Joles second at Caney Valley tourney

CANEY -- Uniontown's Tommy Joles finished in second place in the 145-pound bracket here Saturday as the Eagles opened their season by competing in the Kan-Okla Tourament.

As a team, the Eagles finished in 11th place with 47 points, placing ahead of larger schools such as Fredonia, Pittsburg and Labette County. Tecumseh-Shawnee Heights was the champion with 217 points.

Joles pinned his first four opponents in the tournament. He defeated Ruben Rodriguez of Erie, Erik Moore of Caney Valley, Jeremy White of Bartlesville, Okla., and Bryant Messerli of Bartlesville, who was competing unattached.

In the final, Joles was pinned by Jake Patterson of Shawnee Heights, which is a Class 5A school from a Topeka suburb.

Seven other Eagles competed in the tournament with Graham Hathaway finishing fourth, John Emmerson and Gavin Miller sixth in their brackets and Blaine Ross seventh.

Hathaway competed at 106 pounds. He pinned by Colton Allan of Erie in his first match. Brayden Stacham of Bartlesville took the next match by pin. Hathaway pinned Labette County's Joe Hobbs in the final round of pool matches. In the championship semifinal, he was pinned by Barrett Stickleman of Shawnee Heights. Connar Burgess of Fredonia took the third-place bout by pin.

Emmerson wrestled at 170 and was pinned in the first two pool matches by Dylan Misener of Parsons and Damon Ward of Shawnee Heights. He finished with pins of Caney Valley's Dakota Rose and Bartlesville's Josh Harris.

Matt Brungardt of Erie took the fifth-place match from Emmerson by pin.

Miller drew a bye in the first round of pool matches at 195. He was pinned by Brett Yeagley of Shawnee Heights but finished 1-1 in the pool by pinning Rich Garris of Independence.

Miller went into a consolation bracket where he was pinned by Coffeyville's Titus Woodward, drew a bye into the fifth-place bout, and then was pinned by Pittsburg's Tyler Watson.

Ross wrestled at 182. He was pinned in all four matches that he competed in but ended up in the seventh-place match where a bye awaited him. He was pinned by Ryan Tracy of Coffeyville, Jarrod Tayrien of Bartlesville, Matt Douglas of Cherryvale and Marissa Patterson of Shawnee Heights, who is one of the top female high-school wrestlers in the nation, finishing fifth at the USA Wrestling Girls National Championships and becoming a USA Wrestling All-American last spring. She also won the Cliff Keen USA Wrestling Pre-Season Nationals in October.

Other Uniontown competitors were:

* Izayah Houk at 113. He was pinned by Zane Stanton of Caney Valley and Sethe Lorenz of Bartlesville. He won over Kylor Pryor of Fredonia by injury default.

* Matthew Morgan at 126. He was pinned in all four of his matches by Micah King of Cherryvale, Cade Wathke of Shawnee Heights, Brent Yost of Humboldt and Isaac Jennings of Fredonia.

* Josh Wisely at 152. He was pinned in all three matches by Tristan Weaver of Shawnee Heights, Alex VanRooy of Cherryvale, and Turner Dent of Jayhawk-Linn.

The Eagles will be back in action at the Anderson County Tournament Saturday.