Spartans 3rd at Harrisonville heading into final day

The Spartans had a great first day of wrestling and find themselves in third place early on the second day of action at the Harrisonville Christmas tournament.  Raymore Peculiar leads all teams with 185 points followed by Cameron with 176 then the Spartans with 171 points.  Sparta holds a nine point lead over fourth place Kirksville and 11.5 points ahead of fifth place Smithville.A number of Spartans went undefeated on the first day.  John Roddick, Steven Kelly, Brock Polhamus, Dillon Erickson, Greg Skon, Kyle Burkhalter and Dan Dawley are all undefeated.  Michael Murnane and Chase Bernett finished the first day with a single loss.With two pins in his two matches Friday, Dan Dawley has wrestled eight matches this year and has eight pins.  In 40 matches last year, Dawley had 12 pins.  Not a bad start to the year.  Brock Polhamus leads all Spartans with four pins in the tournament followed by Dillon Erickson and Greg Skon with three apiece.  Every Spartan wrestling has a pin and seven have two pins.  Some solid victories on day one by the Spartans include...

• John Roddick defeats Chris Johnson (Osage, 11-3) by 7-2 decision
• Steven Kelly wins by 17-2 technical fall over Jaymontez "JT" Hampton (Ruskin, 10-8)
• Michael Murnane wins by 9-5 decision over Jake Bartow (Odessa, 19-5)
• Dillon Erickson wins by 5-3 decision over Tre Stewart (Kirksville, 16-5)
• Kyle Burkhalter wins by 16-0 technical fall over Ryan Meyer (St. Charles West, 11-5)
• Dan Dawley wins by pin in 2:42 over Cole Reeves (Pleasant Hill, 12-6)
• Chase Bernett won by pin in 3:52 over Clayton Robinette (Smithville, 12-7)

Sparta leads all teams with 25 pins.  Early on the second day, here is how Spartan individuals are doing...106  --  Trygve Zurfluh, Out of Tournament, Injury Default120  --  John Roddick, 4-0 with a pin126  --  Steven Kelly, 4-0 with two pins and a technical fall132  --  Brock Polhamus, 4-0 with four pins145  --  Michael Murnane, 3-2 with two pins152  --  Dillon Erickson, 4-0 with three pins160  --  Walker Polhamus, 2-2 with two pins170  --  Greg Skon, 4-0 with three pins182  --  Kyle Burkhalter, 4-0 with two pins and a technical fall195  --  Daniel Dawley, 3-0 with two pins220  --  Chase Bernett, 3-1 with two pins285  --  Joseph Benish, 2-2 with two pinsThe team standings are particularly impressive considering the team is competing without wrestlers at two weight classes.  Tristan Zurfluh remains out of the lineup with an injury, but Steven Kelly is stepping in and doing a great job in Zurfluh's absence.We'll have updates later this afternoon.  Go Spartans!!