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Parkway South's Walker to Take Aim at State Title

The 81st State Wrestling Championships will be Feb. 17-19 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

Despite its small contingent of wrestlers headed to the state championships, Parkway South has a very realistic shot at bringing home an individual state championship.

The Patriots’ title hopes rest primarily with the success of junior heavyweight Donnell Walker, who took first place at 285 pounds in last weekend’s Class 4 District 1 tourney at Northwest High School in Cedar Hill.

The 81st MSHSAA State Wrestling Championships will be Feb. 17-19 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

Walker is now 36-3 this season, and is ranked as the No. 4 wrestler in the state by missouriwrestling.com. He placed fifth at state in 2010. Coach Jim Lake and Walker will also be accompanied by two teammates in Columbia.

Junior Tyler Sonnabend finished fourth at districts at 140 pounds, and is 28-10 this season. Senior Andrew Hayes placed fourth at districts at 171 pounds and is 33-8 this season. The Patriots finished ninth as a team in the 14-team district championship.

The tournament included these squads: Eureka, Fox, Jackson, Kirkwood, Lafayette, Lindbergh, Marquette, Mehlville, Northwest, Oakville, Parkway South, Seckman, SLUH, and Vianney. It produced some gritty performances as wrestlers competed to find out if a season of training, preparation, and meets had readied them for state qualification.

“We’re all aware of the competition in this district,” Lake said. “I’d put it up against any district in the state of Missouri.”

Lafayette finished third, and seven Lancers qualified for the state finals. Nick Olejnick (135 pounds) captured the only individual championship for Lafayette. Coach Scott Sissom referred to as a rollercoaster ride.

“We would have liked to get more kids into the medal round, but we are strong in the same weight classes where other programs are strong. So we got most of the guys to state we were counting on, and now we have our work cut out for us,” said Sissom.

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The Lafayette coach singled out Ryan Siebert (130) and Kyle Black (140) as qualifiers that the team considers dangerous as they head to Columbia.

Marquette saw six of its wrestlers qualify for state, and though the Mustangs did not put up an individual champion, they took fifth overall and coach George Hovis commented on his team’s progress being a result of a good process.

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“There’s always good and bad and I take it all with a grain of salt. But our guys worked very hard, and we have some wrestlers like Zach Conn (152), who drew probably the best guy in the bracket and battled his way back.”

Seckman came out on top at Northwest in team points, winning the district on the heels of four individual championship performances. Brock Wingbermuehle (103), Matt Kraus (112), Denny Kleinschrodt (125) and Blake Pepper (140) led the Jaguars with first-place finishes.

Sophomore Matt McClimens (189) posted a first-place finish for Eureka as the Wildcats advanced three wrestlers to the state championships. Coach Tim Yancey said, “We knew Matt would be strong, and we expect him to be a top-six medalist at Columbia.”

Lindbergh had a strong district tournament with one first-place wrestler (Michael Slyman, 152), and four additional wrestlers advancing to state. Mehlville will see Jimmy Brockman (135) go to Columbia. Brockman won a minor decision to take third place at the district tournament.

While area representation is substantial heading into next weekend’s tournament, much work remains for individual wrestlers hoping to climb onto the champions stand at Mizzou Arena.

Still, though not all coaches say it, probably most have similar feelings of pride this time of year, to those of Marquette’s Hovis: “Every kid on my team, I’d like to have as either a son-in-law, or a brother…they’re all great,” said Hovis following the tournament.

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