Missouri Military Academy had districts in mind when it hit the mats on Saturday.

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The Colonels hosted the MMA Colonel Classic in Mexico with a 13-school field in their last action before districts next weekend in Versailles. Owen French at 150 pounds and Adam Swenson at 190 pounds each finished second, and Deonte Kerns was third at 126 pounds for each cadet to reach the podium.

Head coach Levi Iman said Saturday’s competition was tough by design. MMA saw plenty of bigger schools such as St. Louis University High, Rock Bridge and MICDS.

“We set it up so it would be tough at the end of the year, but it’s still a fun one to come to,” Iman said. “We had a bunch of junior varsity guys who didn’t get to wrestle a lot this year so they got to step in and have a little bit of fun today.”

Fatima beat SLUH for the team championship with 164 points compared to 133 points. MMA was ninth with 48 points.

Swenson pinned his first two opponents before losing an 18-15 decision against Fulton’s Hijratullah Pashai in the championship match. He is one of the team’s seniors that Iman said is having a solid season.

“We’ve had him since seventh grade so this is a nice end cap for him,” Iman said. “He started off the season a little bit rocky. He had a couple injuries, but now he looks like he wants to finish strong.”

French was new to the program as a sophomore with not much experience but still pinned two opponents to qualify for the championship match before being pinned himself.

“This is one of his first opportunities to wrestle. I think he’s had about five or six matches up to today,” Iman said. “This was a good chance for him to showcase to us what he’s got.”

Kerns is a junior who returned to the program with experience and would have had a chance for a championship Saturday if not for a 13-11 loss to Fatima’s Thomas Kremer. His wins included two pinfalls and a 15-2 major decision over a Rock Bridge wrestler.

“He’s done very well this year,” Iman said. “The majority of the wrestlers he’s lost to are top placers this year in a variety of classes.”

MMA had others come close to medaling but losing in the third-place match to finish fourth. Michael Pfeifer at 138 went 2-2 with a 13-4 major decision and 2-0 decision, Luis Rey at 150 went 2-2 with two pinfalls and Roberto Lavalle at 157 went 3-2 with three pinfalls — two over fellow Colonels.

Before the season even started, MMA knew it had a tough draw in the Class 1 District 3 tournament. Centralia, Brookfield, Marceline and Versailles are some state-ranked teams in the Colonels’ district.

Whenever the season ends for these Colonels, the team has had a notable campaign. Ryan Miles, who Iman hopes can return from injury in time for districts at 150 pounds, earned his 100th career win and wishes to follow last season’s state appearance. He, Kerns and Nathaniel Summers at 285 each have won over 30 matches this season.

“It’s going to be another tough year for us, but we’re pretty excited about it,” Iman said. “We’ve two or three weight classes that we’re hoping to push through. We’ve got a couple other kids that are right on the bubble — that fifth- or sixth-place kid – so they have to step up and beat somebody to push through.”