When wrestlers on the Grain Valley bench cheered, one person’s cheers were noticeably louder than the rest.
Senior Mason Bertrand was the center of attention in Grain Valley’s tri dual against Raytown and William Chrisman. His teammates went into a frenzy after both of his wins in the 175-pound weight class. He pinned Chrisman’s Anthony Loring in 1:46 and edge Raytown’s Adonis Holguin 12-8 as he helped his Grain Valley boys wrestling team take down Chrisman 75-6 and Raytown 57-15 Wednesday at home.
Bertrand had been dealing with a shoulder injury earlier in the season and came into the dual with a 3-12 record. However, he services as a vocal leader in the wrestling room and at any event for Grain Valley.
“He’s an awesome kid. He’s the most personable kid on the team,” Grain Valley head coach Donald Horner said. “Everyone loves Mason. He works his tail off. He’s a fighter. He doesn’t have the best record, but you will never see Mason give up. He is epidemy of what it means to be a fighter.”
Freshman Dalton Burch agreed with his coach.
“Mason is an amazing leader,” Burch said. “He’s a leader in the wrestling room. He is always doing something right. Seeing him win tonight was great for the team.”
Bertrand admitted the dual was his best of the season and he was happy to receive the audible cheers from his teammates and coaches.
“Everything went well for me,” Bertrand said. “Things were clicking. I wrestled the Chrisman kid a few times. I am glad I pilled out the win that time. The match with the Raytown kid was a hard-fought match.
“It meant a lot to me. To hear everyone cheer me felt amazing.”
Not only did Bertrand get his time to shine, but some junior varsity wrestlers also had an opportunity to wrestle at the varsity level with wrestlers like senior Gavin Barker, freshman Brody Davis and junior Zac Bleess being held out by Horner in order to avoid exceeding the match count limit set by the Missouri State High School Activities Association.
Burch (165) was one of those who had an opportunity to wrestle for the varsity team the past two weeks. The freshman pinned Raytown’s Javier Bejarano in just 37 seconds and won by forfeit over Chrisman to finish 2-0.
“I am so grateful that I get the opportunity to wrestle at the higher level,” Burch said. “It’s not only that, but it gets me better and more used to what’s to come.
“I think I wrestled solid. Everything felt smooth. I felt good.”
Fellow freshman Jett Parks (132), the younger brother of Colston Parks, got the same opportunity as Burch. He pinned Raytown’s Michael Battaglia in 3:06 and won by forfeit against the Bears.
“I had down the technique that I wanted to do,” Parks said. “I am the next guy up so it means a lot (to get to compete at a varsity dual).”
After finishing 2-0 in a tri dual against Truman and Ruskin last week, junior Timmy Harris was bumped up from junior varsity again and saw similar success. He edged Chrisman’s Logan Perrin 2-1 and pinned Raytown’s Chace Lindsay.
“I know before the match I was thinking, ‘Man, this kid is big, I don’t know what to do,’” Harris said of his match with Perrin. “When I go out there I try to stay concentrated and don’t lose focus and work through what I know.”
Other Eagles to finish 2-0 on the day were freshman Brody Jones (113), junior Tyler Jones (120), junior Justin King (126), senior Colston Parks (138), freshman Kobe Hughes (144), junior Chase Brenner (150) and sophomore Brody Braa (157).
Raytown defeated Chrisman in the other dual 34-26.
Drake Harley (106) was the lone Blue Jay to finish 2-0 on the day.
For the Bears, Vershawn Dudley (190) went 2-0 with two pins.