Returning All-American
Colby Smith led an entire pride of Lions to placement finishes at the Drury Open. Smith won the title at 141 while four other Lions appeared the championship matches.
Smith and
Jake Harrier were both undefeated as the two Lions met up against each other in the finals at 141. Harrier who was 4-0 entering the finals including two pins, put up a great fight, but the returning All-American Smith provide to be too much and won the match 4-1 to win the championship.
Kalen Napier won his first four matches of the day, including two pins, to advance to finals and placed second at 133
Jack Tangen made a terrific run into the finals, winning his first four matches, including one by fall and another by major decision, but fell in a tight match in the championship match at 149 to Dylan Brown of Northeast Oklahoma to finish second on the day.
Luke Dickhaus stormed through the preliminary rounds with a 4-0 record including a pin over Ian Lawson of William Jewell to make it to the finals, but lost in the championship match to finish in second place at 197.
David Hernandez won his first two matches at 285, but dropping his semi-final match, but bounced back on the back-side to win his next two matches including a 6-3 decision over Kale Schrader of Northeast Oklahoma to earn third place on the day.
Elijah Mahan finished the day 3-2 including a 21-8 major decision victory over Daryus Webb of Avila to earn fifth place at 184.
Other notable finishers on the day
Several Lions lit up the scoreboard on the day, with three Lions (
Nick Lindley, Mahan, and Kegley) all scoring at least 20 points in one of the matches. Lindenwood led the tournament with a total of 441 match points on the day, over 100 points more than the next closest team.
The Lions will take the next week off to focus on finals and will return to the mat for the Midwest Classic that starts on December 18 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
