Blair Oaks wrestling goes back to work

Defending state champions

WARDSVILLE, Mo. - The Blair Oaks wrestling team has been celebrating the first-ever state championship it captured back in February.

But now it's time to get back to work.

The Falcons took part in their first mat work since winning the Class 1 state title when they held their summer camp Tuesday through Thursday in their brand-new wrestling room.

So while one school year has just ended, work for the next one has begun in earnest.

"We like to have camp early on so they get back and wrestle a little bit," Blair Oaks coach Tim Karsten said. "They've had a little break since the end of the season and we want them to wrestle a little bit during the summer to keep their skills up.

"We're losing six seniors, and five of them were state qualifiers, so we've got a little rebuilding to do."

Getting experience for the underclassmen is always important, but especially after those departures.

"(The lineup isn't) set the way it usually is," Karsten said. "But I think we'll fill every spot, which is the important thing. The freshmen didn't get a lot of experience last year, and they're going to have to step up. There's a huge difference between putting sophomores out there compared to six seniors."

The camp was split into two sessions, one for those entering kindergarten through sixth grade and the other for those entering grades 7-12.

"We've had pretty good numbers, about 18-20 high-schoolers," Karsten said. "The little kids' session was a little sparse, but it's baseball season, so that's understandable. But we'd get six different kids every night.

"We've got the junior-high program in place, we've got the USA program. The young ones don't need to be wrestling year-round at that age. It's more for seeing some of the kids who've never done it before and seeing if they like it."

Each session was limited to an hour.

"Just a little bit of attention goes a long way during the summer," Karsten said. "A lot of it doesn't stick, but you still throw things up on the wall hoping they'll stick and they'll find something they like and can build on."

And sometimes, an hour is plenty.

"They just need a little mat time for them to say, "Man, I'm out of shape,'" Karsten said with a laugh.

Contact with the wrestlers will be more limited now that summer has arrived.

"It's pretty sporadic, they're all pretty busy with football," Karsten said. "But I always say success follows success, so I'm always rooting for the football team. Especially when they're in the weight room. Weightlifting helps all sports and it's great to see them in there working hard."