Brier advances to Friday action in State Wrestling Championship

Junior Todd Brier, of Nevada, fights off a takedown in first round wrestlebacks against Owensville's Nick Cuchetti. Brier took the victory by pin. View the day's full Class 2 State Wrestling Championships results online at www.nevadadailymail.com. --Photos by Eric Wade/Daily Mail

The MSHSAA Wrestling Championships officially began Thursday morning with first-round action in Columbia, Mo., where Nevada High School's Todd Brier started his first trip to the state tournament with one of the toughest draws in the 160-pound division.

McCluer South-Berkley's Willie Williams finished second at last year's MSHSAA Wrestling Championships at 152 last year and brought a 40-3 record at 160 into this year's seven-mat tournament.

"We knew it was going to be tough," head coach Devin White said. "We saw him wrestle at Harrisonville. Tough kid, tough match."

Nevada junior Todd Brier attempts to escape from the grip of McCluer South-Berkley's Willey Williams, a senior, in opening day action at the MSHSAA Wrestling Championships in Columbia. Williams went on to win the match by major decision. Brier was later successful in the wrestleback and will face another opponent on Friday.

Brier lost that opening match by a 20-4 decision, but rebounded quickly.

That early loss put Brier into the first round of wrestlebacks and he was able to regain his composure in time to come out on top in his next match.

That second match of the day featured another strong opponent Owensville's Nick Cuchetti. Cuchetti found himself in the low end of the bracket after opening the tournament against Class 2, District 3 champion Darrick Smith. of Oak Grove.

After an up-and-down match that could easily have gone either way, Brier was finally able to take advantage of a small mistake by Cuchetti, resulting in a pin. With that victory, Brier's chances of bringing home a medal are still very much alive, as he is now four victories away from a third place finish.

White was very impressed with the performance shown by the junior, undeterred by the opening round loss. "He (Brier) wrestled tough and it showed," White said. "That first match kind of got him rattled a little bit, but he got his confidence back in that second one."

With that finish, Brier is set to move on to day two of the tournament, with ever-increasing hopes of a strong finish. "He did good" White said. "We're coming back tomorrow."

Overall, the day's action in Class 2 got off to a fast start with pin falls in six of the eight matches in the 103-pound division, with one forfeit. All mats were full throughout the day, giving all of the fans present a constant showing of strong wrestling action for thr duration of the opening day.

This year's tournament featured just three returning state champions, but there was still no shortage of quality competition. Several of last year's medalists were back for another trip, some in different weight classes, and numerous other quality first-timers cropped up for this year's event.

Nevada was supposed to have two competitors in this year's tournament, but freshman Tanner Charles was declared academically ineligible to compete.#