Sikeston has numerous wrestlers out for team but will be young

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs wrestling team looks to gain experience throughout the year as it will feature a lot of fresh faces.

The Bulldogs lost key wrestlers Gavin Bland and Robert Madison to graduation. Bland captured a conference championship and earned a fourth place medal in the state tournament last season. Madison, who was injury plagued in his senior season, was described by Sikeston wrestling coach Kent Gibbs as "very solid" when he was healthy.

Sikeston wrestler Jacob Murphy is taken down by fellow wrestler Marquise Williamson in a recent practice. Murphy, a sophomore, will be the team's most succesful returner this season. (Josh Mills, Staff)

Sikeston wrestler Jacob Murphy is taken down by fellow wrestler Marquise Williamson in a recent practice. Murphy, a sophomore, will be the team's most succesful returner this season. (Josh Mills, Staff)

Gibbs noted that this years roster is not loaded with an extraordinary amount of experience returners.

"Our numbers weren't real high last year," Gibbs said. "So when we look to key returners there will not be very many numbers wise."

Gibbs pointed to sophomore Jacob Murphy as the teams most successful and consistent returner.

"Our returner with the most consistent success last year is Jacob Murphy," he said. "He (Murphy) went to the state tournament last year and was one match away from winning a medal. He would have been Sikeston's first kid to place in the state tournament as a freshman. He is going to be in a bigger weight class this year and we are going to look to him to lead the way for us so to speak."

Gibbs said that fellow sophomore Dustin Wells could be the most improved wrestler from last year's squad.

"Dustin Wells has looked much improved this year from last," said Gibbs. "His quickness has really improved and really learned his takedowns."

Numbers will be the strength of the Bulldogs this year, as around 25 students are currently on Gibbs' roster.

Over 15 freshman have shown interest in becoming varsity Sikeston wrestlers, many of which have significant wrestling experience.

"We are excited about the freshman bunch," Gibbs said. "They have been wrestling a while and were almost all involved in the eight grade program."

Gibbs feels that his freshman class is experienced and contains a lot of up-and-coming talent for the years to come.

Blake Angle and Terrance Dorsey are both experienced kids, as well as Kent Robinson Dustin Ruby, Ben Walker and Clayton Driskill," Gibbs said. "Most of our freshman have some experience as well. We have about 15 freshman kids coming out, which is great. Some of those kids will be wrestling varsity and some junior varsity. We will mix and match that as we go and ease them into this level of competition."

Another aspect that Gibbs is excited about is the involvement of football players in the wrestling program.

"Another thing is we have a lot of football players coming out to wrestle for us," he said. "Juniors Jarian Wims and Josh Carlyle are both inexperienced but are out there to get a little tougher and to get more aggressive. We also have Sam Erwin back wrestling. He missed last season due to a football injury. We feel good about having those football players involved."

Gibbs feels that wrestling is among the most demanding of high school sports.

"I do think that cross country and wrestling are the two most physically demanding sports," he noted. "Someone may laugh at me for saying that, but its true. I say that because of the toll they take on you physically and mentally. Also the time in conditioning you have to put in to it."

Gibbs thinks that hard work in the wrestling room can lead not only to success on the mats but in athletes' other sports as well.

"I would like to see more football players and other athletes wrestle in the future because of the benefits to your other sports," he said. "For our football guys it really increases your toughness and level of aggression in competition. We will spend a lot of time this season in the weight room to work on strength in addition to the training we do for endurance. When you put all that together, it leads to success for our kids in their other sports as well as the wrestling mat."

Gibbs said that it is unclear at this point who will be wrestling at what weight class.

"With the 25 kids we have, we haven't really been able to look at what they weigh and where they will wrestle," he said. "We will be looking at that as we get closer to the season and go through our weight certification process. Where we have some kids at the same weight we will wrestle off and the winner will start varsity and the other junior varsity. But we will always look to put the right kid at the right weight and get everyone as much experience as possible."

Gibbs said that he is very pleased with his teams' hard work so far and hopes to help them achieve their collective goals.

"It's still early but I've been very pleased with our kids' work ethic and attitude," he said. "Our kids listen very well. We are really young so I hope we can get really competitive in the junior varsity type tournaments. We hope to get some kids real competitive and contend in some of these bigger tournaments. Ultimately, our goal is to get kids peaking at the end of the year and get them qualified for the state tournament."