WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Falcons will enter the Class 1 state wrestling tournament that begins today as the defending champions, but they're harboring no illusions of winning back-to-back titles.
After graduating several key contributors from last year and advancing just five wrestlers to state this time around, the numbers simply won't be there for a championship bid.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing.
"That's probably better for this group of guys," Blair Oaks coach Tim Karsten said. "They can focus on themselves. When that usually happens, they do better anyway. You take the team pressure off their and let them all do their best, and I'll be happy."
After also capturing team trophies for top-four finishes in 2011 and 2012, this could be one of those odd years in recent memory where the Falcons aren't competing for a trophy. But after a year riddled with injuries, it's not an unexpected development.
"If we get get up there (to state) and stay healty, we'll have some points," Karsten said. "But I don't know if it will be top 20 or top 10. Top 10 would be wrestling at our best, but top 20 is more reasonable where we'll be."
The Falcons were hoping to have more state qualifiers, but the district tournament didn't hold any surprises.
"I was fairly pleased with how that went," Karsten said. "Realistically looking at it, we had five guys that were seeded and five guys that went on to state. I knew the last couple weeks we were looking at four or five guys who were right on the edge (for advancing). I wish we would have found a surprise somewhere, but we didn't."
It was a crazy regular season for Blair Oaks.
"With a lot of our kids going through stuff, we never really had the whole lineup in place until districts, and we wrestled fairly well to finish fourth there," Karsten said. "The guys who didn't advance (to state) had to score points or we wouldn't have finished fourth."
The group that is going starts at 126 pounds, where sophomore London Gaydos (24-11) will take on Dakota Jones (40-4), a senior from Adrian.
"London has been battling injuries the last couple weeks and he made his way through to state, that was our goal," Karsten said. "He's got a tough match the first round and if he wins that, he's sitting pretty. If he loses it, I think he can come back in the wrestlebacks."
Gaydos finished sixth at 120 last year.
"Our goal is for everybody to still be wrestling at the end of the day Thursday so they can wrestle Friday. And if everybody is wrestling Friday, I'll be real happy," Karsten said. "London will have some tough matches toward the end to try to medal, but he's a medalist from last year, so he knows what he wants."
At 132, junior Frankie Falotico (51-1) will open against Derek Griffits (22-28), a junior from Lutheran: St. Charles. Falotico, who finished second at 126 last year, has already beaten almost all of the wrestlers on his side of the bracket.
"Frankie's a pretty phenomenal wrestler and he's got his goal set," Karsten said. "He will not take less than first place."
Senior Alex Gaydos (27-5) is next at 138, facing off with Jacob Brock (42-3), a senior from Lathrop.
"Alex keeps matches close, so if he can stay in it toward the end and beat that guy, then he's set for the semis," Karsten said. "If he loses, he'll have the same like London, where he'll have to battle his way back in there."
At 182, junior Tanner Lueckenhoff (31-21) starts with Taylor Boyce (13-4), a senior from Whitfield.
"He's wrestled Boyce before and it was an 8-4 match (for Boyce)," Karsten said. "So it's within Tanner's reach. He's going to have to make no mistakes and really get up on this guy early. When Tanner is in the groove, he can go."
Finally, at 285, Chance Cumpton (19-6) will face off with Stephen Clark (19-14), a freshman from New Madrid County Central.
"I like his first match, the next match will be a tough one - (Joseph) Goetz from Lafayette County is pretty good," Karsten said. "If Chance can keep it pretty close and do his takedown in the last 10 seconds like he's getting used to doing, that will be fantastic. That's what he's got to do - keep it close and then beat him at the end with his athleticism."
Cumpton and Lueckenhoff are first-time qualifiers, while this is old hat for the others.
"Going back is helpful," Karsten said. "And Alex, this will be his third time and his last chance to get a state medal. I like that scenario rather than a senior who's injured who's medaled before and might not quite have the drive. He's still hungry for it."
This time around, Karsten said the schools to watch in the team race include Seneca, Whitfield, Lawson, Marceline, Plattsburg. The Falcons got a good look at Seneca in districts last weekend.
"(Seneca) did really well in qualifying, then the medal rounds weren't quite as good," he said. "But when you go up there with almost a full team, 13 guys, the momentum can help you.
"Seneca and Whitfield both have three or four guys who will medal and then three or four more who can score them considerable points. It's definitely between those two."
Three other area schools will be taking part in the Class 1 event. Versailles has eight qualifiers, while Fatima and Tipton have three apiece.
The Versailles contingent starts at 106 with sophomore Konner Shewmaker (35-3) taking on Penney sophomore Jacob Roberts (32-15). Then at 113 it's freshman Kooper Wilson (34-11) taking on Principia sophomore Hunter Hummell (12-11), before Versailles senior Nathan Long (47-4) takes on Polo junior Wesley Crawford (18-13) at 120.
Tigers junior Dalton Schmidt (41-13) faces Gallatin sophomore Caleb Michael (42-11) at 145, and fellow Versailles junior Adam Guinn (39-12) battles Lone Jack freshman Trey Raysick (16-20) at 160.
At 170, it's sophomore Willie Schotte (43-5) against Holden junior Cole Chisler (28-17); at 182, it's junior Dylan Ballew (44-7) taking on New Madrid County Central sophomore Brian Mickle (19-14); and at 220, it's junior Rex Sheeley (34-17) meeting Polo senior Wiley Martin (47-2).
The pairings for Fatima include:
• 106 - Clayton Haslag, fr. (22-21) vs. Ty Jones, jr., Rockport (42-4).
• 132 - Cody Huhn, jr. (10-3) vs. Treyvon Williams, jr., Maplewood (29-11).
• 138 - Caleb Schroeder, jr. (32-5) vs. Solomon Rush, soph., Mid-Buchanan (25-16).
Those wrestling for Tipton are:
• 113 - Robert Gutierrez, soph. (35-7) vs. J.R. Ditter, fr., Whitfield (41-4).
• 195 - Ryan Bruce, sr. (39-5) vs. Kasey McFall, jr., South Harrison (41-3).
• 220 - Charles Walsh, sr. (40-2) vs. Josh Riggs, sr., Maysville (32-5).
Only one area school has qualifiers for the Class 2 state meet, as School of the Osage has five competitors. Those making it, and their first-round matchups, are:
• 113 - Hayden Carlson, soph. (17-13) vs. Jet Tryon, jr., Oak Grove (30-14).
• 132 - Chris Johnson, sr. (27-2) vs. Brock Mercer, jr., Oak Grove (34-14).
• 152 - Bradley Russell, sr. (38-7) vs. Caleb Shanks, soph., Cameron (31-6).
• 160 - Michael Henley, jr. (24-4) vs. Ryan Merenda, jr., Kirksville (30-11).
• 285 - Alex Weatherspoon, sr. (22-9) vs. James Gardner, soph., Richmond (21-12).