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WE ARE ADAPTIVE

WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

46th Ken Cole Invitational - 220 pounds
Baldwin joins Johnson as a D3 champion

April 14th, 2023 | Written by: Staff writer

Champion:
(1) James Baldwin
Dunham

2nd	(2) Kristofer Mesloh	Parkway
3rd	Jacob Doucet	Teurlings Catholic
4th	Kendra Smith	Teurlings Catholic
5th	(5) Kenneth Flores	Benton
6th	(3) Marques Hampton	North Desoto

Come this event Dunham senior James Baldwin was already be considered, as Basile's Luc Johnson was, one of the best wrestlers in Division III. His sole loss was an 8-5 match against Jesuit's Griffin Ellis in the LACL semifinals. Baldwin took third in that event, defeating Parkway's Kristopher Mesloh 5-2. He and the Panther senior were on another collision course in this event. Baldwin used two falls and a 10-4 decision to reach the finals. It was tougher for Mesloh to gain a rematch, though. After a Round One fall he got through the quarterfinals via a 6-4 score, but in the semifinals he was pushed by North Desoto's Marques Hampton in a 7-5 match. Hampton led 5-1 with 1:42 remaining in the third period, but then Mesloh switched into overdrive, scoring an escape, a takedown and the nearfall points he needed to win in the next 1:15.

The rematch with Baldwin did not go as Mesloh planned though. After a scoreless first period Baldwin took a 6-3 lead in the second period and then shut out Mesloh 5-0 in the third for an 11-3 MD.

A pair of unseeded TC wrestlers, senior Jacob Doucet and junior Kendra James, advanced to the consolation finals, which Doucet won via a fall in 1:34. That was Doucet's sixth fall of the event (well, seventh if one counts that he was pinned in Round One) and he won the Most Falls/Least Time award. The third-seeded Hampton fell to fourth seed Kenneth Flores of Benton in 4:38 to place fifth.

Preliminary Rounds