In their last time on the home mat, North Callaway’s seniors led their team to resounding victories.

The Thunderbirds earned a sweep at their home tri meet Thursday night, defeating California 65-18 and Missouri Military Academy 58-24. All six of the team’s seniors — AJ Siegel, Gabe O’Neal, Carson Safranski, Eli Henry, Mathias Lobb and Caleb Rohrbach — won at least one match.

Siegel has a second-period pin at 138 pounds, O’Neal won by a 15-0 technical fall at 144 pounds, Safranski won via a first-period pin and 12-0 decision at 150 pounds, Henry had a first-period pin at 157 pounds, Lobb finished with a first-period pin and a victory due to injury at 165 pounds, and Rohrbach had a first-period pin at 215 pounds.

Head coach Ronnie Kimbley said the senior class did a great job leading the team to an all-around nice performance.

“(Caleb) just started when he got into high school, and he’s worked his tail off in just about everything he’s ever done,” Kimbley said. “Safranski has been wrestling for a long time, and he’s definitely taken his lumps. Here in high school, he’s had the other side of that. Eli Henry is always a leader in the room. Mathias did great, he took some nice shots and was very aggressive. Gabe is a transfer for us from Fulton. They all did really good.”

In the MMA dual, Siegel showcased some resiliency following two bouts that went in the Colonels’ favor. Caleb Xamis and Sam Stevens each pinned their opponents, North Callaway received points from an open slot, and then Siegel matched up with Alexandre Snyder.

On two separate occasions, the match had to be stopped because of Siegel’s ankle. Kimbley said the initial thought is Siegel might have a sprain, but his senior fought through it to earn the pinfall. If Siegel had stopped the match a third time for medical attention, Kimbley said he and North Callaway would have lost the bout, but instead it was the start of eight straight victories for the Thunderbirds.

“That’s who AJ is. He’s going to leave it all out on the mat,” Kimbley said. “The rest of them saw that and that’s what is so awesome. Knowing his weakness, he gave it everything he had not to go back to the bottom. Big double leg, put him right on his back and got it over with.”

Prior to the boys duals, Brooke Giboney was able to have a match with California’s Camryn Wingate. It was a match that persisted into the third period, with Giboney taking the early advantage until Wingate gradually made up ground on the scoreboard and pinned Giboney.

Kimbley said the act of clasping is when a wrestler is on top, reaches around the wrestler on bottom and locks their hands together. That isn’t allowed as Giboney found out the hard way earlier in the season, so he said that might have been in the back of her mind.

“Brooke took great shots and maintained good control on top,” Kimbley said. “She got a loss earlier in the year from a bunch of clasping, so you can see that was in the back of her head. She wasn’t as aggressive on top as she should have been. She wrestled really good, got caught in a throw and that just happens.”

Tristan Young, Lane Kimbley, Cashton Holloway, and Casper Safranski each won matches via pinfall, with Young pinning two opponents.

Young, Kimbley and Holloway all wrestled at the state meet last year along with Siegel, Carson Safranski, Henry and Lobb so the Thunderbirds are deep. Kimbley said the success starts with the upperclassmen leadership.

“Our upperclassmen are really turning out well,” Kimbley said. “What’s nice to see is freshmen and sophomores are covering up ground. When they get a chance to get on mat, you can see that transformation as well, and that’s due to the leadership.”