Less than a month ahead of district competition, Holt’s wrestling squad traveled to MICDS this weekend to compete in the 45th annual Eric Lewis Invitational Tournament. Holt’s progress as it prepares for district and state championships appears on track as evidenced by the team’s jockeying for first place against first-place finisher Whitfield throughout the weekend.

Holt finished in third place behind Whitfield and runner-up, Rockwood Summit. The Indians placed four wrestlers in the finals of the event with juniors Gaige Dunnerman (171) and Justin Scott (112) joining freshman Lawton Benna (103) and sophomore Clayton Ream (125) in wrestling for championship trophies.

First place honors went to freshman Benna, who defeated Whitfield’s Jack Pantanella. Benna is 30-3 on the year.

Dunnerman, Scott, and Ream all took second place. Ream and Scott both lost close matches with Ream absorbing a 5-4 result and Scott a 6-4 minor decision defeat. Dunnerman was pinned in his championship match after a bye and three consecutive pins advanced him to the finals.

“It was my first time wrestling all the kids at this tournament except Roometua, who I lost to in the final, I had faced him at the Mizzou wrestling camp and so it’s not the same as a full match…I had some luck scrambling at this tournament but I mostly worked from a defensive position in all my matches,” said Dunnerman.

Additional top finishers for the Indians included David Jack (135), and Brett Beckman (140), who each took third place at the event. Josh Dalton (130), and Erik Erdman (119) took fifth and sixth place respectively.

Coach Jason Moore considered his team’s showing to be overall positive, with four wrestlers in the finals.

“We battled at this tournament and put in a lot of hard work, even with the guys who ended up in the consolation bracket…we tell those guys to reset their mind and consider third place to be like first place so we never lose sight of winning whatever bracket we are competing in and I think it produced some good results,” said Moore.

Cody Turpin, wrestling at 152, exemplified the Holt effort to compete regardless of bracket position. Turpin saw an opening round bye and lost in the second round of the championship bracket. The sophomore then three matches in the consolation bracket and earned eight place overall.

Moore indicated that the return of Dunnerman from an early injury strengthened his team’s ability as district and state finals approach.

“Gaige has battled injuries this year and taken his lumps but we expect big things from him and he came out strong this weekend so we think he and the rest of the squad are ready to go as we head into districts,” said Moore. 

Holt will see Fort Zumwalt East at home on Tuesday, Jan. 25 and then will host Timberland for a dual meet on Friday, Jan. 28.