Dayton Miller takes second at state

Nevada's Daxtyn Hiestand works for a takedown during the 2014 MSHSAA State Wrestling Championships.

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- The 2014 Missouri State High School Activities Association Class 2 State Wrestling Championships began Thursday morning, with 224 hopefuls taking to the mats at Mizzou Arena, in search of a state championship. Among those hopefuls were three Nevada Tigers grapplers -- Dayton Miller, Daxtyn Hiestand and Scott Swink.

The first day of action in this year's tournament went well for the Tigers, as all three wrestlers started the tournament with a win.

Miller owned the most prolific of those opening-round wins for the Tigers as he was tied for the sixth-fastest pin of the round, defeating Affton's Brayton Tucker in 39 seconds in the 113-pound bracket. Swink also won his first bout at 182 in similar fashion, but took considerably longer to do it, as he defeated Ste. Genevieve's Corey Heberlie, 5 minutes, 54 seconds into their bout.

Nevada's Dayton Miller works to maintain control of Savannah's Michael Hummer in the semifinals of the MSHSAA Class 2 State Wrestling Championships, at Mizzou Arena.

The closest bout a Tigers wrestler found himself in on the day came at 126 pounds, when Hiestand won a 7-6 decision over Lutheran South's Eli Paetow.

As the second round began, things didn't go quite as well for the Tigers. By the time the quarterfinals had been completed, just one of Nevada's three wrestlers was still in competition for the championship as Miller won his second bout of the tournament by a 7-4 decision over Smithville's Hunter Sparrow.

As for Hiestand and Swink, things didn't go as well, as Hiestand lost his quarterfinal by fall to Kirksville's Ethan Rentschler in just 41 seconds and Swink dropped a 16-4 major decision to Fulton's Zach Brenner. Both wrestlers bounced back in the second consolation round, however, as Hiestand eked out a 10-9 decision victory over Fulton's Brandon Dews and Swink pinned Dexter's Michael Hurst in 1:47, to stay alive.

Nevada's Scott Swink attempts to turn his opponent in a 182-pound bout at the 2014 MSHSAA State Wrestling Championships.

Later in the tournament's second day of action, Miller's success continued as he punched his ticket to the finals with a 10-3 decision victory in the semifinals over Savannah's Michael Hummer. Hiestand and Swink saw their tournaments come to an end there, however, as they both dropped their third-round consolation matches -- Hiestand in a 5-2 decision to Mexico's Jordan Jones and Swink in an 11-9 decision against Van Horn's Carlos Cubas.

That set up a final day in which head coach Devin White had just one wrestler left standing. In the Class 2, 113-pound championship bout, Miller found himself pitted against Fulton's Josh McClure, who entered the bout with an undefeated record for the season.

Though Miller did put forth a valiant effort, he ultimately came up short in the end, losing a 6-0 decision to take second in the tournament.