Tigers wrap season with state champion

Nevada junior Spenser Daniels puts an opponent on his back during the state wrestling championships last weekend in Columbia, Mo. Daniels won the state title at 189 pounds, and had two teammates also place in the top four in their weight classes.

Nevada Daily Mail

It was a great finish to a great season. Spenser Daniels winning the 189-pound weight class to give the Nevada Tigers a state champion.

While Daniels was the only state title holder from Nevada, his win capped a breakout season for the Tigers as a whole.

Matt Kennedy (left), the lone Nevada senior to qualify for state, wrestles a Platte County opponent during 145-pound first-round action last week. Kennedy didn't win this match but won his next in wrestlebacks.

"Overall, I think our team took their wrestling to another level," Nevada head coach Kevin Huck said. "It certainly was a team effort."

The smallest school in the conference, the Tigers topped Class 3 schools McDonald County, Neosho and Webb City. Nevada then went into the final match of a dual with conference champion Carthage with a chance to win that one too.

The Tigers then won their first district team title in 20 years, sending seven wrestlers to the state tournament.

Coaches Huck and Fleeman watch the action from the designated coaches seats.

At state in Columbia, Mo., Huck said the kids took even another step.

"I think our kids wrestled really well," he said. "They certainly wrestled at a different level than they ever had."

The results were Daniels winning, Mason Heard placing second, Ryan Herda taking fourth, and two others missing the medal round by only one match.

Junior Cole Bond wrestles in the 152-pound class at Mizzou Arena.

Now Nevada is set up to take even another step forward next season. Eleven of the 14 wrestlers will return, as only three Tiger grapplers graduate. Only one of those three was a state qualifier, so there will be six Tigers with state experience next season.

"Hopefully we can carry this over to next season and do even more special things," Huck said. "I think this season was a success for these kids. It's something for them to build on."

Three returning state place winners and a team full of defending district champions is something any team would love to have. It appears as if the Tigers have become a wrestling power, serving notice that Nevada is a team to reckon with.