By Brennan Stebbins (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
It’s a similar story every year: the Seneca wrestling program, fresh off another impressive season, simply reloads for another good showing in the postseason.
The Indians finished second or better at state for five years in a row at Class 1, and have placed fifth the last two years after jumping to Class 2. They’ve won three straight Big 8 team titles.
Last season they qualified eight wrestlers for state and came away with three placers. And this winter they return five of those qualifiers and two placers.
“We didn’t get the placers I thought we could have got, missed out on a couple placers last year but we have several coming back,” head coach Jeff Sill said.
The returning placers are senior Brady Roark, who completed an unbeaten 44-0 season at 120 pounds and won the state championship; and junior Andrew Manley, who was third at 138 pounds and finished 45-4. Roark has signed to wrestle at Division 1 South Dakota State and also won the state title at 106 as a sophomore after going 43-1.
“He’s a tough little guy,” Sill said. “Sets his goals high and really works hard to try to fulfill those goals and strives even harder to reset his goals. We’re happy to have Brady back in the room and being one of our leaders. Andrew wrestled really tough, had the one loss at state but he’s put some time in coming off an injury at freestyle state. We’re excited to see what he’s going to do this year.”
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The other returning qualifiers are sophomore Caden Thompson (32-9), who qualified at 106; junior Keatin Burleson (28-9), who qualified at 113; and senior Nick Stephens (26-16), who qualified at 220. Seneca graduated qualifiers Brayden Thiel at 132, Dane Napier at 182 and Gabriel Commons, who was third at 170.
“Caden really hit his stride wrestling at that lower weight last year,” Sill said. “He came on strong the end of the year and avenged some losses. Keatin just got tougher and tougher as the year went on. I really thought both of those guys had a pretty good shot to place at state and both were going for the first time. Some things just didn’t go their way.”
“Nick got hurt early his sophomore year but last year he got the full season and started clicking at the end. He’s right there. We talked the other day about the things he’s going to fix to where he’ll have success and get up on that podium.”
Overall, Seneca should have 20 to 30 wrestlers out this year. The team returns seniors like Nash Crane (19-22 at 195), Lincoln Renfro (13-10 at 160) and Jacob Gravener (27-25 at 285). Nolan Napier is a sophomore who went 23-24 at 145 last year.
Sill said Gravener made it to the bubble round in a tough district bracket and is coming off a good football season. Crane keeps getting bigger and stronger in the weight room and Napier has also grown and put in a lot of time working out over the summer. Renfro beat a top two seed at districts but had a tough time on the back side of the bracket and has a shot to qualify for state this year.
The Indians also have sophomore Landen Commons, who went 8-8 at 152 as a freshman, and sophomore Sawyer Cornell, who was 16-10 at 145.
“We want to be strong across the board,” Sill said. “We don’t want to say we’re real good down low, we want to just be solid up and down our lineup and have no weaknesses. That’s the way we’ll be a successful team. The kids feed off one another, everybody starts winning matches and that carries over to the next match.”
Seneca will compete in the CJ Classic, Newton tournament and host its own tournament, as well as travel to the Dallas area for a boys/girls tournament.
Seneca’s girls team had three state qualifiers last year in Louzella Graham at 115, Isabella Renfro at 174 and Kirsten Bruegel, who graduated and is wrestling in college at Avila University.
Graham is a junior and finished 24-9 last year. Renfro, another junior, was 28-1 and earned second place at state after dropping a 5-3 decision in the first-place match. She’s hoping to become the school’s first female state champion.
“Louzella will be competing at one of the lower weights and she really wrestled well at districts last year to earn her spot,” Sill said. “Isabella is going to carry that experience into state this year. She wants to get that gold medal, she’s been working hard for it.”
Overall, the Indians should have 10 to 12 girls wrestling this year as the sport continues to grow.
