Sikeston wrestling team hopes to build on success

SIKESTON - The Sikeston Bulldog wrestling team may not have had a very glamorous dual record last year, but the season was considered a success nonetheless.

Despite a 4-6 dual record, the Bulldogs sent six wrestlers to the state tournament, the most in head coach Chris Hodgkiss' four years at the helm. They also performed well in tournaments throughout the season.

With only two seniors gone from last year, Hodgkiss thinks this could be his best Bulldog wrestling team yet.

"We've been working on building the program for a few years," said Hodgkiss. "Hopefully this year we're going to build on what we did last year. We had a pretty successful program last year when it came to doing well in tournaments and doing well in the postseason. But this year, we're going to focus on being more of a complete team. And when I say that, I mean we're going to focus on being a good dual meet team and a good tournament team."

Two-time state qualifier Adam Miller graduated, leaving a void at the 119 weight class.

But five state qualifiers return, along with five wrestlers that competed on the varsity level last season.

"Numbers wise, we didn't lose a lot from last year -- we lost Adam who was a big contributor for us," said Hodgkiss. "It's a good thing to have those five guys returning, but outside of those five we have a lot of other experience coming back. Guys that have been three year varsity starters. They're looking to step up and improve on the season that they had last year."

Headlining the returners is junior heavyweight Joe Johnson, who finished fifth in the state in Class 2 last year, the first Sikeston wrestler to place at state since Kenny Hodgkiss in 1996.

Other state qualifiers returning are Kyle Weeks (135), Lance Berry (160), Scotty Keenan (171) and Andy Croxford (215).

Others returners from last year are Cody Ryan (125), Shawn Cooper (130), Cody Weeks (140), Tony Reynolds (145) and Malcolm Williams (189).

With such a solid core returning, Hodgkiss has set the team goals high this season.

"There's three things we're going to focus on," he said. "We're going to look to do well at both dual meets and tournaments. The second thing is we're going to send as many guys to state as possible. We want to send more than what we did last year. We've got kids stepping up to do that. The last thing that we want to do is finish high in the state as a team. We've had success taking kids up there. Last year we had our first state placer since '96. Joe doing that last year was a big step for us. This year we're looking to get multiple placers and really finish high in the state tournament."

Sikeston hasn't placed in the top 20 in the state since 1994 when Jerry Winberry, Nathan Askew and Kenny Hodgkiss all placed for the Bulldogs.

Along with the experience the Bulldogs already return, Hodgkiss said that the numbers are up throughout the wrestling program.

"We're excited about those new guys that are going to be in our lineup as well," said Hodgkiss. "One good thing about having a lot of guys in the room, it pushes even the guys that have been in there for a while. We're going to have guys that have wrestled jayvee the last couple years that will step up and wrestle varsity this year.

"It's just good having a practice room full of kids looking go make each other better, whether it's varsity or jayvee. Our jayvee is going to be better than what it has been because we've got a lot of kids competing for the spots."