Whitfield Warrior Wrestlers Dominate Districts, Head For State Tourney

Whitfield's wrestling program put on a clinic this weekend en route to defending its MSHSAA Class 1, District 1 championship.

The Warriors enjoyed a dominant performance by qualifying 13 individuals to the state tournament. Even more impressive than that was the fact that 10 Warriors reached the finals, where nine champions were crowned.

Whitfield ran away from the field and compiled 263.5 points, which was a staggering 145 points clear of runner-up Principia with 118.5 points. Along with those nine titles, the Warriors added a runner-up finish, two third-place winners and a fourth-place finisher.

“This is a record for us. It’s the most we’ve ever qualified,” longtime Whitfield head coach Charlie Sherertz said. “We’ve never fielded a full team in the 15 years I’ve been here. We’ve qualified 12 a few times, but I was comfortable that we could qualify 13 kids.

“I think it was a little validation that what we’re doing with the grind and toughness of our regular season pays off. We had kids that were like 27-23 shellacking kids that were 36-3. So I’ve been telling them there is a method to the madness, to hang in there, to buy in, to believe and thrive on this tough schedule because it will pay off. So far so good.”

Fatima and Herculaneum tied for third place with 115 points each followed by St. James in fifth (103), Brentwood sixth (99.5) and Central New Madrid seventh (72). Rounding out the field, MRH was eighth (50), Lutheran St. Peters ninth (37), Cleveland NJROTC 10th (28), Transportation and Law 11th (6), Barat Academy 12th (4) and Lift for Life Academy 13th (3.5).

Taking first place for the Warriors was 103-pound freshman Jack Pantanella (37-10), 119-pound junior Austin Smith (38-13), 125-pound senior Ian Murphy (29-23), 130-pound sophomore Chris Wilkes (50-1), 135-pound freshman Rodney Hahn (45-6), 152-pound junior Ethan Sherertz (36-12), 160-pound senior Mike Kissell (49-0), 171-pound senior Peter Gienke (31-15) and 215-pound senior Wyatt Salsbury (37-15).

The match of the tournament came in the 160-pound final, pitting last year’s 145-pound state champ in Kissell versus Lutheran St. Peters’ J.D. Herst, who placed third at this weight a year ago. Kissell held on for a hard-fought 3-2 decision to remain undefeated, while capturing a fourth straight district title.

“Mike is more comfortable at 152 and wrestled there most of the year,” Sherertz said. “But the last two weeks I moved him to 160 to make room for Ethan going down to 152. Mike is solid enough and strong enough to hold his own at 160. It’s a gamble, but we’re banking on it.”

Other Whitfield grapplers qualifying for the state tournament were 145-pound junior Pat McLaughlin (17-26), who finished second, 112-pound junior Eric Engel (17-33) and 189-pound junior Stephen Scobee (21-17), both were third, and 140-pound junior Jake Becker (23-13), who placed fourth.

Now the Warriors can shift their focus squarely on bringing home another state championship trophy and raising another banner inside Cady Athletic Center.

“That’s the goal of the year,” Sherertz said. “We have a team that has enough talent. Whether we’re going to do it, we’ll know next weekend at this time. We’re in position to control our own destiny.”

The 81st MSHSAA wrestling championships will be held at Mizzou Arena on Feb. 17-19.