BonnerSprings.com

The tournaments continue to get bigger and tougher, but the Bonner Springs wrestling team continues to show improvement.

On Saturday the Braves’ young squad made more progress as it finished 12th out of 22 teams at the Husky Invitational at Blue Valley Northwest.

The Braves were in eighth place late in the tournament but fell behind some other schools by a few points and dropped four spots in what seemed a blink of an eye.

“We had a pretty good weekend as a whole,” BSHS coach Dan Burns said. “We keep on improving and fighting harder as the season goes on.”

Senior 285-pounder Tanner McCleary led the Braves with his first place finish.

“Tanner is still flying under the radar, and we kind of like it that way,” Burns said. “He has made himself into what he is; he works so hard.”

McCleary is so far under the radar that he has yet to climb into the state rankings. In fact, after winning the tournament one media outlet reported that he was from Blue Springs (Mo.) instead of Bonner Springs.

Other Braves also performed well at the tournament.

Sophomore Caleb Seaton finished second in the 112-pound weight class. Senior Anthony Ellingsworth and junior Brooks Ballou each finished sixth in their weight classes.

Burns has noticed that this team is progressing every day.

“Conditioning has really made a difference allowing us to last longer in matches,” he said. “We go on morning runs before school to get that part out of the way so when practice starts we can concentrate on technique and wrestling. It has helped us really raise the tempo in the wrestling room this season.”

Burns also has noticed that his four seniors are taking more responsibility as the season moves forward.

“Tanner, Anthony, Adam Shirley and Brent Tyner are all really stepping up, and it is paying off,” Burns said. “They are showing the young guys that if they stick with it they can have something to be really proud of. It is really helping us get through the fatigue caused by our busy schedule.”

There is no rest for the Braves this week. At 5:30 p.m. today they travel to Osawatomie for duals with the host school and Santa Fe Trail.

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