Tiger grapplers to open tournament season Friday

By Eric Wade

Nevada Daily Mail

PLEASANT Hill, Mo. -- The Nevada High School wrestling squad is gearing up to get its season under way at the Steve Leslie Invitational at Pleasant Hill High School this weekend.

This year's Steve Leslie Invitational tournament is currently scheduled to feature 15 teams from 14 different schools in Missouri and Kansas and will get head coach Devin White's Tigers a chance to see just where they are in terms of preparedness for the season right off the bat. This year's tournament doesn't look to be quite as tough in terms of the competition it will feature as in previous years, but it marks the beginning of what could be a tough month of December for the Tigers.

"It's going to be crazy," White said of the December schedule. "We go back-back-to-back, it seems like, all month."

The Tigers will enter this year's Steve Leslie Invitational at a bit of a disadvantage when it comes to the team competition. White said last week that he may be able to fill the vacancy he had at 182 pounds, but the Tigers will definitely have open slots at 113 and 126 pounds when the season begins and will also be without heavyweight Sam Ellifrits for the first part of the year.

Those vacancies could prove costly for the Tigers when it comes to team scores, but hopes are still high heading into the season. The Tigers are set to begin this year's tournament on Friday evening and White said the season can't begin soon enough.

"It will be good to get that competition in," he said. "And it gives them somebody else to beat on, you know, for the time being, because they're getting pretty tired of beating on each other. I can already tell."

Once the tournament concludes at Pleasant Hill on Saturday afternoon, the Tigers will get a short break before hitting the road again on Dec. 4, for a dual at Bolivar High School. Just two days later, the Tigers will begin the home portion of their schedule when they host Harrisonville on Dec. 6, at 6 p.m.