This weekend the Bruin wrestling team made the 30-minute trek south to Helias High School to compete in the annual Missouri Duals.
The Missouri Duals consist of 14 teams divided into two preliminary pools which then wrestle a round robin dual tournament with the overall winner in each pool matching up against the winner in the other pool and the second place teams matching up and so forth.
Friday night the Bruins opened the tournament against Oakville which was their only dual win in pool play. Following the Oakville dual, RBHS squared off against Kirkwood. The Bruins defeated Kirkwood last weekend but this time around Kirkwood barely edged the Bruins, 36-33.
The next dual against Neosho was not nearly as close. The Bruins were drubbed by the Wildcats 75-6 with RBHS’s lone win coming by fall as junior Josiah Kline recorded a third period pin at 120 pounds.
On Saturday morning the Bruins opened the day against Grain Valley followed by Waynesville and ended preliminary competition against host Helias with a record of 1-5. By placing sixth in their pool RBHS was set to square off against Battle, who placed sixth in the other pool, but the Spartans forfeited the dual under the reasoning that the two teams have a dual scheduled for Jan. 9 at Battle.
Top performers for this weekend include Kline who went undefeated and remains unbeaten through the first month of the season. At heavyweight junior Jujuan Chambers recorded two falls and junior John Flanegin recorded his first varsity win with a pin against Grain Valley at 113 pounds.
Despite an unblemished record, Kline still finds aspects of his wrestling that he can improve.
“[I need to work on] finishing my cradles and being able to tilt guys when I need to,” Kline said.
The Bruins are next in action at the Lee Summit Christmas Invitational, a 24 team tournament featuring teams from Missouri and Kansas. Although Kline has put little thought into who he might have to wrestle this weekend he is confident.
“I’m not sure [how I’ll do],” Kline said. “I haven’t really looked at the teams and people in my bracket, but I’m hoping to wrestle my best and win.”
By Derek Wang