Updated Feb. 21, 2022, at 7:30 p.m.

Day One Recap:

COLUMBIA, Missouri - After day one of the 2022 State Wrestling Tournament, the Nixa boys wrestling team is in sixth-place with four advancing to the quarterfinals.

Zan Fugitt at 120, Peyton Moore at 126, Brennan Carey at 195, and John Gholson at 285 won their first matches to keep their championship dreams alive.

Aidan Ward at 132 and Avry Rutherford at 182 lost their first matches and won the wrestlebacks.

Nate Brower at 145 and Peyton Nevels at 220 fell in both of their matches.

Brower finished his season with a 24-22 record and Nevels finished at 15-5.

Fugitt, No. 7 in the nation at 120, won by technical fall against Drew Mattison (30-12) from Parkway South 19-3.

Fugitt scored eight points in the first period, nine in the second, and two in the third to secure the technical fall win.

Fugitt will wrestle Staley's Logan Burks (25-7) in the quarterfinals. Burks won by fall in his match.

Missouri commit Moore made himself at home with a win by fall in 1:58 against Joseph Kenny (37-13) from Ft. Zumwalt South.

Moore's next opponent will be Blue Springs South's Tyler Barkley-Fields (33-14) in the quarterfinals.

Carey defeated Hazelwood Central's Bankole Ogunmolawa (17-6) by fall in the second period. He scored four points before securing the win by fall and will wrestle Wentric Williams III (36-3) from Liberty in his next match, who also won his match by fall.

Gholson was the third Eagle to win their first match by fall, defeating Liberty North's Elmotie Williams (23-13) in the second period.

Gholson will wrestle William Nelson (26-3) from Eureka in the quarterfinals. Nelson, too, won by fall.

Aidan Ward lost to Timber's Ty Shelton (31-15) by fall in his first match before defeating Eureka's William Geiler by fall in 1:39 in the first wrestleback.

Ward will take on Aydan Cook (29-7) from Seckman in the second round of wrestlebacks.

Rutherford lost his first-round match by injury default against Lafayette Wildwood's Andrew Wier (35-3).

Rutherford stayed alive with a 7-5 win by decision against Francis Howell's Irvin Heggemen (19-22) in the first wrestleback.

Rutherford faces Justin Zerweck II (32-5) from Marquette in his second wrestleback.

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Day Two Recap:

COLUMBIA, Missouri - Zan Fugitt at 120 is lone Eagle to advance to first-place match.

Fugitt won the highly-anticipated matchup against Seckman's Draegan Orine (45-4) by decision 6-4 to compete for his second state championship.

Fugitt took a 2-0 in the first period with a takedown and scored two more with two escapes in the second period. 

Orine secured two takedowns in the second period to tie the score 4-4.

Fugitt scored his sixth point with a takedown 0:58 into the third period, giving him the 6-4 win.

Peyton Moore at 126 and John Gholson at 285 suffered heartbreaking overtime losses in their semifinal matches.

Moore fell to eventual champion Hayden Benter (34-6) from Hickman in overtime 8-6.

Moore and Benter scored four apiece in the first period, with a reversal and takedown coming from Moore.

Benter took a 5-4 lead at the end of the second period after getting a point for an escape. He got a point for an escape 1:04 into the third period, giving him a 6-4 lead before Moore scored two from a reversal at 1:34 to tie the score 6-6.

Benter won the match with a takedown 0:30 into the first overtime period.

Gholson lost his semifinal match to eventual champion Blue Spring's Brock Sullivan (38-6) in three overtimes.

After a scoreless first period, Sullivan scored his lone point in regulation with an escape in the second period.

Gholson scored his only point of the match with an escape of his own in the third period.

Overtime periods one and two were scoreless yet again, but Sullivan scored in the third with an escape to win 2-1.

Brennan Carey at 195 bounced back from his quarterfinal loss and won both of his wrestlebacks to advance to the consolation semifinals.

Carey defeated Raymore-Peculiar's Jaylen Nevins (25-18) by decision 7-2 and Seckman's Dylan Carlton (38-7) by fall in the second period.

Aidan Ward's season came to a close after a defeat in the second round of wrestlebacks to Holt's Logan Rubenstein (39-8) by major decision 11-1.

Ward finished the season with a 25-11 record.

Avry Rutherford's season also ended after losing to Seckman's Jayden Ashlock (42-9) by decision 4-1.

Rutherford was 28-15 on the season.

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Day Three Recap:

COLUMBIA, Missouri - Zan Fugitt won the Class 4 120-pound state championship, and three other Eagles crowned the bronze, leading Nixa to secure fourth as a team.

Fugitt completed his remarkable junior season with a win against Fort Osage's Colby Gray (44-4) by technical fall 15-0.

The championship match was a not letdown spot for Fugitt, coming off a narrow win in a highly-anticipated semifinal match against Draegen Orine, as he dominated Gray.

Fugitt scored seven points in the first period with a two-count nearfall, three-count nearfall, and a takedown.

Two three-count nearfalls and a reversal gave Fugitt his second-consecutive state championship, capping off a remarkable junior year campaign that saw him finish at 47-1. Click here for Fugitt's full bracket.

Peyton Moore at 126, Brennan Carey at 195, and John Gholson at 285 won all of their consolation matches to win bronze.

Moore defeated Francis Howell Central's Peyton Shepard (37-6) by decision 4-3 and Grain Valley's Dru Azcona (42-6) 5-3 in the third-place match.

In Moore's first consolation match against Shepard, Moore led 2-0 in the first period with a takedown before Shepard cut it to one after the second period.

Shepard took the lead 3-2 in the third period with a penalty point and an escape.

At the 1:50 mark in the third period, Moore scored two points from a reversal which ultimately won him the match.

Moore's third-place match against Azcona was won by decision 5-3.

A two nearfall and a takedown gave Moore four points in the second period to give him a 4-1 lead.

Azcona scored two points in the third period with stalling calls, making the score 3-2.

Moore scored his fifth point with an escape at 2:00 to give him the win.

Moore finished his senior season with a 38-5 record and earned his fourth state medal throughout his Nixa career. Click here for Moore's full bracket.

Brennan Carey beat Seckman's Dylan Carlton (38-7) by fall and Lindberg's Connor Kuelher (27-7) by decision 6-4 to win third-place.

The score in Carey's consolation semifinal match was tied 2-2 before Carey pinned Carlton in the second period at 1:41.

Carey was up after 6-1 after the first two periods with two takedowns and a two-point nearfall.

Kuehler scored three points with a takedown and an escape, but it was not enough to give him a comeback against Carey. Click here for Carey's full bracket.

Gholson defeated Lebanon's Zachary Smith (36-11) and Jackson's Liam Bryant (35-5) to take the bronze in his final two high school matches.

After defeating him a week prior in a tightly-contested match for a district championship, Gholson won comfortably against Smith by decision 11-2.

A two-count nearfall and a takedown in the first period, along with a takedown and escape in the second-period, gave Gholson a 7-0 heading into the third period. 

Gholson secured two more takedowns while giving up two escapes to win 11-2.

In Gholson's third-place match, he won 5-1, with a penalty point being given to Gholson in the second period to go up 1-0.

Gholson scored four points in the third period with a takedown and a reversal, and Bryant scored his only point of the match with an escape.

John Gholson finished his senior season with a 39-6 record. Over his four-year Nixa career, Gholson ended as a three-time qualifier and two-time bronze medalist. Click here for Gholson's full bracket.

View full Nixa results here (PDF):