WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Falcons entered the Missouri Duals last season for a reason.
"The reason why we got in this was to see great competition," Blair Oaks coach Mike DeMilia said. "Some of the teams in there are probably a little bit over our heads. But at the end of the day, we want to show our kids what the best competition is."
Blair Oaks finished 0-6 last year in the Missouri Duals at Helias, but the Falcons learned a lot from that experience and hope to get that first win in today's event.
"We get an opportunity to put our hands on some of those guys and feel what they're like, and understand what we have to work toward," DeMilia said.
Blair Oaks was short-handed to start the season Tuesday, winning a dual against Buffalo and falling to Jefferson City. The Falcons had seven football players transition to the wrestling mat earlier this week.
"We have the potential to be a pretty solid team," DeMilia said. " Right now, it's not quite where we want it, but it has the potential to be a good one."
The Falcons will have four returning state qualifiers in seniors Eli Batiste, Levi Haney and Devonte Sanders, and junior Camden Meeks.
Haney finished fourth at 160 pounds in Class 2 last season, but he will miss today's duals after helping the Falcons to a football state title. DeMilia expects Haney will bump up to 170 this season.
"We've got a good, solid senior class that's going to lead us," DeMilia said.
Batiste will wrestle at 160 this season for the Falcons.
"He had an injury at the end of the year last year that I thought kept him from placing at state," DeMilia said. "The last third of the year, he just wasn't himself. Hopefully we can keep him healthy."
Sanders will bump up from 195 last year to 220 this season after making his first state tournament appearance.
"We hope he can take that experience and improve on that," DeMilia said.
Meeks will move up four weight classes to 182.
"He was at 145 last year," DeMilia said. "He has grown, but he cut a lot to get to 145. He's every bit of 178 pounds right now."
Freshmen Easton DeMilia and Whit Nichols have filled 106 and 113 for the Falcons, while junior Aidan Bolinger has wrestled at 120 and sophomore Quinten Denney has wrestled at 126.
Blair Oaks has 12 underclassmen on its wrestling roster.
"Those young guys, we have good numbers and a lot of them are very competitive," DeMilia said. "I like what we have in those younger classes."
A lot could change in the next month at various weight classes, but sophomore Luke LePage, junior Austin Baumhoer and senior Nick Welch will wrestle in the middle classes.
Junior Joe Welch will also be in the lineup at 195.
"I think we're deeper than we've ever been," DeMilia said. "We're sending guys to JV tournaments that, in my first year, they would have been varsity guys. That's the sign of a building program."
Blair Oaks will begin the Missouri Duals at 11:30 a.m. against Lee's Summit West and then face Helias at 1 p.m., followed by three more matches in the championship round at 3:15 p.m.
"At the end of the day, I think every one of our guys will go out and compete against whoever we wrestle," DeMilia said.
After a quad-dual Monday at Fatima, Blair Oaks will finish 2020 with the Tri-County Conference Duals Tournament, which will be next Friday and Saturday at Eldon.
DeMilia said it will likely be a one-time event, as most conference schools had a big tournament canceled prior to Christmas due to COVID-19 concerns.
"We'll wrestle two duals on Friday night, and then we'll wrestle five duals on Saturday," he said. "Every team will wrestle every team in the conference.
"Our conference is getting so much better. Everybody is so much more competitive, there aren't any gimmes anymore."