Border Brawl kicks off NCAA Championships with fireworks

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Team Border ran away with eight of the night’s 11 high school matches at the Missouri Border Brawl on Tuesday night at historic St. Louis Union Station Hotel. The crowd was also treated to two All-Star freestyle matches.

The four-time state champions showed out tonight, starting with Missouri four-timer Connor Brown. Down 4-3 in the second period, Brown rallied back to grab a fall over state champion from Oklahoma Paxton Rosen in 3:28. Brown has committed to wrestle for South Dakota State.

“It’s cool to be out here wrestling in front of so many college coaches and NCAA qualifiers,” Brown said. “Right now, it’s just an amazing feeling. The last dual I wrestled in last weekend, I didn’t wrestle the way I wanted to, so I came out here to show everybody what I’m made of.”

At 132 pounds, future Oklahoma State Cowboy Daton Fix, who won four state titles in Oklahoma, recorded a pin of his own in the second period over Missouri state champion. Fix, a Cadet and Junior World bronze medalist, pushed the pace throughout the bout, scoring takedown after takedown before putting Valdiviez to his back for the fall.

“This was an awesome experience. I just want to keep going forward the whole match and score a lot of points,” Fix said. “Scoring a lot of points is way more fun than hanging on to a one-point win, and that’s the way I look at things.”

2016 ASICS All-American Austin O’Connor proved why he’s a four-time Illinois state champion, barreling through Missouri’s Hunter Shelton in the 152-pound bout. Committed to North Carolina, O’Connor put up 17 points to Shelton’s five, which included four takedowns in the final period.

“I love wrestling in events like these, especially charity events,” O’Connor said. “That match, I think I was a little sloppy at first, but then I got everything under control. It was cool to wrestle in another tough wrestling state and be on a team with some guys I’ve never competed with.”

Team Border got off to a quick start at 113 pounds with an 18-0 technical fall from Dack Punke of Illinois over Anthony Pisciotta of Missouri. Punke, who will be attending the University of Missouri in the fall, is a two-time Illinois state champion and has found success in Greco-Roman as a two-time World Team member.

Taylor Brown, the 13th-ranked senior in the nation, put up some bonus points for Team Missouri with a 20-9 major decision over two-time state finalist and one-time state champion Jack Karstetter of Oklahoma. Brown will continue his wrestling career at United States Military Academy at West Point.

Missouri piled on another win as future Air Force Falcon Cameron Valdiviez dominated three-time Oklahoma state champion and Oklahoma State University commit Jet Taylor with back points for a 13-6 win at 126 pounds.

The 138-pound match featured several exciting scrambles with neither wrestler coming out on top, forcing the bout into overtime, knotted at 1-1. Team Border’s Jason Renteria of Illinois picked up a reversal in overtime to grab a 3-1 win. Renteria will start classes at Nebraska next year.

Two-time state champion for Oklahoma Brik Filippo commanded the match at 145 pounds, defeating Missouri’s Niko Chavez, 8-3. Team Border went on to win the last five matches, including O’Connor’s major decision.

At 170 pounds, three-time Iowa state champion Marcus Coleman, who is planning to wrestle under Iowa State’s new head coach Kevin Dresser, notched a 7-2 win over two-time Missouri state champion Brit Wilson.

Team Border grabbed another 7-2 win as Iowa state champ Max Lyon defeated Dylan Komperda of Missouri in the 12-pound bout. Lyon is on his way to Purdue, while Lyon will attend Drury.

In the night’s final high school match, one-time Illinois state champion Patrick Brucki took out two-time Missouri state champion Jake Boyd at 195 pounds in a top-10 battle. Brucki, a Princeton commit, holds a No. 4 national ranking as a senior, while future Oklahoma Sooner Boyd is ranked No. 6.

The evening wrapped up with a pair of All-Star freestyle matches.

NCAA All-Americans Joey Lazor and Josh Kindig faced off at 61 kg. Lazor, who trains at Northern Iowa, scored first with a front headlock for four, but Kindig, training at North Carolina, came on out on top for four of his own. From then on Kindig ran away with the bout, picking up a 14-4 technical fall in the second period.

2016 All-American and MAC Champion Tommy Gantt, a rising star at 70 kg, knocked off three-time Canadian Olympian Haislan Garcia in a hard-fought 2-1 battle, scoring step-outs in each period.

The event served as a fundraiser for the Xtreme Coture GI Foundation, a non-profit corporation was founded in 2009 by Randy Couture to honor the veterans of America’s armed forces. 

2017 MISSOURI BORDER BRAWL
March 14 at St. Louis Union Station Hotel (St. Louis, Mo.)
High-school results
113: Dack Punke (Washington Community HS/IL) tech. fall Anthony Piscotta (Timberland HS/MO), 18-0
120: Connor Brown (Oak Grove HS/MO) fall Paxton Rosen (Edmond North HS/OK), 3:28
126: Cameron Valdiviez (Rockhurst HS/MO) dec. Jet Taylor (Sallisaw HS/OK), 13-6
132: Daton Fix (Sand Springs HS/OK) fall Colin Valdiviez (Rockhurst HS/MO), 3:46
138: Jason Renteria (Oak Park and River Forest HS/IL) dec. Alec Hagan (Eureka HS/MO), 3-1 OT
138: Taylor Brown (Warrensburg HS/MO) maj. dec. Jack Karstetter (Charles Page HS/OK), 20-9
145: Brik Filippo (Tuttle HS/OK) dec. Niko Chavez (Williard HS/MO), 8-3
152: Austin O’Connor (St. Rita of Cascia HS/IL) maj. dec. Hunter Shelton (Oak Park HS/MO), 17-5
170: Marcus Coleman (Ames HS/Iowa) dec. Brit Wilson (Mexico HS/MO), 7-2
182: Max Lyon (Western Dubuque HS/Iowa) dec. Dylan Komperda (Francis Howell HS/MO), 7-2
195: Patrick Brucki (Carl Sandburg HS/IL) dec. Jame Boyd (Smithville HS/MO), 5-2
All-star results
61 kg: Josh Kindig (Tarheel WC) tech. fall Joey Lazor (Panther WC), 14-4
70 kg: Tommy Gantt (Wolfpack WC) dec. Haislan Garcia (Canada), 2-1