Chestnut leads Free State wrestlers

? Spencer Chestnut led the Free State High wrestling team with an eighth-place finish Saturday at the Basehor-Linwood Bobcat Classic.

He finished 2-3 in the 189-pound weight class and was one of two Free State wrestlers competing on the second day of the tournament.

“It is a tough tournament, with teams from Iowa, Missouri and Kansas,” Free State coach Paul Lappin said. “Eighty-three percent of the kids that wrestle place higher at the state tournament than they do at this tournament.”

In a difficult bracket, Chestnut earned some key victories, but lost a difficult seventh-place match to Aaramando Alcantara of K.C. Turner.

The two wrestlers exchanged points throughout the match. Alcantara scored the deciding point with an escape late in the third period to win the match, 4-3.

“He kind of waited for the kid to make a mistake instead of attacking and doing the stuff that he is good at,” Lappin said.

Chestnut was the only Firebird wrestler to place in the top eight spots at the tournament. Ammon Austin, at 285 pounds, also wrestled on the second day of competition, finishing 1-2.

The Firebirds finished in 31st place out of 32 teams, scoring 17 points. The team’s other finishers were Tyler Hunsaker, 125 pounds, 0-2; Jake Brown, 140 pounds, 1-2; Mitch McCune, 152 pounds, 0-2; Chase Fraser, 171 pounds, 0-2.

Wrestlers were a little rusty in the tournament, having not competed in live competition since Dec. 19, but Lappin said the team would need to elevate its performance for next week’s competition.

“The whole team’s intensity has got to get raised,” Lappin said. “They have got to feel a consistent pressure to score. We cannot think so much and be content with a one-point lead.”

Free State plans to replace a tournament canceled last week with a dual tournament at the school on Feb. 4.