By Chris Parker
Things are looking up for the Hillcrest wrestling program, and a lot of that can be attributed to the SPS middle school programs according to fourth-year head coach Kris Wood.
“I think one of our key strengths will be the amount of wrestlers we will have in the room. We have seen a big bump in the numbers since SPS invested into the middle school programs and that’s starting to translate to the high schools. More kids gives us a chance to be able to constantly improve and see different strengths. I’m really excited to continue to see the benefits of that,” Wood said.
Two Ozark Conference placers return this year in sophomores Alx Glanden and Jacob Gott.
Glanden finished fourth at 120 pounds.
“Alx is a great kid with a good head on his shoulders. He’s a three-sport athlete, so I’m expecting him to start the year a bit rusty but his athleticism will help him a lot,” Wood said.
He will wrestle around 120 or 126 pounds this year.
Gott finished fourth in the conference tournament at 220 pounds last year.
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“I think Jacob’s best quality is his outlook. He never let himself get down after a loss and always saw it as an opportunity to become a better wrestler,” Wood said. “He’s going to have a learning curve as well as he’s another three-sport athlete and he’s bumping up to 285.”
Daytona Berg returns for his junior season after coming up one match short of a state qualification last year at 152 pounds.
“Daytona wants that state qualification really, really bad. He probably wrestled his best match of the year in that bubble round, but ran into a really good wrestler. He (and his brother Nathaniel) both became full time wrestlers last year; going to open mats, signing up for outside clubs, just overall putting in the work,” Wood said. “I’d say his best attribute is his length. He’s got those long arms that make it a lot easier for him to set up his ankle picks and find legs on shots that some other kids would have trouble getting to.”
Berg will return to 152 pounds this year.
Leah Ford and Paris Ramsey will be two returning wrestlers to watch on the girls side.
Wood has three incoming freshman boys in James Porter (170), Zao Shatto (132-138) and Gavin Walker (106-113) who could have immediate impacts on varsity.
“We will still be a very young team with possibly only one senior. It’ll be a theme of constant improvement. Having a more full lineup will hopefully lead to some better tournament results and those things, but my biggest expectation is to see a better team each time we go out there,” Wood said.
