By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
He could have spent the spring and summer resting up and reminiscing about the winter that was, content that he reached the state wrestling finals and brought home some hardware.
Instead, Jonathan O’Connell of Republic High School took a different route.
“Jonathan spent the majority of the offseason wrestling,” Republic coach Jerry Morton said.
O’Connell certainly is among those to watch this season for Republic, as he is among 12 returning starters – including two state qualifiers.
This for a program that has had its share of competitive – and, usually, state-qualifying or state-placing – wrestlers over the past decade.
It’s a team that includes senior Michael Taylor, a three-time state qualifier, and a few sleepers who could make some noise.
Start with O’Connell. He was the state runner-up at 132 pounds to Neosho’s Trenton Young last March, in a 4-0 final score, and finished with a 43-9 record. Now a junior, O’Connell is slotted at 145 pounds this season.
“He started with a good freestyle and Greco season,” Morton said. “He continued to wrestle through the rest of the summer at various open mats around the city.”
Anything else?
“Jonathan has also put on about 20 pounds of muscle since last year,” Morton said.
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Taylor likely will fill the 126-pound varsity role after finishing 44-10 last season. But his role is expanding.
“Michael is a hard-working senior that will be our team leader this year,” Morton said. “Michael spent most of the off-season working on technique, going to camps and open mats. He has also spent some of his off-season visiting various colleges where he looks to continue is wrestling career.”
The rest of the projected roster includes sophomore Wyatt George at 106, freshman Memphis McConnell at 113, sophomore Reece Lawler at 120, junior Gabe Hesington at 132, Isaiah Madson at 138 and junior Tyler Byrne at 152.
In the upper weights, look for sophomore David Honeycutt at 160, Trevor Tippie at 170, John Hickman at 182, junior Cody Morehouse at 195 and sophomores Cameron Pyle and Darren Aldrich at 220 and 285, respectively.
They are among 40 wrestlers expected on the roster, and the question is whether they can take that next step. For instance, George (22), Lawler (32) and Honeycutt (20) each had at least 20 wins last year.
McConnell could be a factor, too.
“Memphis is a strong wrestler for his size,” Morton said. “He also has a good mat sense that you usually see in older wrestlers. He was first place at the Junior High Large COC tournament last year.”
Of course, can they withstand the season?
“The end of January is the toughest part of our schedule,” Morton said. “We have a series of duals and tournaments that don’t allow for much recovery time. The wrestlers have to be prepared to wrestle their best every night as we have some very tough duals (Neosho, Nixa, Logan-Rogersville just to name a few) along with one of the toughest conference tournaments in the state with the COC conference tournament.”
