Tiger grapplers take sixth at Monett

Slade Stiles tries to turn Nixa's Austin Finley. Stiles placed second in the A pool at the Monett Tournament. --Photos by Steve Brier/Special to the Daily Mail

MONETT, Mo. -- Thanks to inclement weather, the Nevada Tigers wrestling team saw their first action in three weeks Saturday as they got back into their element, heading to the Monett Invitational tournament.

Despite having just seven wrestlers active, the Tigers were able to put up a strong performance overall, taking sixth out of the 12-team field. "Overall pretty good day," Tigers head coach Devin White said. "The team started off kind of slow, but started to pick up the tempo after the first match and ended fairly well."

Freshman Slade Stiles continued the very strong performance he has shown throughout the year as he worked his way to a second place finish overall. Stiles got off to a bit of a rough start on the day as he lost his first match to eventual tournament champion Lane Corya, but made a strong recovery, going on to beat both of the top two seeds.

Todd Brier circles Josh Moffett of Bolivar for a takedown. Brier took second place in the A pool of the Monett Tournament.

Sophomore Tanner Charles had what White called a "tremendous day" at 112, cruising his way through the bracket and winning the tournament for the second straight year. Charles never had a match get out of the first period as he pinned his way to his second tournament championship of the season.

Senior Dominic Habjan struggled his way through a 125-pound bracket that was stacked with some very tough competition on his way to a fifth place finish. Habjan got off to a tough start as he lost his first four matches, but finished the day with a very strong performance in a 14-5 defeat of Republic's Dillon MClaron.

"Dominic had a great tournament considering the competition he was up against. He wrestled tough and did a lot of great things," White said. "I was very impressed with his performance. He has improved greatly over the Christmas break."

Tanner Charles works to turn Caleb Shuck of Willard. Charles won the match and placed first in the A pool of the Monett Tournament.

Sophomore Kyle Bennett was one of two wrestlers for Nevada to earn a win in the first round as he pinned Bolivar's Jacob Miles. Bennett struggled from that point on, losing his next three matches before winning his last match of the day by injury default.

Zach Shepherd had an up-and-down day as he lost his first match and came back to win his second by pin. That was the story for the rest of the day for Shepherd as he ultimately finished the tournament with a record of 2-3.

Senior Scotty Bough had a tough start to the day as well, losing his first three matches, but was able to come up with a strong finish as he won his last two matches to take fourth place.

In the 160-pound bracket, senior Todd Brier got off to an "exceptional start." He quickly pinned his way through three of his first four matches with little trouble and moved on to face the fourth-ranked wrestler in the state in Bolivar's Josh Moffett. Brier pushed hard and wrestled a tough match, but ultimately fell short in a 10-9 decision.

"Tough match, but Todd wants to see him again," White said.

The Tigers are now set to take another short break before returning to dual competition as they head out on the road to take on Carthage on Thursday.