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NHS wrestling team begins season
By Eric Wade
For the Daily Mail
PLEASANT HILL -- Heading into a new season with several familiar faces on his roster, Nevada Tigers head wrestling coach Devin White called the Steve Leslie Invitational a "solid tournament, but not the toughest tournament we'll go to." With 16 teams from both Missouri and Kansas, this year's tournament at Pleasant Hill High School more than lived up to the hype.
This year's tournament featured perennial powerhouses from both sides of the state line, but with three returning state qualifiers -- all of which came into the season ranked in the top five in their weight classes -- the Tigers came into Friday and Saturday's action ready to stand up to the challenge.
With just 15 losses through the first day of action, the Tigers looked to be in good position to make a run at a top five showing as a team. That, however, was not to be as the Tigers found themselves seated in 10 of the 16 teams present heading into the sixth round of pool bouts.
"I wasn't really sure about that," White said. "The main thing is we're open at about five weight classes today. We've got some kids to fill the spots, we've just got to get them to the right weights and get them healthy and things like that. So that's the one thing that's hurting us; we've got five opens and so that's five weight classes that we're giving up points and we're not earning anything."
As they've become all too accustomed to in the past, the Tigers have once again struggled to field a full lineup and have thus been forced to compete at a decided disadvantage. Those who are able to fill a weight class on the Tigers' roster, however, all "wrestled tough," White said, and most were able to enjoy the fruits of their labor as the tournament progressed.
Coming into the day, Tanner Charles had already made a name for himself by earning a spot in the Missouri State Wrestling Championships three times and amassing a career total of 93 wins. Approaching the century mark in career victories didn't seem to weigh much on Charles' mind as he cruised through his pool without losing a match on his way to eventually winning the tournament at 126 pounds with a pin victory over Prairie View's Dannon Brake just 44 seconds into the championship bout.
Zach Shepherd echoed that success with a first place finish in the 145-pound bracket that was capped off by a pin of Smithville's Dalton Tipton 1 minute, 40 seconds into the second period. Johnathon Ireland fell just short of giving the Tigers three first-place medals on the day when he dropped his semifinal match against Prairie View's Jace Roy by major decision before going on to defeat Clinton's Garrett Mifflin in the third place bout.
The Tigers were nearly able to come out of the tournament with three more top-five finishers, but Kyle Bennett, Colby Smith and Brent Baughn each stumbled in the fifth place bouts of the 138, 195 and 220-pound brackets, giving each wrestler a sixth-place finish.
Though he wasn't able to enjoy nearly as much success, White was equally impressed with newcomer Daxtyn Osburn. Osburn came into the day with little experience, but high hopes for success, but struggled right from the start of the tournament in his pool bouts.
"One of the kids that I'm most impressed with is Daxtyn Osburn. He hasn't won a match yet, but he's shown more heart than I've seen in a long time," White said. "He's right until the very end, pushing. He's pushing the tempo, trying things and you know, there have been times when, in two of the matches he was in, he was actually winning the match and got caught."
Osburn's luck began to change late in the tournament and he ultimately went on to take ninth place at 120 pounds.
With those performances, along with fifth place finishes from Brent Baughn, Kyle Bennett and Bradey Denney, the Tigers ultimately maintained their top 10 spot as a team as the tournament came to a close.
Though the tournament turned out to be just as stiff a challenge as everyone on the Nevada squad expected, White said that it would be good for the team in their efforts to iron out any issues they may have early. In what turned out to be a very successful tournament that resulted in an eighth-place finish as a team, the Tigers amassed a staggering total of 32 wins by pin.
"The kids are wrestling tough," he said. "They're getting wins when we need wins and pins when we need pins, so I can't complain at all there."
Though there is still a lot that White would like to see happen in terms of team improvement, he still left Pleasant Hill with his head held high. The Tigers won't have to wait long to start making those changes as they are scheduled to be back in action on Thursday when they are scheduled to start dual competition at Harrisonville High School.
"We'll get there," White said. "Slowly, but surely, we'll get there."