Day one comes to a close

Day one complete

It's been an eventful day of wrestling here in Columbia at the state championships and after a little more than eight hours, day one has finally come to a close.

Two more wrestlers have punched their ticket into the top six and all state status, as West's Jake Logsdon picked up a pin at 152, while Lee's Summit's Dylan Case had a flair for the dramatic with a 3-1 overtime decision to advance.

Logsdon was in control of his match all the way before finally getting the pin in the second period and guaranteeing he'll place his senior season. Same goes for Case, who got a takedown with 12 seconds left in overtime for the win.

Logsdon and Case both showed some emotion after their wins. It was pretty obvious this meant a lot with it being their senior seasons.

The other two semifinal matches didn't go area wrestlers way either, as along with Couerier, teammate Josh Howard and West's Evan Boehm went down and will have to hope for third.

Howard hung tough early with second-ranked Andrew Early of Lafayette. He nearly got an escape in the second period to make it 2-1 but couldn't get away. Early went ahead 4-0 going into the third period and took control in the third for a 10-2 win.

Boehm was in a nip and tuck match with Blue Springs' Billy Everett. He got the first takedown but Everett immediately responded with a reversal to tie it at two. Everett would get an escape in the second period and was able to avoid a Boehm takedown in the third for a 3-2 decision.

Lee's Summit's Justin Bruce and Steven Kingsolver each suffered tough defeats to see their season come to an end. Bruce was in a scoreless match before getting put on his back and pinned in the second, while Kingsolver scored a takedown with less than 10 seconds in the match to tie the score at 5-all, but Lindbergh's Marcus Higginbottom scored two points at the buzzer for the 7-5 win.

Tiger head coach Don Graham didn't seem to agree with the two-point call that cost Kingsolver. It was clearly a bang-bang move with time expiring.

That leaves five area wrestlers as all state performers who will now look to place as high as third: Courier at 130, Logsdon at 152, Howard at 171, Case at 215 and Boehm at 285.

It should be another exciting day of wrestling tomorrow. Action gets started at 10 a.m., so make sure to check here to see how those five wrestlers finish their seasons!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Two Lee's Summit wrestlers have gone into action during the final session of day one at the state wrestling tournament.

Jesse Morris was up first at 125, squaring off against Willie Essex of McLuer North. After a scoreless first period, Essex got a takedown, followed by a reversal from Morris to knot the score at 2-all going into the final period. With the score now tied at 4, Essex picked up another takedown with at 25 seconds left in the match, sealing the win.

Tough way for Morris to finish the season. He ran out of dramatic wins but he had a graet season. That's two straight seasons he's qualified for state, and by coming one match short of all state this season, his final two years are looking pretty good.

Spencer Courier wrestled his semifinal match aaginst undefeated Terrel Wilbourn, who showed by he was undefeated with a 12-4 win. It was only 2-0 after the first period but Wilbourn took control in the second to go ahead 8-2. Courier is an amazing wrestler, which gives you an idea of how good Wilbourn is. He should cruise to the title tomorrow, while Courier will hope for a third-place finish.

Plenty more Lee's Summit area wrestlers are in action soon, so check back to see how day one finishes!