OSAWATOMIE — Brad Carson could only chuckle as a sheepish Tavon Bryant approached him Saturday.
Bryant, Iola High freshman, has a penchant for unorthodox moves on the wrestling mat that frequently leave Carson, his coach, scratching his head.
“The first thing he said to me after his match was over was ‘I’m sorry, Coach,’” Carson recounted.
Carson laughed because Bryant had just pinned Prairie View’s Dylan Rice to take third place at Saturday’s Osawatomie Invitational.
Blazek and Cody Conner were late entries into the tournament to give them some added competition in preparation for the upcoming Class 4A Regionals, which begin Friday in Burlington.
Conner took home second place at 152 pounds.
Blazek’s apology came after one of his moves went awry, allowing Rice to get a point for an escape midway through the third period.
Carson left his chair to bark instructions, and was returning to his seat late in the period when Blazek pounced again.
“He got him down and got the pin so quickly, I didn’t even see it,” Carson said.
Bryant went 4-1 on the day, winning his last four matches — all by pins.
“Tavon does some silly things out there, but as I told him, when you go as hard as he does, all the time, good things happen.”
CARSON was equally pleased with Conner’s efforts. Conner breezed past his first three matches, all with first-period pins, before meeting up with Prairie View’s William Holland. Holland pinned Conner midway through the second period.
“Cody did a good job,” Carson said. “The Prairie View kid was a state placer a year ago, and he’s so strong that Cody couldn’t do much with him.”
IOLA ALSO sent two wrestlers, freshmen Seth Sanford and Colten Toney, to a junior varsity tournament in Burlington Saturday.
Rather than purely by weight, the JV tournament was divided into brackets based on experience and skill level.
Sanford took first place his bracket, defeating all three of his opponents, including a 5-4 decision over Ethan Stahl of Prairie View in his final match.
Toney took third in his bracket, going 1-2. He won his third match, pinning Michael Bauchman of Anderson County in the first period.
