Bryce Edison worked very hard in the offseason and throughout the year to put himself in a great position at the state wrestling tournament this past weekend at the University of Missouri. 

He entered Mizzou Arena Thursday afternoon with his emotions and spirits high, coming off a district title in the 106-pound weight class. And he rode that momentum into Thursday night. 

“We told him to treat it like another tournament,” Head Coach Ryan Cross said. “We practice all season for the postseason, with an understanding that anything we get will have to be earned.”

Edison pinned his opponent from Union in the second period in the opening round of the tournament. 

“His first match went somewhat as planned,” Cross said. “Bryce was patient and able to work his offense in the second period.”

Edison took the rest of Thursday night off and matched up against a wrestler from Belton in the second round Friday morning. This was a back-and-forth match throughout as it took overtime for a winner to surface. 

“Bryce needed to have urgency in getting to his offense and control the match from his feet,” Cross said. “He struggled in a few places where we wrestled by reacting instead of leading the attacks.”

The Warrenton senior suffered the loss in the 8-6 decision. Now in the wrestlebacks portion of the tournament, Edison was scheduled to compete just a few hours later against a grappler from Clayton, an opponent he had beaten twice already on the year. 

“You always have to be ready for anything,” Cross said. “Bryce needed to get on his leg attacks and could not find the angles he wanted.”

This was a battle throughout until late in the final round of the match. Edison was too aggressive, resulting in a loss and his exit from the tournament.

“Both us, and our opponent, wrestled into a 0-0 match all the way to the last six seconds of the match and we had a penalty called against us for an illegal move,” Cross said. “One that if your hands even touch, it will be called against you and unfortunately, this is what happened.”

Edison finishes his senior season with a district title and a 32-16 record. He has had a stellar high school career with an overall record of 101-68. 

“Bryce worked hard to make it the state tournament three of his four years and he had his chances but simply came up short,” Cross said. “It is great to be able to have an athlete represent themselves, our program, their family, and community on the big stage for high school wrestling and not many kids can say they worked hard to get there this many times.”