AMARILLO – Hosting the Raider Duals on Saturday at Canyon Randall High School, the Wayland Baptist men's wrestling team picked up three more victories to run its record to 7-2.
Much like Friday night when the Pioneers hosted a club team from the University of North Texas, Wayland was able to wrestle many of its up-and-comers as the 19
th-ranked Pioneers took on Central Baptist (Ark.), Lindenwood-Belleville (Ill.), and Bacone (Okla.). WBU defeated Central Baptist and Lindenwood by identical 45-3 scores before topping Bacone, 40-6.
"It was a great weekend for us to wrestle some of our younger guys and give our veterans a bit of a break," WBU coach
Aaron Meister said. "This is only going to help us overall as those younger guys get more experience and challenge the older guys and give us more depth."
It marked the second time this season Wayland faced Lindenwood-Belleville and Central Baptist, having wrestled both schools at the Warriors Duals in Muskogee, Okla. The Pioneers won in mid-November, 36-9 over Lindenwood-Belleville and 39-3 over Central Baptist. On Saturday, Wayland was even more dominant.
"We were able to wrestle some different people than we normally do and they were successful," Meister said. "The younger guys are really showing up and champing at the bit. When given the opportunity, they are stepping up to the challenge."
Against Bacone, Meister said the Pioneers "wrestled great again."
That dual featured a matchup between Wayland's
Mich Napier, ranked 16
th in the 184-pound class, and 10
th-ranked Chris Berry. Napier prevailed.
"Not only will that help Mich move up in the rankings, it will help the team move up," Meister said.
Meanwhile, the fifth-ranked WBU women were limited to four exhibition matches against a single wrestler from the University of Texas.
"She was quite a trooper," Meister said of the UT-Austin wrestler.
Wayland's
Cheyenne Kemp,
Lauryn Bruggink,
Mayra Franco and De'anna Prince all took the mat and came out with victories.
"They were all good matches," Meister said. "It was nice to be able to get some of our girls a match."
Meister came away pleased with the performance of his team, not only this weekend but in recent workouts.
"They continue to work hard, and we've been blessed to not have any injuries. When you're able to work consistently every day without injuries you're able to improve, and that's showing in our performances."
The WBU men next participate in the Desert Duals on Dec. 20 in Las Vegas, Nev., while the women will be in Fort Wayne, Ind., for the National Duals Jan. 9-11.
"I'm really proud of our team overall, the student-athletes and coaching staff and how we've come together," Meister said. "It's the culmination of everybody's hard work. We want to keep this momentum going."
