St. Louis - The Maryville wrestling team hosted the 2024 Bongo/Bayly Open and saw two Saints take titles. Cole Ritter rolled to first place at 165, while Jeremiah Larson won the round robin in the 197-weight class to highlight the Maryville efforts.
 
Ritter advanced over a Division I foe from SIUE to start his day, then cruised to a 17-1 tech fall. He duplicated the TF with a 16-0 win to reach the finals. In the title match, Ritter dominated with a fall in just 34 seconds to grab the title.
 
Larson outpointed his foe 15-10 in the opener, then notched a pin at the 1:52 mark in round two. He had another fall in 2:58, then capped his afternoon with an 11-3 decision to finish undefeated.
 
Sam Shafer garnered third place at 125 in the round-robin format. He recorded a 3-1 win, but dropped a contest to a Division I opponent. In the third round, he then added a 2-1 decision before ending his day with an 8-0 shutout over teammate Aidan Haggard. Haggard took fifth in the weight class for the Saints.
 
At 133, Evan Binder battled to earn a tournament runner-up finish. He rolled to a 16-0 tech fall, then followed up with a 7-0 blanking of teammate JP Homfeld. However, Binder was downed in the title bout by a Division I foe from Missouri. Lucas Laux took third in the weight class, while Homfeld finished in fourth.
 
Kody Ketchum finished third in the 141 classification. He had an 8-3 win in the quarterfinals but was defeated by a wrestler from Indiana. Ketchum bounced back with a fall at 1:39 in the consolation draw, and claimed third place with an 18-1 tech fall.
 
Carter Smith snared fifth place in the 157 weight class. After dropping his opener, he had a 4-3 win and a pin at 5:00. Smith lost in the next round but took fifth after a fall in just 63 seconds.
 
Brian Thorpe earned seventh place at 174 as he pinned his opponent in 3:16 to take the seventh-place bout. Rickson Taylor also had a seventh-place finish at 184.
 
Ryan Herman battled through a tough heavyweight draw to earn a runner-up finish. He opened his day with back-to-back falls in 3:24 and 4:54, respectively. Herman rolled to a 12-2 major over an opponent from Missouri. However, in the title match, he lost to one of Mizzou's top wrestlers to garner second place.
 
The Saints open Great Lakes Valley Conference dual matches as they host No. 5 McKendree Friday, Jan. 12, in a 7 p.m. start in Moloney Arena.