Hawks, Daniels get second-seeds for districts this weekend in Nevada

By Joe warren

Nevada Daily Mail

Nevada senior David Hawks and freshman Spenser Daniels each received second seeds for this weekend's wrestling super-district tournament at Nevada High School.

The tournament will decide which wrestlers get to participate in the state championships in Columbia beginning Feb. 18.

The seeding meeting was Wednesday in Nevada, and the Tigers had seven of their 13 wrestlers seeded.

Hawks and Daniels were the highest-seeded wrestlers for the Tigers, while John Christie earned a third seed, Cole Bond got a fourth seed and Mason Heard, Joe Roberts and Tyler Shouse are all fifth seeds.

The tournament begins at 6 p.m. Friday at Nevada High School with opening round matches.

The tournament will run until roughly 9 p.m. Friday, then resume at 10 a.m. Saturday.

All matches will be at Wynn Gymnasium.

As part of the seeding process, most of the Tigers have their first opponents set.

At 103 pounds, freshman Heard will face Matt Cannady of Harrisonville.

Heard has a record of 22-13 this season, while Cannady comes into the tournament with a 29-7 record.

At 112 pounds, sophomore Drew Shepherd will face Nathan Enyart of Seneca.

Enyart has a 28-8 record this season, while Shepherd has tallied a mark of 10-23.

The Nevada Tigers do not have a wrestler in the 119-pound category.

At 125 pounds, freshman Josh Palmer takes his 6-7 varsity record this season into a match with the top-ranked wrestler in his class. Colby Langford, of Seneca, sports a 37-1 record this season and will face Palmer in the opening round.

Roberts, a junior 130-pound Nevada grappler, will face Jonathan Gilbert of Harrisonville in the first round.

Roberts has a record of 16-6 this season, while Gilbert comes in with a 2-13 record.

At 135 pounds, Hawks will take on Drew Rice of Harrisonville in his opening match.

Hawks has a 32-4 record this season, while Rice is 2-5.

Christie will face D.J. Hattfield of McDonald County in the opening round at 140 pounds. The Nevada senior is 16-4 this season, while Hattfield is 16-11 this year.

Bond, a freshman, will wrestle Mark Milsapp of Harrisonville in his first match at 145 pounds.

Bond has gone 16-11 in his rookie campaign, while Milsapp is 28-12.

Junior Keith Overton has a bye in the first round but will likely wrestle Alex Keislich of Carl Junction at 152 pounds.

Keislich, has a first-round opponent who has only won twice this year.

Overton has gone 14-14 on the mat this season.

At 160 pounds Daniels will be facing Ace Jacobs of McDonald County.

Daniels is the favorite in this match with a 24-12 record this season.

Fellow freshman Jerrod Alexander will be wrestling Daniel Shattack of Reed Springs in the opening round at 171 pounds.

Alexander is 15-21 this season and Shattack is 21-7.

The Tigers will not have a wrestler at 189 pounds because freshman Ryan Herda is out with a back injury.

Herda was 18-8 this season for the Tigers before being lost for the year with his injury.

At 215-pounds, Shouse will wrestle Cody Evans of Buffalo.

Evans comes in with a record of 17-5, while Shouse has had a great season with a 31-2 mark.

In the Heavyweight division junior Klayton Leonard will take on Russell Houk of Bolivar.

Leonard was 14-14 this season for the Tigers, while Houk went 22-8.

Nevada coach Larron Hurst was generally happy with the seedings.

"They went pretty smooth," Hurst said. "All the coaches got along really well."

Hurst said that overall records were not the top criteria for seeding, but that records against common opponents were.