Last year was a banner year for the Rogersville wrestling program with a third place finish as a team at the state tournament. That included two state champions and six total placers.
Five of those placers return. The lone graduated wrestler was Lucas Campbell, who won the championship at 145 pounds.
The momentum from that strong state performance has carried over into the offseason.
“There is a lot of excitement. The kids are really fired up. We have a great core group back to help lead us,” Rogersville coach Jason Carter said. “We had a great off season. There was a lot of good wrestling. A lot of good time in the weight room.”
The leader of the returning wrestlers is junior Jay Strausbaugh. Strausbaugh is a two-time state finalist and won a state championship at 132 pounds last year while posting a 41-5 record. He will likely go to 138 pounds this year.
“His work ethic is second to none. He is one of the hardest workers you could ever meet in your life and he welcomes a challenge. He is going to have a big target on his back as a two-time finalist, and he is super excited about having that target on his back,” Carter said.
Senior Barrett Beaird finished third at 195 pounds. He didn’t qualify as a freshman and didn’t wrestle as a sophomore, but his junior year saw him miss out on wrestling for a championship by the slimmest of margins.
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“He should have been in the finals last year. He made a couple mistakes in the semifinal match. Those mistakes have been eating at him the entire offseason. He just has to make minor adjustments to go from his third place finish to a championship,” Carter said,
Gabriel Brandenburg posted a 43-6 record on his way to a fourth place finish at 113 pounds last year. He has grown in the offseason and should wrestle around 120 pounds this year.
“He (Brandenburg) has grown considerably. He has matured a lot,” Carter said. “I just think that physical maturity is going to make a big difference for him.”
Preston Sleeth (106) and Jonah Gann (126) both finished sixth at state last season.
“Nobody has worked harder than Preston. He lost two matches by a total of three points at state last year. When you really get down to it, he was just a few points away from being in the state finals last year. He has lifted hard. He has trained hard. He has done everything right in the offseason to get better,” Carter said. “(Jonah) just needs a few minor adjustments. He needs to wrestle a little bit more under control and he could easily find himself in the state finals.”
Rogersville could have had even more state placers last season if it weren’t for injuries. Riley Williams was dealing with a shoulder injury and Brock Carter tore his MCL. Williams will be around 132 pounds in his sophomore season. Carter, a two-time qualifier, will wrestle around 170 pounds this year. He was 14-3 when he went down with an injury last year.
Conner Leighton, Trenton Graham and Gage Mador are three more wrestlers who will be consistent contributors on varsity.
Rogersville moves into the Big 8 this year, which is a change that Carter and the Rogersville wrestling program welcome with open arms.
“I think is fantastic for our team. The level of competition goes up tremendously,” Carter said. “Seeing that kind of competition week-in and week-out and getting to go compete against them at the Big 8 Tournament will do nothing but help prepare us for the state tournament.”
Rogersville’s coaching staff will look to use that tough Big 8 schedule to have their kids ready to wrestle when in matters most in the postseason.
“I have, to me, the best coaching staff in the state of Missouri with Ricky Strausbaugh and Colby Skaggs helping me out. They are just unbelievable. I think that with those guys, our job is to go out and get the most we can out of the kids and be competitive up in Columbia. That is our goal. We don’t set a target. We want our kids to wrestle their best in Columbia.”
