Gall (182) both won individual sectional titles for Carthage. King capped his day with a second-period fall over Ozark's Brock Sundlie in the finals before Gall picked up a 6-2 overtime victory over Raymore-Peculiar's Coleton McElliott.

Runner-up Dagan Sappington (132) and third-place finishers Bradyn Tate (113), Eli Sneed (138) and Braxdon Tate (152) rounded out Carthage's group of state qualifiers.

"For all of the boys, we really hammered their conditioning these past two weeks," Brown said. "Our guys didn't run out of wind because of it. We wrestled well and wrestled with a lot of energy."

The Class 4 state tournament will take place on March 13 at Cable Dahmer Arena in Independence.

CLASS 3 SECTIONAL 3

Defending Class 3 team state champion Neosho qualified eight wrestlers to the state tournament on Saturday at Willard High School with four sectional champions, three runners-up and one third-place finisher.

Three-time state champion Cayden Auch (160), seeking to become Neosho's first-ever four-time state champ, was among the sectional title winners after he picked up a first-period fall over Willard's Ryder Heimbach in the finals. Auch improved to 46-0 on the year.

Fellow Neosho defending state champion Jeremiah Larson (195) earned a first-place finish with a 7-1 decision over Webb City's Jacob Ott.

Raymond Hembree (106) and Hayden Crane (132) also placed first for the Wildcats, while Landon Kivett (120), Trent Neece (152) and Eric Holt (170) each finished runner-up and Eli Zar (145) placed third.

Defending state champion Jesse Cassatt (182) highlighted the event for Carl Junction with a first-place finish. He moved to 46-0 on the year after defeating Rolla's Hayden Fane by a 6-3 decision in the finals.

The Bulldogs also had a state qualifier in Lukas Walker, who placed second at the 106-pound weight class.

McDonald County advanced four wrestlers to the state tournament, with Blaine Ortiz (113) placing first, Levi Smith (132) and Jayce Hitt (285) placing second and Sam Murphy (220) placing third.

Webb City finished with a pair of state qualifiers in Ott and third-place Roger Carranco (182).

The Class 3 state tournament starts on March 12 at Cable Dahmer Arena.

CLASS 1 SECTIONAL 2

Diamond junior Landon Clement improved to 35-1 on the season after winning his 182-pound sectional bracket at Versailles High School.

Clement, who downed Tipton's Chris Corley by a 10-3 decision in the finals, was one of three state qualifiers for the Wildcats, with Tyler May placing second at 220 and Ty Douglas placing third at 195.

The Diamond trio will take part in the Class 1 state tournament on March 10 at Cable Dahmer Arena.

Contact Jared Porter on Twitter at @JaredRyanPorter.