Palmyra’s Pillars, Spicknall wrestle way to Class 1 state tournament

MARCELINE, Mo. — The Palmyra boys wrestling team is sending two grapplers to the Class 1 state tournament.

Brayden Pillars, a junior, finished second at 165 pounds Saturday in the Class 1 District 3 tournament, while sophomore Tyler Spicknall finished third at 132 pounds. They will wrestle in the two-day state tournament beginning Wednesday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

Pillars takes a 35-9 record to state, while Spicknall is 26-6.

Pillars pinned Penney’s Zander Pulliam in 1 minute, 46 seconds in his opening match, then earned a 7-5 victory over Lafayette County’s Braxton Ernst in the semifinals. Ernst led 5-4 in the third period before Pillars escaped with 1:27 to go to tie the match and won it with a takedown with three seconds remaining.

In the championship match, Pillars trailed Centralia junior Wyatt Adkisson 4-2 going to the second period. Adkisson chose to start on the bottom, scored a reversal and pinned Pillars in 3:26.

Spicknall opened districts by pinning Lafayette County’s Aydan Frerking in 4:46 and earning a 10-2 major decision over Marceline’s Barrett Stearns. He lost to Brookfield’s Peyton Parn in the semifinals, but bounced back to beat Polo’s Chase Wilson 9-6 in the wrestleback semifinals.

In the third-place match, Spicknall earned a 7-5 victory over Marceline’s Barrett Stearns. Trailing 2-0 going to the third period, Spicknall started on the bottom and escaped in the first 10 seconds. Stearns took down Spicknall with 1:10 to go, but Spicknall got a reversal to close within 4-3. An escape by Stearns with 30 seconds left put Spicknall down by two.

In the closing seconds, Spicknall got a takedown and a two-point nearfall to earn the victory.