The Lake Today

The Osage varsity wrestling team finds itself in a quandary as the homestretch of the regular season begins.

The Indians recently learned that three of their teammates have decided against competing for the rest of the season.

“They told me it just wasn’t in their hearts anymore,” said head coach Randy Satterlee. “We’ll do some shuffling and just do the best we can.”

With the team shorthanded because of those who walked away and another not making weight, the Indians’ first test was competing in the Fulton Tournament this past weekend.

The day started on a strong note for the Indians who won five of their eight first-round matches led by Garrett Miller (152 lbs.) and Zach Curran (103 lbs.) who both won by pinfall. Also picking up wins in the first round were Sam Golden (145 lbs.) with a 10-0 decision, Kyle Christenson (160 lbs.) with an 18-4 decision, and Christian Williams (HWT) with a win by forfeit.

Losing by pinfall in the first-round were Skyler Bax (125 lbs.) and Greg Crosby (130 lbs.) while Ryan Kohout dropped a 6-1 decision against a highly-regarded Sean Luetkemeyer of the tournament champions from Fulton.

After the first-round, the Indians weren’t really able to gain any momentum eventually finishing in 8th place overall (11 teams).

“There’s a lot of tough competition in the tournament with schools from St. Louis and the northern part of the state,” Satterlee said.

Perhaps the brightest moment for the Indians came when Curran earned his pin in the first-round over the No. 2 seed in the 103 lbs. weight class. Curran was within a whisker of being pinned himself late in the second round before breaking free and turning the tide in the final period.

“That was huge for Zach,” said Satterlee. “He did an awesome job.”

Curran’s good fortunes would come to an end in the semifinal round in heartbreaking fashion. The freshman apparently pulled out a last-second win to advance into the finals. However, the officials took the points away after a clock dispute was pointed out which sent the match into overtime instead where the wrestler earning the first fall wins. Curran battled but was taken down and sent into the wrestleback round and to a fifth-place finish.

Faring the best for Osage were Golden and Williams who both finished in second-place while Miller earned a third-place finish. Other individual finishes for Osage saw Christenson come in fourth-place, Curran and Bax both in fifth-place, and Crosby and Kohout both in sixth-place.

Fulton captured the overall team title with 204 points followed by Moberly (191), Winfield (96), Boonville (75), Marshall (68.5), Union (68.5), Priory (60.5), Osage (54), Brentwood (53.5), Lutheran (35.5), and Clayton (29).

The Indians are scheduled to be back on the mats tomorrow at Centralia and then in the Buffalo Tournament on Saturday. They close out the regular season with matches at Fatima (Feb. 3), in the Marshfield Tournament (Feb. 5), at Adrian (Feb. 8), and in the district tournament (Feb. 11).