CARTHAGE, Mo. - The Helias Crusaders will send five wrestlers to this week's Class 3 state tournament.
Helias had three individual champions - Evan Winder at 120 pounds, Jackson Careaga at 152 and Nick Schnieders at 160 - among its qualifiers from the District 3 tournament that concluded Saturday.
Winder (22-8), a junior, won four times by decision to take the championship at 120. He defeated Jakob Gerow of McDonald County 5-3 in Saturday's title match. After a scoreless first period, Winder got two takedowns to lead 4-2 before each wrestler got a point in the third.
Careaga (39-11), a sophomore, also went 4-0 in the district tournament at 152. He won the title by fall in 5:54 against Jed Brandon of Willard. Careaga trailed 2-0 after one period and tied it in the second before picking up the late fall in the third. Careaga won his opening match in the district by fall, then won by technical fall and by major decision.
Nick Schnieders (45-11), a senior, scored a first-period takedown and second-period escape in defeating Cameron Flanagan 3-0 in the title match at 160. Schnieders won his first two matches by fall before winning by decision in the semifinals in finishing 4-0.
The other two Crusader qualifiers finished third.
At 126, junior Randy Salaz (31-10) went 3-1, including a win by injury default against Caden Lorenz of Branson in the opening seconds of the third-place match. Salaz's other two wins were by fall. He dropped a 2-1 decision to Zach Fennell of Rolla in Saturday's semifinal.
At 132, senior Zack Carr (40-13) was 4-1. He won by fall in 3:38 against Holden Hughes of Carl Junction in the third-place match. Carr's other wins were by fall, technical fall and major decision. He lost 3-2 to Jonathan O'Connell of Republic in the semifinals Saturday.
Other Crusader district wrestlers included Gavin Adams (1-2) at 106, Aleksey Salaz (3-2) at 113, Jackson Schrimpf (1-2) at 138, Dustin Luebbert (2-2) at 145, Nikolai Careaga (2-2) at 170, Garrett Schnieders (2-2) at 182 and Noah Wieberg (1-2) at 195.
Helias finished fourth in the final team standings with 134 points. Neosho topped the 15-team field with 213 points. Carthage was second with 157.5, while Rolla was third with 147.
The state tournament begins at 5 p.m. Thursday at Mizzou Arena.