The Kearney High School Boys Wrestling team pinned down the fourth-place trophy at the 2024 MSHSAA Class 3 state tournament on Feb. 24 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Mo.

Eleven Bulldogs punched their tickets to state this year. Nine wrestlers earned points for the team and four came home with individual trophies. The team is led by Head Coach Jacob Hill.

Freshman Carter Temple came into the state tournament ranked third and finished the tournament as the Class 3 State Champion in the 175-lb. division! Carter knocked off the second-ranked wrestler in the semis in dominating fashion. Then he avenged a loss from earlier in the season to beat the top-ranked wrestler in overtime to secure his first state title in his first trip to Columbia.

Other Individual Results

113 Landon Westfall (Freshman) – Landon came into the tournament unranked and finished with a 6th place medal. Landon took a tough loss in the first round and came all the way through the backside to find himself in the “blood” round. To secure a medal, he had to beat an opponent from Helias who beat him one week before in the District semis. Landon came out firing and left no doubt about securing his first state medal on his first trip to Columbia.

120 Ryder Shelton (Junior) – Ryder finished the state tournament as the Class 3 State Runner-Up. Ryder had another fantastic tournament and found himself in the state finals for the third year in a row. The finals match ended with a controversial call as time expired that didn’t go in our favor, and though devastated, he handled the adversity with the utmost class and character. Ryder is now a three-time finalist and two-time state champion in his three trips to Columbia!

190 Jak Gist (Senior) – Jak finished his senior campaign as the Class 3 State Runner-Up. The most impressive thing about his performance is he thought his season was done two weeks earlier because of an elbow injury. He showed some serious toughness and heart by fighting through the injury and ended up punching his ticket to the state finals. He finishes his career as a three-time state qualifier.

KPGZ Sports - Ray Weikal with the Kearney School District contributed to this story