At the recent Neosho High School and Neosho Youth Wrestling banquets, many awards were handed out by coach Jeremy Phillips.
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Awards for the High School team included: Nate Rodriguez, Hammer of Persistence Award; Matt Millard and Trevor Hughes shared the Ironman Award; James Townsend, JV Pride Award; Ethan Pogue, Mountain Climber; Payne Hatter, Cinderella Man Award; Blake Stauffer, Takedown Machine Award; Stauffer, Kenny Burleson Leadership Award; Joe Barnes, Wildcat of the Year.
Stauffer set the school record for wins in a season with 52, breaking Brandon Russow’s mark set in 2008.
Stauffer (203) and Hatter (165) also broke the team record for takedowns in a season, which was at 148 set by Brandon Crandall in 2008.
Rodriguez, Hughes, Carter Boatright and Stauffer were all named Academic All-State. Barnes, a senior, had a 4.0 grade point average at the semester.
The youth wrestlers were also honored.
Landon Kivett (third place), Marcus Shaeffer (sixth) and Aaron Scroggins (fourth) were honored for placing at the Liberty Nationals. Emily Harrell was honored for her fifth-place finish in the girls’ national tournament.
Team awards went to: Dalton Kivett, Hammer of Persistence Award; Ben Elledge, Cinderella Man Award; Adrian Hitchcock, Rookie of the Year; Joey Williams and Dakota Bronson, Mountain Climber Award; Trent Vaughn, Kenny Burleson Leadership Award and Jacob Brock, X-Treme Wrestler of the Year.
