By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
For longtime Kickapoo High School wrestling coach Billy Buckley, despite the graduations of quality varsity competitors or others moving out of state, there is plenty of reason to be optimistic about the winter road ahead.
For one, young wrestlers last year are now experienced wrestlers this year. Even better, MSHSAA recently OK’d wrestling as a sanctioned sport in middle schools – an important deal for city schools who have for years tried to build up their numbers, a problem not often found in rural high school wrestling programs.
“It should help a ton. The Cherokee Middle School coach had 84 show up at his first meeting,” Buckley said. “That’s huge. To be able to build a middle school program and compete with area teams will help us tremendously.”
The boost of confidence comes at an important time for Kickapoo wrestling, which in each of the past two years hasn’t been able to boast of a state qualifier.
Because a quality core of wrestlers graduated in recent years and others moved out of state, it’s created a challenge. However, Buckley hopes his guys realize that it doesn’t have to be.
“That’s what’s motiving for some of our kids,” Buckley said of the program seeking a state qualifier. “We’ve had some kids put in work this summer, going to camps. They now realize what it takes. For some, it was their first time in a varsity lineup last year, and some took it to heart.
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“They realize what you do in the summer will pay off in the winter.”
A number of weight classes are there for the taking, but look for Kickapoo to lean on four wrestlers – 138-pound junior Tristian Upp, 145-pound Dylan Lashley, 195-pound Noah Jennerjohn and 220-pound J.J. Norman.
Upp saw much varsity experience last year.
“He competed well,” Buckley said. “He’s in a tough weight class, but just having that experience last year give him a heads-up of what it takes. He’s going to put the work in.”
Lashley is a freshman.
“He’s a kid that’s got a lot of youth club experience,” Buckley said. “He’ll come in with a lot of mat time. He’ll get a taste of it, and I think he’ll be a competitor right off the bat.”
Jennerjohn is a sophomore.
“Noah’s transformation since his freshman year has been crazy,” Buckley said. “I think the kids kind of lived in the weight room all summer. He put on 20 pounds.”
Norman is a junior.
“J.J.’s wrestled forever,” Buckley said. “He put a lot of good work in this summer, going to a lot of our open mats. He was a one-trick pony, but I think he’s starting to fine-tune his technique.”
Overall, Buckley hopes all of the wrestlers on the team see the year as an opportunity.
“The last couple of years we lost some of our kids who we banked on and were team leaders,” Buckley said. “This year, they’re going to have to take on that leadership.”
