MANCHESTER, Mo. --Josh Lawrinenko won his weight division, winning six matches Saturday at the Patriot Classic as the Poplar Bluff wrestling team finished fourth as a team.
Quinten Bell and Tanner Dunivan placed third while four more Mules finished fourth in their divisions.
"Overall the effort was really good," Mules coach Kelton Thompson said. "They showed up. We pick up a few of those matches and we weren't too far behind Jackson."
The Mules were 5-1 in duals, losing 45-24 to Francis Howell, which won the team title 310-266 over Lafayette. Jackson (244) was third followed by Poplar Bluff (208) in the 12-team tournament.
Lawrinenko got three pins to reach the championship match at 145 pounds. The senior pinned Julian Hayes of McCluer North at 3 minutes, 53 seconds in the final. Lawrinenko's other three pins were in 2:42, 26 seconds and 5:22.
Dunivan bounced back from a 6-3 loss to Parkway South's Ty Osby, who won the title at 182 pounds. Following a 6-3 win, Dunivan won 3-1 over Rockwood Summit's Karthik Mogallapu for third place.
Bell beat Jackson's Grady Livingston 7-5 in the 120-pound third place match after winning with pins at 1:31, 1:00 and 43 seconds. The sophomore was pinned at 2:55 to miss the final.
Garrett McClure had three pins and an 8-5 win but was pinned to fall into the third-place match, where he lost on a technical fall to Jackson's Bradon Vaugier.
Heavyweight Kendrick Gordon had four pins but lost his final match on a pin to fall into the third-place match, losing 5-2 to Jackson's Owen Leible.
Jacob Aldridge finished fourth at 113, getting pinned at 1:47 and losing 12-7. The sophomore got pins at 1:51 and 5:01.
At 132, Kade Richardson was pinned twice, including the third-place match, but won 8-2 twice and got a pin at 3:17.
Jake Lawrinenko and Wyatt Lazalier each placed fifth. At 126 pounds, Lawrinenko won 4-3 in overtime while Lazalier took fifth at 195.
John Page was 12th at 160 along with 170-pounder Andrew Dugas, 152-pounder Austin Aubuchon and 220-pounder Austin Barker.
The Mules beat host Parkway South 39-27, Hickman 54-21 and Kirkwood 51-21 on Friday. After losing to Howell to start Saturday, Poplar Bluff beat Vianney 42-30.
JUNIOR VARSITY
Poplar Bluff's JV wrestlers finished seventh as a team. Vince Kelley was third at 132, Xavier Bartlett and John Martin each placed fourth.
JUNIOR HIGH
The Junior Mules won a tournament title at Hillsboro on Saturday.
First place wrestlers were Jordan Berry, Ben Colclasure, Gatlin Taylor, Jacob Hopkins, Caleb Hosler, Desmond Howell, Landon Maurer, Justin Mitchell, Nick Palma, Caden Politte, Lucas Robertson, Terrance Walker and Dace Wisdom while Blaine Birdsong, Logan Davis, Cody Fry, Dylan Harper, Alex Lawreninko, Logan Ringstaff and Austin Stoner each placed second.