By DAVID WOOD, for The Democrat
With just two weeks before sectionals, the varsity wrestling team looked to defend their home turf and hone their skills at the Brown County Invitational.
At the Jan. 5 tournament, six competing schools rotated against each other in five, back-to-back matches.
“Historically, we haven’t wrestled well at our home meet for whatever reason. Last year and the year before we didn’t wrestle our best … but this year, I think the guys wrestled well, so I was very pleased,” said Head Coach Josh Sparks.
The Eagles climbed went 26-25 during individual matchups. Overall, they went 2-3.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]“This team is probably wrestling the best since I’ve been coaching here,” Sparks said.
“I think we finished off 9-11 overall this year, which is a lot better than I thought we’d be at. Today was probably one of the best days for the team. … All in all they’re all wrestling better later into the season.”
Notably, senior Bryce Denton (132 pounds) and junior David Tucker (126 pounds) both went 5-0, sweeping their respective weight classes.
In addition, senior Branden Leslie (113 pounds) went 4-1, cementing Brown County’s lower weight class dominance.
“Denton definitely wrestled more dominantly and I think if he continues to do that, he’s going to go a lot further than he has in years past. … Leslie also finished off 4-1 which was a good day for him,” Sparks said.
With only a handful of practices left, all eyes are now on the swiftly approaching state tournament.
Sparks hopes to see more and more of his athletes breaking past sectionals and into regionals.
“I’d like to think we have five or six guys who could make it to regionals. I don’t necessarily know where they’ll place, but I’d like to think we’d have more guys in this year. Last year we sent three and this year I think we can send four or five,” he said.
Denton’s philosophy on making it is that you can’t be satisfied. Despite having what he felt was one of his better tournaments, he still believes in starting every match 0-0.
“Coach Mullins let us in on how the Colts have been playing this season. They started off 1-5, but decided they have to go 1-0 every game,” Denton said.
“If we win, then next game we’re 0-0. If we lose, then we’re still 0-0 the next game. … It’s like a fresh start no matter what happens.”
Fellow teammate Tucker is carrying a similar state of mind into sectionals. He hopes to improve upon his two previous semistate appearances by finally punching his ticket to this year’s state championship.
While he’s had a dominating 24-1 regular season run, there’s still room for improvement.
“It feels pretty good, but there’s still some stuff I need to work on. I just need to keep working and improving for the state series,” he said.
“I know I can always do better. I don’t like to settle, and if I do, it will hurt me later on. My thought process is to go into every meet and every tournament with a clean mindset. I’m going to be driven and keep going.”
