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Athletically, there’s not much Karter Brink can’t do.
“He loves sports, the kid is just phenomenal,” said Monett Wrestling Coach Daryl Bradley.
The Monett senior quarterbacked the Cubs football team for three seasons, and plans to play shortstop again for the baseball team this spring.
Oh, and he’s a two-time state champion wrestler.
“It builds my confidence every time I get a state title, you know?,” Karter said. “I expect the same thing this year.”
In back to back seasons, Brink captured the Class 2, 120 pound state championship.
This year, he’s up to the 132 class, which brings about some new challenges, most notably, other previous state champs.
It’s a reality Karter saw first hand in a recent one-point loss to defending 132 pound state champion Jay Strausbaugh of Logan-Rogersville.
“[Strausbaugh] has a motor, he just doesn’t stop, so I’ll have to keep working on my conditioning and see what happens next time I meet up with him,” Karter said.
Another challenge is the simple jump in bodyweight, which Karter luckily has previous experience with.
“My freshman year, I weighed around 115 when I was wrestling 120 so I’ve kind of been in this situation, just kind of eat more than usual and make sure I’m staying healthy while I’m eating,” Karter said.
So far, that strategy has allowed him to win more than 85% of his matches in his new weight class.
Now it’s all about the postseason.
Karter, and Bradley are confident he can replicate last year’s journey, when he won the state final by beating a wrestler that he lost to in the regular season.
“The thing about Karter, he’ll be back. He doesn’t lose to anybody twice,” Bradley said. “So he’s going to work hard, push himself to get that [win] next time.”
