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Alcester-Hudson eighth grade wrestlers Lance (left) and Levi Merrick finished in 2nd and 1st place, respectively, at the Brute-Adidas Nationals on April 4-6 in Kansas City. They were coached at the event by former Alcester-Hudson standout Jared Barnes. (Photo by Paul Buum, Editor/Publisher)

KANSAS CITY, MO – By all accounts the Merrick twins from Alcester-Hudson had a pretty good wrestling season. Many would say they had phenomenal seasons. After finishing the 2007-08 regular season with impressive records, Lance and Levi both plowed through Districts, then through Regions, and on to State.

At the State meet, Levi finished in 6th place, while Lance failed to place in the top eight. Their older brother, Alex, in his senior year finished the State Tournament in fourth place. Inspiration came to Lance and Levi from their fellow teammate, Carl Serck, who brought home his second consecutive State Champion title.

The twins may have been a little disappointed in how they did at State, but the thing is, the farm boys who are nearly impossible to tell apart, are only eighth graders, and will likely only get better.

To test their prowess against other wrestlers their age, they entered the Brute-Adidas Nationals held April 4-6 at the Municipal Auditorium in downtown Kansas City.

As luck would have it, their cousin and former Alcester-Hudson standout and State Champion, Jared Barnes, happens to live in Kansas City where he works for a landscaping firm, and agreed to be their coach at the tournament.

The Brute-Adidas Nationals is open to any wrestler in the United States, from first graders through high school seniors. Hundreds of kids enter the tournament every year.

The uniqueness of the tournament is that wrestlers compete against other wrestlers in their own grades. Third graders only compete against other third graders, sophomores only compete against other sophomores, and so on. Each class is then broken down into various weight divisions.

The Merrick boys competed in the Eighth Grade class, with Levi wrestling in the 104-pound division, and Lance wrestling in the 111-pound division. Levi had eight wrestlers in his weight class, while Lance had nine.

The tournament is conducted in a round-robin format, much like a Region or State tournament.

As it turns out, the Merrick twins fare pretty well against other wrestlers their age. Between the two of them, they only lost one match during the tournament, that being Lance’s 6-4 loss to Marc Schmidt of Missouri for the Championship.

Levi went undefeated in the tournament, defeating Kevin Steeby of Missouri for the Championship crown.

This being a national tournament, with their high place finishes, Lance and Levi also earned “All-American” status.

But the tournament wasn’t exactly a cakewalk for either wrestler.

In the opening round, Lance defeated Jake Chellew of Missouri 5-0, followed by a win over Nick Ecker of Kansas in the second round.

The third round pitted Lance against Ben Smith of Alabama. Lance won that match 5-4 to advance to the championship against Schmidt.

Levi opened the tournament with a first-round win over Greg Hegarty of Missouri, 7-5, followed by a 7-1 win over David Miller of Missouri, a match that Levi said was his toughest.

“There was some pretty tough competition,” Levi said. “I beat him (Miller) 7-1, but he was tough. He went on to beat just about everybody else.”

Miller ended the tournament in third place.

Levi then went on to beat Kyle Miller of Kansas 6-0 to earn his spot in the Championship match against Steeby.

Lance said his hardest match came in his Championship round loss to Schmidt.

“He was tough,” Lance said.

So what was it like having Jared Barnes as their coach?

“It was pretty cool,” the twins said in unison.

And did Coach Barnes give them any special advise?

“No, not really,” Levi said with a smile. “He just said go out there and do your best. And win.”

And so they did.

As it turns out, the Merrick twins aren’t the only Alcester-Hudson wrestlers to bring home hardware from the Brute-Adidas Nationals. Last year Serck won the 143-pound division as a Junior.

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