By Jeremy Jacob, Sports Editor

The Missouri Military Academy wrestlers have benefitted from the tutelage of their coaches during their careers so they wanted to show their appreciation.

MMA hosted its MMA Colonels Classic on Saturday in the Alain M. Garcia Almada ’06 Field House on its Mexico campus. The Colonels finished seventh out of 16 schools and had Deonte Kerns finish second at 150 pounds to medal but also shared tender moments with their coaches for Senior Day.

After 10 seniors were recognized during a break in the action, head coach Levi Iman and coaches Thomas Allen and Elliot Rice were surprised when they were instructed to head out to the center of the mats. Kerns with a microphone and the other seniors presented their coaches with team pictures signed by all of them to show their appreciation.

MMA at MMA Colonels Classic Photo Gallery

“We had no idea that was coming,” Iman said. “We really appreciate the guys doing that.”

Iman said this is the biggest senior class that these MMA coaches have had. He said this is also the first time the coaches have had a large senior group through all four years in high school so it was a significant day for the program. 

Kerns joined the MMA wrestling program in middle school and has grown to the team’s No. 1 wrestler this season. He won by technical fall against a Class 4 opponent from St. Louis University High School and then won by an 8-7 decision against California’s Jackson Barnard. 

“He’s really coming into his own this season,” Iman said. “We knew he was going to. He had gotten a lot better over the summer. He came back in ready to go. This season, he keeps hitting it hard every day in the room. It shows when we come out to tournaments like this.”

Iman said the tournament brought a good challenge to MMA with the 16 schools coming from all four classes in the state, especially since this is the team’s last action before districts on Feb. 20-21 at Lafayette County in Higginsville.

“I love hosting this one because we don’t just focus on Class 1 or Class 2 teams,” Iman said. “There were several matches that I think we’re going to see again at state in a few weeks. We didn’t go in looking to win this. We just wanted to have some good mat time.”

Mason Quarles is another senior for MMA this season, and he went 3-2 at 157. Iman said 157 is a “stacked weight class,” and Quarles competed well, doing well during his matches to give him some positive momentum for hopefully a good district tournament. 

Iman said Josiah Emminger at 285 could be another standout at districts, and James Grace could be as well after coming the closest to another MMA medal as he finished fourth at 144 after going 4-2. Those two losses happened against last year’s Class 4 state runner-up Hickman. 

“He did look pretty good,” Iman said. “He had a couple rough matches, but I think it’s going to pay off for us.”

Before the Colonels buckle down to prepare for districts, Iman said the present from his seniors must be treated with care.

“This is going to go on the wall tonight,” Iman said.