By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
Talk about grinding away for the greater good.
William Ressel has spent these past five seasons coaching the Parkview High School wrestling team and trying to recruit the hallways.
It’s been challenging, but anyone in the Ozarks sports world would likely concur. After all, Springfield is a basketball town first and foremost, and so many other options exist for teens, such as baseball and other extra-curricular activities.
And yet look at this year’s roster. It includes Nick Litchy, a senior who four years ago knew little about the sport and yet was only one match away from qualifying for the state tournament last season.
It’s little victories like that which Ressel is selling in the hallways as he tries to promote the sport he loves.
He’s got a good story himself.
“I wrestled in middle school for a youth club (Grapple Maniacs) and then at Kickapoo High School. I was a state qualifier as a sophomore but had back-to-back knee injuries — my junior year (right knee) and senior year (left knee),” Ressel said. “I walked on at the University of Central Missouri and eventually became the starter and earned a scholarship. My best finish at the regional tournament was sixth. At the time, the top 4 went to nationals.”
That’s why he hopes Litchy can take the next step this season. He is now in the heavyweight class, having grown four inches and added 40 pounds in recent years.
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“He has put in a ton of work this off-season and has some high expectations for this year,” Ressel said. “He is also looking to continue his wrestling career in college.”
“He has gone on several college visits and wants to go on more,” Ressel added. “It is very exciting to have an athlete that is truly wanting to pursue athletics at the next level, especially wrestling.”
Parkview likely will have 10 wrestlers, although more could join.
Among the returners are Junior Lamarre, a 145-pound junior.
“He is a varsity football player and runs track and field,” Ressel said. “He is a three-sport athlete and one of the hardest workers, if not the hardest worker, at Parkview in athletics.”
Also keep eyes on sophomore Levi Noguera, who will compete at 138 pounds.
As Ressel sees it, wrestling for Parkview could be a badge of honor, considering wrestlers join knowing there are no frills or easy roads.
“We do not have a wrestling room,” Ressel said. “This just means we are truly the toughest group on campus and in town. We have to work harder than everyone else just to have practice every day.”
And then there is the district tournament.
“The toughest part of our schedule is being in Class 3 District 3,” Ressel said. “Two years ago almost half of the placers at the state tournament were from our district.”
Girls wrestling
On the girls side, keep eyes on sophomore Becca Waterman, junior Rose Le and sophomore Cherokee White.
Waterman competed at 103 pounds last year and was only one match shy of advancing to the state tournament.
“She is a cross country runner and has a motor,” Ressel said.
Le wrestled at 110 points last year and was at 103 as a freshman.
“She runs cross country as well and has been spending a ton of time on the mat this offseason and has wrestled in several summer wrestling tournaments,” Ressel said.
White wrestled at 120 last year and improved by season’s end.
“For the girls side, their district was so large some of them were wrestling in a 32-man bracket with only the top four going to state,” Ressel said. “That means they had a 12 percent chance of making it to state. Again, tough road.”
Still, he hopes Parkview has a memorable winter. Parkview also will host the 53rd Kinloch Holiday Classic.
“Because of all of the changes and restrictions this year, we are just going to be excited to get to compete,” Ressel said, referring to the Covid-19 pandemic. “My kids have already said, ‘Coach, please don’t cancel our season,’ and my response has been, ‘I am going to do everything in my power to make sure that doesn’t happen.’”
