Four Chillicothe Hornets boys wrestlers will advance to the State Finals in Columbia after an extremely impressive showing in the district tournament at Excelsior Springs over the weekend. As a team Chillicothe finished 8th amongst the 15 teams with 84 points. Odessa won the district competition with 226 points.
Here are comments from Coach Chad Smith about each individual wrestler that qualified for State:
Carter Shipers (43-9) had to beat a very tough St. Michael’s wrestler to qualify for state and then avenged a first round loss to Richmond in the 3rd place match. Carter had an outstanding tournament!
Cayden Larson (48-3) placed 3rd as well he had two of the top ranked guys in his weight class and after losing a tough match to St. Michael’s in the Semifinals, had to beat a really tough conference opponent from Savannah. He also had a great performance against Excelsior Springs in his 3rd place match earning a pin. Cayden surpassed the single season pin record held by Dean Adkins of 37, Cayden has 38.
Brody Cairns (32-11) made a district final which is really hard to do. He finished 2nd place behind top ranked Perkins from St.Joe Lafayette. Brody is now a 4x state qualifier and this is his highest district finish. Brody also eclipsed his 150th win at the tournament. This tournament was the best I had ever seen Brody wrestle earnings fall in the Semifinals.
Bo Smith (49-4) also was a district Finalist in the only bracket that seeded 8 wrestlers. Bo had 2 pins in his first two matches putting him at 36 on the season 2 behind Cayden Larson. Bo had a really good match beating a wrestler from Plattsburg earning a trip to the district final where he lost by fall to a top 10 nationally ranked wrestler from St. Michael’s. Bo is wrestling really well right now!
The State Meet will be held Wednesday and Thursday in Columbia. Best of luck to the Hornets looking to bring home some hardware!
