By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)
One of the more optimistic high school coaches you’ll ever meet is Bud Donnell, who is about to enter his 21st year as a high school wrestling coach and his 11th at Glendale High School.
Over those years, the Falcons have had success, with individuals qualifying for state or setting some kind of program records. And Donnell is always quick to promote the success in the wrestling room.
That’s by design, of course, considering Glendale is known as a basketball school, and it’s difficult to recruit wrestlers for the team. Fortunately, Donnell has kept the numbers in the room up at an encouraging scale.
His latest tool?
“We added a TV in our wrestling room. It can connect to a laptop, so we will use it to review matches and watch collegiate wrestling,” Donnell said.
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Projected roster
Donnell anticipates about 50 wrestlers at the start of this season. That’s a healthy number for a city school. And among those 50 are nine returning starters, including a state qualifier.
Look for sophomore Bradley Hiteshaw at 106, freshman Ethan Kelly at 113, freshman Jamadra Williams at 120, senior Kenneth Hanafin at 126, and juniors Jason Eubanks, Jackson Williams and Jonathan Williams at 132, 138 and 144, respectively.
The rest of the weights could be filled by sophomore Madden Yarnton-Haik at 150, senior Collin Strand at 157, senior Tanner Fick at 160, junior Colby Cerenzia 175, senior Ben Davis at 190, senior Kahman Isaia at 215 and sophomore Hogan Waldowski at heavyweight.
Hiteshaw was the first Glendale freshman to qualify for state since 1976, giving him a chance to be the program’s second four-time state qualifier.
“He has his sights set on bringing home a state medal this season,” Donnell said, noting that Hiteshaw qualified for the Fargo National Tournament this summer and competed in several others.
Isaia won the Republic Tournament last season and medaled at the Truman Tournament.
“He has dedicated his offseason to strength training and is looking forward to a stellar senior year,” Donnell said.
Kelly was a youth state qualifier, and Fick was a medalist at the Kinloch Tournament.
Sleepers?
“Jackson Williams wrestled in tournaments during the offseason and has been attending the Terminator Wrestling Club practices during the offseason,” Donnell said. “He is looking for a breakout junior season.”
Kelly was a state qualifier in the youth club last winter and competed in offseason practices.
Davis is interesting, as he’ll be out to make up for lost time. He was injured last season.
“We have a good mix of underclassmen and upperclassmen,” Donnell said. “We feel like we will be very competitive. We are looking to accomplish our team goals.”
The team has its Falcon scrimmage on Nov. 29, and it should help that Donnell now has two interesting assistant coaches.
Michael Dalangin wrestled at Lebanon High School, and Deven Colbert wrestled at Glendale, where he was a two-time state qualifier – earning a fourth-place medal one season.
Girls Wrestling
Only two return. They are juniors Alexis Prine and Klariece Edwards. Prine could be at 110 pounds, while Edwards should compete at 100 pounds a year after winning the junior varsity conference title.
