With a younger and less experienced team, wrestlers still found a way to have seven individuals place in the top three in the Ozark Highland Conference for the Wildcats. 

   The wrestlers competed in their conference tournament on Jan. 18. This includes, sophomores: Jayce Estes (2nd place), Sean Reinertsen (2nd place), Owen Miskell (3rd place), Josh Harvath (Champion), and juniors Jayce Depriest (3rd place), Drake Murrell (Champion), and Peyton Painter (2nd place). Along with the big individual success, the Wildcats also placed third in the tournament as a whole team. 

   “Honestly, I just went into the conference tournament with the mindset of just staying true to my moves and having confidence in myself,” Murrell said. 

   While Head Coach Justin Wisdom is proud of the seven medalists, he recognized how they didn’t place as high with more of an inexperienced team. 

   “The conference tourney was not as successful as we were hoping.  Adding Versailles to our Conference is great for wrestling because they field a strong team which enhances the competition.  As a team we are just a little inexperienced as a whole to overtake Versailles in the team race, however with a few matches that we lost where we could have won there was a strong possibility for a runner up finish as a team,” Wisdom said. 

   The team took the Ozark Highlands conference win for the first time in program history last season. 

    “With power and success comes great responsibility, our returners are finding that out and doing their best to navigate that.  Our young/inexperienced kids have really started to figure some things out in January and we are pleased with their growth. As a team, I feel like they are starting to understand how to not back down from tough situations and figure out ways to succeed even when it’s hard.” Wisdom said. 

  The more experienced leaders on the team are encouraged by the athletes joining the sport.        

  “This year’s team is way less experienced overall but we have a bigger group that is willing to put in the work. At the end of the day, having the effort and attitude are some of the best traits to carry to become a good teammate,” Murrell said. 

   Wisdom also talked about how much the six returners have stepped up, especially in regards to setting the cultural tone. 

   “Culture-wise our returners have done a great job of continuing to build that and our newcomers are really starting to understand and figure out what we are looking for,” Wisdom said. 

   Some returners communicated about how much they love the atmosphere of being known as a leader. 

   “I love working with the new/younger wrestlers because I have the ability to help them find their love for the sport. If they start to love it, the technique will come later,” Estes said. 

   Last week, wrestlers participated in the district tournament and were putting in the work in hopes of a shot at the state arena.

   “To try and prepare for districts in my best personal way, I make sure my conditioning is the best and I have to make sure I have good technique with my shots. Besides that, I make sure I’m mentally challenged in practices leading up so that I’m even more mentally tough with my overall mindset during my matches,” Harvath said. 

   Many wrestlers talked about their overall goals for the season, with a lot of them mentioning placing or making it to state. Junior Drake Murrell hoped for a return to the state tournament after his first appearance at state last season.

   “My goal is to make it past districts and go far in state. Placing at state and receiving a medal is my biggest goal that I’ve been working on to achieve,” Murrell said. 

  Wrestlers were focused going into the district tournament last week.

    “I set goals each year, post them where I see them daily, and refuse to let myself down,” Estes said. 

   Districts were Feb. 16 in Butler.