Hound wrestling team returns two state medalists

The Spoofhound wrestling team ended their two-year drought on the medal stand last weekend at the Class 1 State Championship tournament.

Going in with high expectations, three of the four wrestlers were ranked in the top ten in their respective weight classes.

Sophomore Brendan Weybrew was the fourth-ranked heavyweight, along with Nate Alexander (126 pounds) and senior Derek Steins (145 pounds) wrapped up the ranked wrestlers. Junior Dane Hull (152 pounds) completed the Maryville squad that would compete.

Day one of the competition did not go quite as well as Maryville head wrestling coach Joe Drake had hoped.

Steins and Hull were eliminated after losing their first bout of the day and their wrestlebacks in the afternoon.

"We were pretty disappointed after the first day," Drake said. "We really thought we would have done better.

On the second day, Weybrew, who finished the season 41-5, pinned CJ Graham of Plattsburg in 2:24 and advanced to the quarterfinals.

Weybrew kept at it, and pinned Austin Bair of Warsaw in 2:17. This put him up against No. 3 ranked Coleman Lawson of Mid-Buchanan in the semifinal match.

Lawson defeated Weybrew earlier in the season, and Lawson got the win again at state with a 2-0 decision. Lawson ended up taking second place.

This left Weybrew still in the hunt for third place, and he came out with a vengeance. After pinning Cody Shanks of Lawson in 2:33, Weybrew found himself in the third place bout.

Facing Christian Graham of Adrian, Weybrew fell behind early in the match 3-0. A tough effort in the third period earned Weybrew two points, but the clock ran out.

With that 3-2 decision, Weybrew found himself in fourth place after falling just short of a medal last year.

The other Spoofhound that found himself on the podium at the end of the weekend was Alexander.

He started strong with a 12-3 major decision over Skout Raney of Lafayette County to enter the quarterfinals.

His next match did not go as planned, Ryan Strope of Fatima pinned Alexander 1:47 into the first period.

Alexander then faced off with Kyle Bell of Marceline, and got some retribution by pinning Bell in 1:38.

His next match was against Cody Niemeier of Brookfield. Alexander continued to improve, pinning Niemeier in just 57 seconds.

In the semifinal match of the wrestleback side of the bracket, Alexander faced Cole Lankford of Seneca.

Lankford pinned Alexander in 3:49, sending Alexander into the fifth place bout. Lankford went on to take third.

Alexander's last match ended in a 7-2 decision loss to Kurtis Hahn of Whitfield, finding himself on the podium in sixth place.

The two medalists are the first for Maryville since 2010, and since Alexander, Weybrew and Hull will all be returning next year, the expectations could be even higher next year.

Drake said that he's hoping to get numbers up.

"If we can get more wrestlers out there, it'll be easier to win," Drake said. "Some don't understand the hard work and dedication it takes to make it to that (state) level."

Enthusiastic about the return of the three wrestlers that have state experience, Drake said he expects them to move forward and continue the hard work.

"I think they will really step up and be leaders," Drake said. "They'll be good leaders in the practice room and at meets, not just verbally, but by their actions.

"They show the effort it takes to get back to state next year."