Three Mules capture titles at SEMO Conference Tournament

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. — The Poplar Bluff Mules wrestling teams finished fifth on the girls side and seventh on the boys side during this weekend’s Southeast Missouri Conference tournament in Cape Girardeau this weekend.

For the Mules, Logan Hite (175 pounds) brought home an individual title, while Lucas Robertson (150 took second, Dace Wisdom (144) and Kayden Walker (165) both took fourth and the duo of Jack Ernest (157) and Hudson Matthews (215) each placed fifth to spearhead the boys efforts.

“Overall, we walk away with three individual champions and Logan won his second conference title in a row,” Mules head coach Kelton Thompson, Thompson said. “Lucas lost on a last-second takedown against a defending state champion in a really tight match. He learned a lot from it and to wrestle our style next time and not be so conservative.”

On the girls side, Zoe Freeman (170 pounds) and Kayleigh Dazey (105) both took titles back to Poplar Bluff, while Madi Hayman finished second at 140 and Kaylee Hayman was runner-up at 155.

All of those wrestlers earned all-conference honors.

“Zoe pinned her way through her bracket and … no one wrestlers harder than (Kayleigh),” Thompson said. “We just need to improve on the mistakes we are making and especially in the matches where we have a chance to win.

“We want to continue to focus on wrestling position and improving that toward districts. We just have a few things to iron out.”

Dexter's McCormick earns runner-up honors

Dexter head coach Cody Boyer was pleased with what his shorthanded team was able to do and especially took pride in the second-place finish by Kennedy McCormick in the girls 170-pound competition.

“She pinned her way to the finals and ran into a very good wrestler from Poplar Bluff,” Boyer said of the loss to Freeman. “Kennedy has been working hard and getting better every day in the room. She's starting to see it on the match. I am extremely proud of Kennedy.

“The SEMO tournament is hard every year and this year was even more so because we had so many injuries. I did keep a few of my freshmen out of this tournament to wrestle in the jayvee SEMO tournament.”

On the boys side, Boyers was pleased with his squad's performance despite it not showing up in the win column.

“Conrad Purnell is a freshman and he wrestled six minutes in both of his matches,” Boyer said. “Ryan Young wrestled almost six in both he got pinned late in the third period in one of his matches. Chase Berry made it to the second period in his last match. We finished last, but with three wrestlers we knew we wouldn't finish high. I am proud of our boys.”