No. 1 Hornet wrestlers wrap up NCMC championship

Bristol's pin punctuates 41-33 victory at Moberly

The top-ranked Fulton Hornets wrestling team showed some gutsy resolve in bringing home the North Central Missouri Conference championship in dramatic fashion.

Senior Clayton Bristol won the final match of the night with a pin at 285 pounds, locking up Fulton's 41-33 victory over the Moberly Spartans on Tuesday night and allowing the unbeaten Hornets to clinch the NCMC title.

With Fulton protecting a slight 35-33 lead, Bristol tallied the final six points when he pinned Moberly's Mickey Sires in 1 minute, 13 seconds. Bristol, who has been dealing with a knee injury, was forced to sit out Saturday when the Hornets won their own Jim Wallace Classic for the third straight year.

"Clayton is still not 100 percent, but he knew that he needed to take care of business and he did," Fulton head coach Eric Hudson said.

The conference championship is Hudson's first in his eight years with the Hornets.

"It's unique. It's a pretty good feeling because we've had some good teams in the past who haven't been able to get over the hump," Hudson said.

Fulton - ranked No. 1 in Class 2 by rankwrestlers.com - improved to 21-0 on the season and 5-0 in the NCMC. The Hornets have one remaining conference dual at home against Marshall on Feb. 3.

Fulton competed Tuesday night without a pair of key wrestlers, junior Andy Baysinger at 160 pounds and sophomore Devan Hudson at 113. Baysinger injured his ankle and Hudson hurt his hamstring at Saturday's tournament.

"It's a credit to our kids because they knew what they had to do to get through," Eric Hudson said of Tuesday night's triumph. "I'm proud of them for hanging tough; they're a great group to work with."

Here are the rest of Tuesday night's individual results, by weight class:

•106 pounds - freshman Tucker Caswell (F) won by 16-4 technical fall over Travis Tran (M); 113 - Luke Vitt (M) won by forfeit; 120 - sophomore Brandon Dews (F) won by 11-2 major decision over Kristofer Samuels (M); 126 - Chase Meyer (M) won by 8-2 decision over freshman Jacob Kern (F); 132 - Ean Stuart (M) pinned senior Connor Dawson (F) in 3:00;

•138 - junior Josh McClure (F) pinned Leland Clary (M) in 2:13; 145 - junior Trenton Clines (F) won by 5-0 decision over Kyler Guthrie (M); 152 - Dominick Guthrie (M) pinned sophomore Luke Berrey (F) in 5:42; 160 - John Heimann (M) won by forfeit;

•170 - senior Noah Braun (F) won by 18-3 technical fall over Deandrae Dameron (M); 182 - senior Taylor Gillooly (F) pinned Spencer Nuhn (M) in 1:01; 195 - senior Zach Benner (F) pinned Jace Palmer (M) in 1:02; 220 - Jamie Aleshire (M) pinned senior Austin Anderson (F) in 4:34.

Fulton competes at the Odessa Tournament at 9 a.m. Saturday.