Wrestlers are already making progress toward fulfilling their goals and expectations for the season, winning duels and gaining tournament medals.      

    “Personally I want to get better as an active wrestler and I would like to medal at state; for the team I have expectations that we will get better as a team and hopefully run it back for a conference championship and overall get better because we are a new team,” junior Drake Murrell (165) said.

     The Wildcats are coming off of a conference championship last year, and they are looking to run it back this season.

   “My goal for this season is to be a state medalist and possibly get into the top three at state. My expectations for the team this year is to be competitive and try to win every tri, duel, and  tournament this season,” sophomore Josh Harvath (175) said. 

   With the wrestling season underway, the Wildcats have had a total of three meets so far having a tri in Osage, where they went 1-2, they also had a tournament in Knob Noster where the Wildcats finished 6th and brought home four individual medals. Sophomore Jayce Estes was Champion in the 106 weight class, junior Drake Murrell earned 3rd in the 165 weight class, junior Sonny Garrett  was 4th in the 138 weight class, and junior Jayce Depriest was 4th in the 215 weight class. The Wildcat wrestlers have set many goals for themselves and many expectations for the team as well.

   The Wildcats have a very new team this year by having a lot of wrestlers that are either new to the sport or have just come back to wrestling.

   “This is my first year wrestling, I have been playing basketball every year for most of my life, but I never really enjoyed basketball, so this year I decided to change it up and give wrestling a try. I think the most difficult part about transitioning from basketball to wrestling is knowing the fundamentals and knowing what to do and how to do it, which could possibly put me at a disadvantage if I was going against a more experienced wrestler, they would know the fundamentals better than I would, and they would also know what to do in a certain situation,” junior Jayce Depriest(215) said. 

   “This is my first year wrestling, I think the hardest part about being new to the sport is learning the fundamentals and all of the moves, plus I am wrestling in a higher weight class, so I am going against guys that are a lot heavier and bigger than me,” junior Peyton Painter (285) said.

    The Wildcats are looking forward to having a great season, and leave everything they have on the mat.