MEDAL MEN

Trenton Brings Home Two Runner-Up Finishes, Four State Medals Overall

For nearly eight minutes Caleb Johnson battled St. Pius X’s Rylan Kuhn — the top-ranked 220-pounder in the state. Three periods were not enough to determine a state champion at the weight.
In the end, Johnson was pinned in overtime, bringing to a close his stellar career with Trenton and the Bulldogs run in the Class 1 MSHSAA Wrestling Championships. The second-place medal was the third state medal for Johnson and the Bulldogs finished the tournament as the sixth-place team in the state.
Johnson’s runner-up finish was a fine end to a state tournament that saw Trenton come away with a pair of second-place finishers and four state medals overall. Hunter McAtee (138) was second as well. Sam Gibson (195) was third and Coleman Griffin was fourth. Two other state qualifiers — Mason Rongey (126) and Kaden Owen (160) fell one win short of medaling.
“I can’t express how proud I am of the way we competed in the state tournament,” Trenton head coach Charlie Bacon said. “Every kid we brought made a contribution to the team, which is what it’s all about.”
Johnson and Kuhn went to overtime tied at 1-1. Each escaped the other for a single point, leading to the deadlock. It was Kuhn who got the fall at the end, though, leaving Johnson with the runner-up hardware. He was fifth at 220 as a sophomore and third at the weight last year.
“Caleb put his heart and soul into his finals match going past the first overtime after being so close to score a takedown to end it,” Bacon said. “In the two 30-second tiebreakers Caleb absolutely went for it and just came up short against a very tough opponent.
“I couldn’t be more proud to have coached a kid with so much class as Caleb. He showed character, grit and determination throughout his entire career as a Trenton Bulldog.”
Johnson finished the tournament with a 3-1 record at the event and a 37-4 record for the season.
Hunter McAtee’s championship match at 138 pitted him against Collin Arch of Palmyra — the top-ranked 138-pounder in the state and the only wrestler to beat McAtee this year. As was the case in their previous three meetings this year, Arch picked up the win, defeating Trenton’s McAtee by a 9-2 decision.
“It was no secret that Hunter had a tall mountain to climb to beat Collin Arch and I feel like a lot of kids would go out with an apathetic approach in that match,” Bacon said. “Instead, Hunter put together a game plan and set a goal for himself. Even though he didn’t win the match, he did achieve his goal and we wrestled him better than we ever had in the past.”
The second-place showing gave McAtee his third state medal in as many seasons. The junior was third during his freshman season and placed fifth last year.
McAtee was 3-1 at state, finishing his junior campaign with a 31-4 record.
Both Johnson and McAtee had some tough bouts on their way to the finals. Johnson grabbed two-straight wins by fall to reach the semifinals, but needed a 3-2 decision to get past Palmyra’s Luke Triplet in the semifinals. Johnson yielded two escapes in the match, but picked up one of his own in the third period and followed it up with the only takedown of the match to push him to three points on the scoreboard. That was enough to get the win, vaulting Johnson into the first championship match of his career.
“Caleb had an amazing ride to the finals and put together a great tournament,” Bacon said. “His semifinal match came down to a takedown in the second period.”
McAtee was taken down early in his first match of the tournament, but rebounded for a 12-4 major decision win. He pinned his way to the semifinals before ousting Marceline’s Connor Quinn in the semifinals by a 7-4 decision. A late escape by Quinn cut McAtee’s lead to 5-4 late in the match but McAtee secured a takedown to seal the deal.
“I thought Hunter showed so much grit throughout the tournament,” Bacon said. “He made the semifinals match very exciting but controlled the whole match for the most part. But I was most proud of the way he wrestled in the finals.”
All four qualifiers from Class 1, District 3 medaled in the top five of the 138-pound bracket. With Arch and McAtee going one-two while Quinn placed third and Brookfield’s Devan Parn finished fifth.
Gibson got through the first two rounds of the tournament with decision wins of 5-1 and 6-4, but another close decision did not go his way in the semifinals. Gibson was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct in the third period of the match and that was the difference in a 4-3 decision that went to Diamond’s Landon Clement. Gibson received a penalty point at the end as Clement was called for stalling, but it wasn’t enough to put the Trenton 195-pounder over in the match.
To Gibson’s credit, he responded with a win by fall and then dominated the third-place match, defeating Knob Noster’s Trey Payne by an 8-0 major decision.
“Sam had an outstanding tournament,” Bacon said. “After a frustrating semifinals loss, Sam also showed a lot of mental toughness to come back and absolutely dominate his next two matches. I really thought that he pushed the pace in every single match he wrestled and will be a force to be reckoned with next year.”
It was Gibson’s second-straight trip to state and his first medal from the event. The junior finished the tournament with a 4-1 record and closed the year with a 38-3 overall mark.
Coleman Griffin lost his third-place match at districts by injury default and that gave him a tough draw. The Trenton 152-pounder had to open the tournament against Butler’s Brendin Patrick, an undefeated district champion who pinned Griffin in the first round, starting a tournament run that ended with a state championship at the weight.
Griffin won four-straight wrestleback matches, though, advancing to the third-place match at 152. He would be pinned in that final match, but still left with a fourth-place medal, his first in three trips to the state tournament.
“After a rough first round draw, I am so proud that Coleman had the mental toughness to fight all the way back to fourth,” Bacon said. “Lots of kids would see that and simply give up, but Coleman gutted out one of the most exciting bubble matches I’ve seen by scoring a takedown with one second on the clock. Coleman also beat a kid from Higginsville who we have wanted to see all season. I’m extremely proud of him.”
Griffin closed the tournament with a 4-2 record and ended his junior season with a 35-6 overall mark.
Owen, a senior, and Rongey, a freshman, were at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of where their careers are at, but both were making their first appearance at the state tournament.
Owen was narrowly defeated in the opening round, losing to West Platte’s Cameron Williams by a 3-2 decision. He came back with a win by fall in the first round of wrestlebacks, though, and a 10-1 major decision win in the second round of wrestlebacks had Owen on the verge of a state medal.
That run was halted by Kyle Flieger of Versailles, however, as Owen was pinned in a match that determined a position on the podium.
Owen wrapped up the tournament with a 2-2 mark and finished his senior season with a 24-10 overall mark.
“Kaden wrestled extremely well throughout the tournament,” Bacon said. “He picked up some big team points for us in the wrestlebacks and gave his first round opponent everything he wanted. I am so proud of the fact that Kaden came back from that first-round loss and put a game plan together for his next opponents. It has been an honor coaching him and watching him grow as a person over the last four years.”
Rongey dropped a close decision in the opening round as well, falling 5-2. He would come back with a pair of pins to put himself in a podium match. That would be the end of the line for Rongey, however, as he fell to Marceline’s Canaan Wright by a 4-1 decision.
“Mason made it to the bubble match as a freshman and closed the gap on an opponent we had seen three times before,” Bacon said. “Mason is going to have an outstanding career on the wrestling mat.”
Rongey closed the tournament with a 2-2 record and was 36-15 on the season.
Trenton was sixth with 86 team points. Mid-Buchanan won the state title with 13 wrestlers compiling 171.5 team points, Centralia was second with 152, Brookfield was third with 107 and St. Michael the Archangel rounded out the top four with 101.5 team points. St. Pius X was fifth with 97 points.
It was an improvement of one spot for the Bulldogs, who were seventh at state a year ago.
GIRLS
Jacey Hudson was the first girls wrestler in Trenton High School history to qualify for state. She was 0-2 in the 235-pound bracket at state. Hudson was able to pick up takedowns in both of her matches, but ultimately lost both by fall.
Hudson was making her state tournament debut as just a freshman and finished the year with a 19-8 overall record.