On Dec. 15, the Bruin wrestling team fell to Smith-Cotton and Fulton, 57-21 and 62-12, respectively.
The Bruins were unable to fill three spots, ultimately wrestling with only seven grapplers. This equated to an immediate forfeit of 35 points in each dual. Despite the losses, however, certain individuals performed well establishing a hopeful future for the Bruins.
Freshman Blaine Woods, 195, was one grappler who exceeded expectations in his match, as the rookie picked up his first win via pin against Fulton.
“It felt good to win tonight and I believe I performed pretty good as an individual, but obviously have stuff to work on to get better,” Woods said about his performance.
Along with Woods, junior captain Brock Davis,120, wrestled well, collecting two wins in as many matches.
“I thought I stuck to my game plan pretty well going into both matches and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out,” Davis said.
Despite the final scores, Davis was hopeful for the future of the team, as the young Bruin squad looks to improve, rather than win, when facing opponents.
Davis’ fellow captain, and one of the few senior leaders wrestling for the Bruins, David Feng, agreed that for the youthful team, improvement was more valuable than wins.
“Fulton got 2nd at state last year, so our less-experienced guys did a really good job wrestling against a really good team,” Feng said. “Improving from here is just going to take dedication and continuing to work hard at practice.”
The Bruins return to the mat in the Lee’s Summit Invitational tomorrow, Friday, Dec. 18, followed by a dual against Helias Tuesday, Jan. 5 and a dual meet against Hickman/Battle Friday, Jan. 8.