Moore battles way to fourth place finish at state

SALINA — Louisburg has been no stranger to the medal stand at the Class 4A state wrestling tournament and it was the case again Saturday in Salina.

Louisburg junior Ashton Moore reached the semifinals at 190 pounds on Friday to secure himself a medal, and then finished fourth overall on Saturday.

Moore had several close matches throughout the 3-day tournament at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center and was challenged each day. 

“I thought I wrestled some of my best matches of the season and it felt great to have it pay off with a medal,” Moore said. “It felt amazing to win those first two matches and know I was guaranteed my medal. Those wins really helped me gain a lot of confidence going forward in the tournament.”

Moore opened tournament action Thursday with a pair of matches. In the opening round, Moore pinned Fort Scott’s Ryder Newton late in the second period to move on to the quarterfinals.

It was there where Moore battled Mulvane’s Noah West and recorded a third period pin to move onto the semifinals. He also secured himself a state medal in the proess.

“Ashton was on a mission last week at state,” Louisburg coach Bobby Bovaird said. “He won his first two matches against a regional champion and a regional runner-up to make the semifinals. Both of those wins were by pin against a couple of pretty tough wrestlers.”

That set up a match against Baldwin’s Jack Harvey in the semifinals, who was the eventual state runner-up. Moore lost a 9-1 major decision, and had to work through the consolation side of the bracket on Saturday.

He found a familiar opponent waiting in Colton Brusven. The Tonganoxie senior had defeated Moore in a couple close matches throughout the season, including at regionals. This time, Moore got the upper-hand on the No. 3-ranked wrestler as he recorded a 5-2 decision.

“Beating Brusven was probably one of my favorite parts of the season,” Moore said. “We’ve had several close matches I felt like I could have won, so to come out on top in our final match was an amazing feeling.”

That victory put Moore in the third place match against Andale’s Isaiah Wilson. Moore was down 2-1 in the third period, but then got a 2-point near fall.

Wilson got the escape to tie the match, and with 20 seconds left, Moore got caught in a scramble and the official awarded Wilson a 2-point takedown. Moore got the escape, but lost a tough 5-4 decision to finish fourth overall.

“I don’t think it should have been called a takedown, since no control was established, but it is what it is,” Bovaird said. “Ashton finished that match on the attack and gave it everything he had.”

Moore ended his season with a 38-9 record and his first state medal.

“I was very proud to take fourth, but not satisfied with it,” Moore said. “I’m grateful to have one more opportunity and hopefully I can use it to move my way up the podium.”

With that, the Wildcats have had at least one state semifinalist in each of the past six years — a streak that was started by Ashton’s older brother, Austin, in 2019. It is also the ninth straight season Louisburg has had at least one state placer.

“That’s the longest streak in our program’s history,” Bovaird said. “The future looks very bright to as we hope to continue this streak for a long time.”

Five other Wildcats made the trip to state, but faced some tough matchups. Juniors Canaan Clayton (113 pounds), Will Showalter (120), Logan Henry (132), Jay McCaskill (157) and senior Traden Noll (150) each finished 0-2 on Thursday.

“We definitely had some pretty challenging first-round draws,” Bovaird said. “Will and Jay both lost to the eventual state champions in their brackets, Logan lost to the eventual runner-up, Canaan lost to the eventual third place finisher, and Traden lost to the eventual sixth place finisher. That’s a tough way to start out the state tournament. On the backside, we also had some tough match-ups. I think a lot of them were matches we could have competed in, and I do believe that we wrestled hard in every match. Traden battled through sickness the entire tournament, but he finished up his career as a 30-match winner and a state qualifier. 

“Canaan has essentially been off the mat the last two years since he entered high school and couldn’t do kids club anymore, but he’s fallen right back in stride, almost as if he’d taken no time off at all. Logan is making huge strides each year, considering he lost his whole freshman season due to a broken leg, and Will is gaining more and more experience each season. He’s a competitive kid and a very hard-working athlete. Jay has had a great deal of kids club experience and success, and the great thing about his potential is that earlier in the season, he beat two of the state placers in his bracket, both of whom are seniors. We’re losing one senior state qualifier, but the other five state qualifiers are coming back next year, and we’ll have several guys back that will also challenge for a place at state in 2025.”