By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)
There is a buzz on the mat at Hollister, where freshman Bryson Whitman will make his long-awaited varsity debut this season.
Since moving to Hollister from Colorado two years ago, Whitman captured Big Eight Conference Tournament championships at the junior high level the past two winters.
He will compete at 132 pounds as a freshman.
“(Whitman) will bring experience and talent,” first-year Tigers head coach Nate Nicholson said. “Bryson’s expectations this year will be for him to step right in as a leader in the wrestling room and on the mat. Even with him being a freshman, he has more experience than most of the wrestlers we have on the team. I expect him to have success and to make a good run in Districts and State.”
Nicholson also thinks seniors Grant Jones and Devon Girard can be contenders for a State berth.
Jones was 15-9 at 126 pounds and Girard 25-16 at 152 last season.
“Grant has been very dedicated to improving his wrestling skills this offseason with camps and tournaments,” Nicholson said. “Devon is a three-sport athlete who is very competitive and has shown dramatic improvements in his short wrestling career. Both are seniors and will likely be our team captains this season.”
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Trenton Sanders returns after being 14-14 at 120 last season, as does Fage Moore, who was 14-23 at 170.
Dakota Parker, Carter Southern, Dylan O’Rourke and Kennan Loman also are back.
“My expectations for my returnees is that they continue to show me their willingness to want to improve and to be coachable,” Nicholson said. “With the group of athletes I have, most of them are fairly new to wrestling, but give me everything they have when they step out on the mat.”
Nicholson, who had been at Hollister four years as an assistant, is looking forward to seeing development from his wrestlers on and off the mat.
“We hope to have a healthy well-rounded season with individual success that helps us as a team,” he said. “The attitudes and work ethic that I expect are that they show me their dedication, not only to improving themselves in the sport but also in the classroom as a complete student-athlete. Being disciplined and showing that you are reliable are very important to creating a successful team.”
