Missouri Military Academy wrestling picked up several key victories last week.
On Saturday, MMA went 3-2 in the Mexico Duals Tournament at Mexico High School after defeating district foe Macon …
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Missouri Military Academy wrestling picked up several key victories last week.
On Saturday, MMA went 3-2 in the Mexico Duals Tournament at Mexico High School after defeating district foe Macon 42-35, Boonville 54-29 and Sullivan 42-39 and lost 53-29 to Monett 53-29 and 42-40 to district foe North Callaway. The Colonels also defeated St. James 48-33 and district foe California 52-25 and lost 48-30 to Fatima in California and won both of their duals at Tipton, defeating Macks Creek 66-10 and district foe Tipton 49-29.
Head coach Levi Iman said MMA brought a full lineup to its Mexico duals coming off sickness. He could tell his varsity cadets were ready to wrestle.
“They definitely stepped it up,” Iman said. “We started off with a big win over Macon. We dualed them about two weeks ago, and the score was flipped. These guys wanted to get a little bit of revenge on them and win some more matches.”
Iman said his wrestlers approached the Macon rematch in a good way by resolving to not lose to a district opponent twice.
There were a couple “hiccups” in the fourth dual against Sullivan, Iman said, but that didn’t stop the Colonels.
“It was after the third match,” Iman said. “The guys really pulled together, and you could definitely tell they were supporting each other. Everybody that stepped out wrestled with more grit than I had seen them wrestle with this year.”
Iman said it has been a busy week for the Colonels so he would understand if they were tired on Saturday, even though they only had to travel across town. He said their first appearance in the Mexico Duals Tournament was solid.
The individual contributions have added up to team success on Saturday and during the rest of the season, Iman said. For example, 190-pounder Erick Bond has looked his best and continued to look that way during his first five-match day.
“He is a very strong athlete,” Iman said. “He has been around wrestling with us for about four or five years, but he’s never really taken to it. This year, he wants to wrestle.”
Iman said Deonte Kerns is another senior who has led MMA well as the team captain and was “outstanding” on Saturday. Kerns is wrestling at 150 this season.
Daniel Bravo at 126 is someone who doesn’t have the record like Bond and Kerns, Iman said, but he has fared well against tough competition.
“It seems everywhere we go, he’s got at least two or three guys out of the four that he wrestles that are top-notch in the state,” Iman said. “You want to wrestle one of the top 10 every time, that’s Bravo. He gets after it.”
Josiah Emminger is the team’s heavyweight who is having “his breakout year” since being with MMA since seventh grade. Iman said Emminger is picking up key wins, including on Saturday against Macon and Boonville, in his first varsity season.
“In a couple of duals today, he was the last one to go in and his win sealed the deal for us,” Iman said.
MMA has a similar schedule this week with a couple of road quad meets before ending the week in Mexico — this time as the host of the MMA Varsity Colonel Classic at 9 a.m. today.
