Blair Oaks girls wrestling up in numbers

WARDSVILLE - The Blair Oaks Lady Falcons will have 10 girls wrestlers this season, doubling last year's roster size.

They'll begin the program's third season today in the Lone Jack Invitational, which will feature 22 teams.

"We have eight girls that have wrestling experience now, instead of just the four (from last year), so I'm excited," Blair Oaks coach Tim Karsten said.

Blair Oaks returns four wrestlers who competed in last year's postseason, with juniors Rylee Robinett and Alayna Roling and sophomores Halie Eaton and Skye Schubert.

Schubert wrestled at 127 pounds at districts, while Roling (122), Eaton (151) and Robinett (159) all advanced to the sectional tournament.

Robinett came up one win shy of becoming Blair Oaks' first state qualifier, taking fourth place at sectionals. She was a runner-up at districts, as was Roling, while Eaton took third place.

"Coming home with medals and everyone hearing about their success really spurred this on," Karsten said.

Also on the Lady Falcons' roster this season are seniors Nichole Birky and Mackenzie Sanford, junior Maddalen Prenger, sophomore Rylie Heckman and freshmen Brookelynn Meeks and Addy Winder.

"We're having competition at practice, we can get so much more accomplished when you have people in your same weight class," Karsten said. "They get it quicker when they have good competition, that has been excellent this year."

Blair Oaks is hosting a tournament Dec. 15 and will also compete in tournaments at Rolla, Battle, School of the Osage and Buffalo, as well as joining the boys team during the duals schedule.

"We are scheduled all over the state," Karsten said, "so we'll get to see everybody."

Karsten is looking forward to seeing how much the girls develop their skills on the mat this season.

"We have two freshmen coming in that I think a lot of people are going to be surprised with," he said. "And then our girls who have been in the program for two years, they just have to keep on stepping up."