Blair Oaks advances all six wrestlers to today's action

Blair Oaks junior Caleb Meeks tries to pin Marceline's Colton Nelson to the ground during their first-round match at 132 pounds Thursday in the Class 1 state wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena.
Blair Oaks junior Caleb Meeks tries to pin Marceline's Colton Nelson to the ground during their first-round match at 132 pounds Thursday in the Class 1 state wrestling championships at Mizzou Arena.

COLUMBIA - Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia wanted all six of his wrestlers to advance past the first day of the Class 1 state wrestling championships.

Mission accomplished.

"Honestly, this is exactly what I expected," DeMilia said Thursday at Mizzou Arena, as Blair Oaks went 3-3 in first-round matches and then won all three wrestleback contests during the opening session of the three-day state tournament. "I expected us to be 6-3 at the end of the day.

"I won't say my future predictions, but I felt like this is where we'd be. I felt very confident we would get all six through."

Blair Oaks is tied with Fatima for 10th place in the team standings with 17 points. Lathrop is first with 32 points, followed by Whitfield (31.5), Lawson (28) and Marceline (27.5) top round out the top four.

"Everyone wrestled really well," DeMilia said. "The matches we lost, in all three of them we battled."

Junior Caleb Meeks came through with the biggest win of the day for the Falcons.

Meeks won a 2-1 decision against Marceline's Colton Nelson, who is ranked sixth in the state at 132 pounds.

"That scared me, because that Marceline kid was tough," DeMilia said. "He was way bigger than Caleb."

Meeks fell behind 1-0 after receiving a penalty for an illegal hold with :11 left in the second period. He started down in the third and scored a reversal with 1:33 left, keeping Nelson down the rest of the match.

Meeks recorded 3:27 worth of riding time in the match.

"The kid put him in some tough spots a few times, but he just kept wrestling through it," DeMilia said. "He just so good (with riding time), he's got a great feel for it. That was definitely the difference."

Senior Ben Thomas and junior Kyler Griep also had first-round wins for the Falcons.

Thomas cruised to a win by fall in 2:52 against Luke Enright of Bishop DuBourg at 160. Griep pinned O'Fallon Christian's Blake Heuer for the second time this season, this time in 1:11 at 170. Griep has advanced to the winner's bracket in back-to-back seasons.

"That's what you expect those guys to do," DeMilia said. "They've been here before and you expect them to wrestle well under the really big lights."

Meeks, Thomas and Griep will continue in today's quarterfinal round, which begins at 8:30 a.m.

Meeks (46-8) will face fifth-seeded Kyle Sizemore (37-8) of Lawson, while second-ranked Thomas (41-3) will battle fourth-ranked Joseph Hilburn (39-10) of Polo. Griep (31-2), ranked No. 6, will wrestle fifth-ranked Dorian Walters (46-1) of Lathrop, with a chance to clinch a second straight medal with a win to advance to the semifinals.

Blair Oaks' remaining three wrestlers finished 1-1 on Thursday.

Senior Jayce Griggs lost by fall in 2:59 to Lathrop's Drystan Dotson - ranked No. 6 at 120 - in the first round.

Griggs bounced back in the first round of wrestlebacks to win by fall in 1:48 against Brentwood's Ian Lawrence.

"He stayed focused in that last match," DeMilia said. "Jayce has had a tough go at times, and he just keeps battling, battling, battling. For him to find a way to get a win at state is big."

Sophomore Eli Batiste kept close with Lawson's Braden Carpenter, who is ranked No. 4 at 145, through the first two periods. However, Carpenter was able to pull away in the third to win by major decision 11-1.

Batiste was able to finish strong in the third period against Whitfield's Reese Callahan in the wrestlebacks to score a 7-2 win and keep his season going.

"Any time you can beat a kid from Whitfield, you know you've done something good," DeMilia said.

Sophomore Levi Haney lost by fall in 5:58 to fourth-ranked Creed Webster of Mid-Buchanan at 152, but he finished the day for the Falcons with a win by fall in 2:39 against Bishop DuBourg's Grant Pawlak in the wrestlebacks.

"That was a really tough first-round matchup," DeMilia said. "I feel really good about where he's at."

Griggs, Batiste and Haney all await losers from the quarterfinal round in today's second-round wrestlebacks.

With a win during this morning's session, wrestlers will advance to the semifinals or third-round wrestlebacks, which begin at 6 p.m. tonight.

"There's going to be some tough ones, but I feel like we're in a good spot," DeMilia said. "Mentally, we're ready, and physically, we're in good shape.

"I don't think it's that crazy to think about all six of them (advancing to tonight's matches)."