Wrestling Republic Tigers bring home four medals from Kinloch Classic

Republic wrestlers won four medals at the Kinloch Classic in Springfield. Two of those Tigers, Wyatt George and Jonathan O’Connell, won gold. Republic finished 11th out of 25 teams overall.
Wyatt George lived up to his top seed in the 106-pound weight division, winning all his matches to bring home gold after a fifth- place finish last year.
“Going in as No. 1 seed this year, it boosted my confidence, knowing I’d have a little bit easier route to the finals,” he said. “Just doing what I do and having faith in my coaches and all my teammates to push me definitely helped with that.”
Jonathan O’Connell also won gold at 145 pounds. He finished the weekend the same way he started it – undefeated for 2019-20.
“I knew it would be a tough route to get there, and I can’t really have my mindset that I’m already going to win this tournament,” he said. “I just have to take it one match at a time.”
Connor Sandridge made some noise in his debut at Kinloch as a freshman, finishing fifth at 160 pounds. He’s off to a 12-4 start this season, but isn’t satisfied with the way he’s been wrestling. “Coming in, wrestling all
seniors ... as a freshman, it’s difficult anyway. But I think I could have done a lot
better at this tournament. I just need to get my head on straight for upcoming tournaments and districts and state,” Sandridge said.
Sophomore Dominick Famiano finished sixth at 113 pounds. It was his first time in the medal rounds at a large tournament. He at-
tributes his success this sea- son to having more “confi- dence and better technique. Last year, my technique was kind of sloppy all around.
But this year, there are only a few things I need to clean up, and once I clean those up, I can start working on perfecting it.”

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