Freshman wrestler
The No. 15 Baker University wrestling team got its season under way Nov. 6 with the Dan Harris Open in Collins Center.
The open tournament is named after former Baker University Athletic Director Dan Harris, who was very impressed by the team’s performance Sunday.
“They don’t keep score for these open tournaments, but (Baker) would have run away with the title with as many guys that we had that placed,” Harris said. “That is just bringing so much notoriety to our institution. We are the premiere wrestling school in the midwest for the NAIA, and I’m just extremely proud of all that. The name of the tournament is just icing on the cake.”
There were 13 Wildcats who placed in the top six of their respective weight class, which qualified them for the national tournament.
“It was a really tough tournament,” head coach Jimmy May said. “There were 230 kids in the tournament. It was a pretty good sized tournament for the Dan Harris Open.”
Of the 13 wrestlers who placed in the tournament, senior Dylan Berg, 285 pounds, and junior Parker Owen, 184 pounds, won their respective weight classes.
“It feels absolutely great,” Berg said. “A goal of mine was to qualify (for nationals) early (in the season) and win a tournament, and I got up there and I did it.”
Berg and Owen had to win all five of their matches to place at the top of their weight class.
While Berg was pleased with his performance, his body felt the toll of the five matches.
“I’m sore everywhere,” Berg said. “My joints hurt. I go into public and people look at me funny because my face is all messed up.”
While May was pleased with the team’s overall performance, he believes there are still plenty of things the team needs to work on as the season progresses.
“I feel like we had some bright spots and some people wrestled really well, but we also had some kids that we expected more out of that were a little bit of a disappointment,” May said. “Overall, I felt it was a good team effort. We still have a long road ahead of us. We saw that in the tournament.”
The Wildcats will use this week to recover from their first tournament and prepare for the Bethany Open at 9 a.m. Saturday in Bethany.
“We took a day off (Monday) because we were really beat up,” May said. “We just (did) a running practice (Tuesday) and then (got) back on the mat Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.”
Baker will be on the road until it hosts the Kansas Cup Jan. 29 in Collins Center.
