Fatima high school wrestlers ended the twoday Battle of the Katy Trail in Sedalia in 16th place among 41 teams, scoring 204.5 points. There were three placers for the Comets as Jason Strope at 113 took first place, beating Dawson Fansher from North Andrew, who finished fourth at state last year; Lucas Laux at 132 took second, losing to Brayden Shelton from Centralia; and Alex Even at 120 took sixth, losing to Sam Wilhelm from Knob Noster who claimed third at state last year.

“All three of the wrestlers had a good weekend,” said Coach Kurt Strope. “I think each of them saw and found things they need to work on before the end of the season to have the success they want at the district and state tournament.”

There were four other competitors on the weekend.

Luke Schroeder finished 10th, Jason Woodruff was 11th, Eli Froning took 14th, and Zakery Tune finished 20th.

“All of the boys wrestled really well, especially considering all the brackets had 30-plus kids in them,” said Strope. “This was a gauge for us to see how we would fair come the state tournament since almost all of the Class 1 teams were present at the tournament. I think as a whole the team has room to improve but there were lots of bright moments throughout the tournament. We just have to make those moments appear more often and fix a few little mistakes to accomplish what we want to at the end of the year.”

Due to inclement weather, a matchup against Blair Oaks, Knob Noster, and Palmyra was canceled.