Bulldogs hope to ride hot streak into state meet

sports@standard-democrat.com

SIKESTON -- The Sikeston Bulldogs wrestling team wanted to enter the district tournament with their best wrestling still at hand.

Following the 15-team event, they may be putting their best foot forward by qualifying five wrestlers for the Class 3 state meet which begins today at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

"We had kids that were beating guys that had beaten them two or three times before," Sikeston wrestling coach Chris Lowe said about the district tournament. "We really wrestled lights out."

Now they will see if they can hang on to their late season surge.

Sophomore Garrett Middleton, seniors Clay Porter and Braydon Reynolds, freshman Josh Stinnett and junior Gage Barber all qualified for the state meet and have benefitted from a season full of injury setbacks and minor slumps that have spurred a passion for winning, according to Lowe.

"I'm a pretty intense guy and I want the kids to have success and I want them to have that desire," he said. "We're seeing some of that at the end of this year."

Both Porter and Stinnett are seeded second in their respective weight classes entering the state meet.

Porter, who was sidelined for nearly half the season due to a hyperextended left elbow, wrestles in the 170-pound weight division and finished with a 17-7 regular season record. He's qualified once before for the state meet when he was a sophomore two seasons ago.

Though he's sat out for the majority of the season Lowe figures Porter to have fresh legs, but there is one downside to watching matches from outside the mat.

"Clay should be pretty fresh, but on the backside of that, you have to worry about conditioning," said Lowe. "I think we're still a little banged up as a team, but I tell them everyday that we're dangerous because we have nothing to lose."

Stinnett has been a bright spot for the Bulldogs all season long. The freshman ended with a 31-11 record in the 195-pound division and finished third in districts.

"Josh has a lot of special qualities and he has a good feel for things on the mat," Lowe said. "It's going to take solid consistent wrestling for him to advance and sometimes you have to have a little luck. But, he never backs down from anybody and never feels like he's going to lose -- not in a cocky way -- but he knows he can wrestle with anybody."

Returning for his second time in as many years, Garrett Middleton finished the regular season with the best record of any Bulldog wrestler. The sophomore compiled a 35-10 record at the 113-pound mark and is seeded 15th amongst his weight class counterparts at state.

Though he had 45 matches under his belt, Middleton was hampered with nagging injuries throughout the year.

"He always wrestles hard," Lowe said about Middleton "He's beaten a lot of good wrestlers in Class 4 and a couple of his losses were injury defaults because he was hurting. The big picture was districts."

Braydon Reynolds, who wrestles in the 182-pound weight class, was seeded 12th in state following a 13-23 campaign. The senior began the season with the junior varsity but was moved up following an early season injury to Devin Cochran and made the most of his opportunity.

A strong finish in the district tournament from Reynolds, who is just in his second year of wrestling, landed him a spot at state.

"He's been lights out since the last two tournaments and have pinned some people that beat him pretty bad earlier in the year," Lowe said.

Gage Barber rounds out the five and is also seeded 12th in the 220-pound division. The junior ended the season with a 24-21 record and, like Reynolds, finished the year strong to earn his spot at state.

"He's done a great job," said Lowe. "He's beaten some people he wasn't supposed to beat also."

Though some are seeded higher than others, Lowe believes all of his wrestlers have a good shot to advance right from the start.

"All of our kids have some pretty good first draws," he said. "All of them are matches that we can battle and win. It's just a matter of doing it. Even if we slip up early, there's a good chance we can battle back into the medal rounds."

Sikeston will weigh in at 3 p.m. today and begin wrestling at 5 p.m.