By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
If you ran into Billy Buckley this past summer, chances are he’d talk about the upcoming football season and his wrestling team at Kickapoo High School.
He coaches both sports – as an assistant in football, as the head coach in wrestling – and, for years, he’s had success steering some football players to the wrestling team.
It’s also helped that the local youth wrestling scene has grown well in Springfield, and now look.
“We are anticipating one of our largest teams this year,” Buckley said. “Last year was the biggest we have had, we finished the season with 68 kids on the team and started with right at 80.”
And about that youth and middle school pipeline? Let’s just say Buckley is excited.
“We have a very large freshman class with a lot of experience and skill, and it will be fun to watch them grow as high school wrestlers and see how they fit into our lineup,” Buckley said.
Roster
Among that group of wrestlers are five returning starters in junior Beau Benton, senior Brian Hill, sophomore Jahan Huynh, senior Jacob Lomosi, and senior Paxton Wehner.
Hill is at 126 pounds this year, Huyhn at 132, Benton at 138, Wehner at 215 and Lomosi at 285.
“(Hill) had a very successful season last year for us, had some really big wins and was a match away from the state tournament last year,” Buckley said. “Brian is one of the hardest workers we have in our room and is very coachable. We will look for him to have another great season and make that the next step to the state tournament.”
Huyhn is now a sophomore.
“Jahan had a breakout freshman year, very successful. He is a highly skilled wrestler and also was a match away from the state tournament last year,” Buckley said. “He has put in the hours since last year to get himself where he wants to be toward the end of the season, wrestling at the state tournament.”
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Benton gained valuable experience last season and should apply those lessons this year.
“Beau was another kid for us last year that had a lot of big wins for us, wrestled up a weight class, because it was a weight that helped our team out,” Buckley said. “This year he will be able to maybe move down a weight class from last year. He is another young man that has his goal set for Columbia at the end of the year.”
Wehner is a multi-sport athlete, having spent this fall on the football field.
“He was a conference runner up last year for us, very strong and physical kid that has the potential to make a strong run for us this year,” Buckley said. “He has been dominating the football field, and we look for him to do the same on the mat for us this winter.”
Lomosi could be a nice anchor in the lineup.
“Jake also had a great season for us last year,” Buckley said. “He learned a lot as the season progressed and also has put in the work in the weight room to change his body and he will be much more physical this season because of that.”
Sleepers?
Kickapoo is up in the air at 106, 113, 120, 150, 157, 165 and 175. David Duer is at 144 pounds, and Jonathan Vargas could wrestle at 190 after moving in from Washington state.
“He comes to us with a strong background and has a lot of skill for a big guy,” Buckley said. “He has fit in well with us so far, and we look for him to hold one of our upper weight classes for us this season.”
This marks Buckley’s 21st season.
“Our goals are always to win the conference and qualify as many kids as we can for the state tournament,” Buckley said. “We try to build our season around peaking toward the end of the season and be at our best to give us the best shot for those two goals.”
Kickapoo Girls
The girls team is still a work in progress, Buckley said.
None are returning starters.
“We are looking to build on our numbers for our girls team this year,” Buckley said. “We are expecting around 10-12 girls this year. With many of our girls involved in other sports in the fall, we really don’t know how many we will have come out this year.”
