Pirate wrestlers place in Liberty Tournament

The Pirate wrestling team finished off a long week with the Liberty tournament. After already competing in three duels, the team had to spend Friday and Saturday competing again.

 

Tough teams were piling into the tournament showing that no match was going to be a walk in the park. Teams that were in the tournament were Ozark, Lincoln East, Park Hill South, Liberty and Fort Osage. Although these were only half of the teams actually there.

 

The tournament was almost cut short because of the sudden snow storm that popped up Friday night. Nixa was originally supposed to be there but was unable because of the weather. It was a scary drive home for the team, with already a few wrecks on the highway, but the weather didn’t last long so the tournament was able to continue the next morning.

 

The Pirates were able to make a good accomplishment at the tournament. The team had five wrestlers place, four medal and two of which were gold. Josh Knight was the first to wrestle in the finals where he was fighting for third. Knight wasted no time in his match and ended it by pinning his opponent. Le’Roy Barnes followed and was contending for first place. Barnes was wrestling a previous opponent that he had already beaten. It was a high scoring match and Barnes almost got caught but he fought is way back on top to beat his opponent by points. Barnes took first in the tournament.

 

Dakota Croft also contended in the third and fourth place match but unfortunately came up short. Croft gave it all he had but eventually was outdone. Tanner Jones was the second to last to go, competing for third as well. The score was tied at zero going into the third period and Jones won with a reversal by one point took third. Finally, Glen Whitney, remaining undefeated, was the last to go for Belton. He was contending for first against another wrestler who was also undefeated. Whitney declared his dominance taking the first two take-downs and gaining the lead. Although the match was close, Whitney clearly won the match to prove that he is still number one.

 

The season is coming to an end for the wrestling team and its now or never for the wrestlers. In two weeks the team will be competing in the district tournament where some of the wrestlers seasons could come to an end. But for the one who do well, they will be on their way to Columbia to compete in the state tournament.