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WRESTLING PREVIEW: Webb City returns seven wrestlers for new head coach

By:
Brock Sisney

The Webb City Cardinals have seven wrestlers returning from last season for their new head coach Jamie Williams, a Seneca graduate and former Webb City and Seneca assistant.

The returners are seniors Dominic Boles, Aidan Moore, Aidan Rose and Liam Taylor, juniors Colt Taylor and Cooper Heilbrun, and sophomore Trenton Ogle.

Brantley Carter, Javon White, and Buddy Belcher are the wrestlers who graduated from the Cardinals’ starting lineup.

“This team is extremely excited,” Williams said. “They all have been putting in hard work over the summer and preseason. There seems to be a buzz with the kids, and they all seemed really fired up for the upcoming season.

“Our expectations for this year is each kid will see where they are at in their personal performance and build on it each day. Each day we get a little bit better than we were the day before. When we do this, our goals will be able to be accomplished.”

None of Webb City’s 10 varsity wrestlers qualified for state last season and the Cardinals placed 10th overall in the Central Ozark Conference tournament with none of their wrestlers finishing with a medal.

“The biggest strength that our kids have is the desire to work,” Williams said. “Each day they show up willing to work and push themselves. There’s also some great leadership in the room with the upperclassmen, as well as some great underclassmen really stepping up.

“We need to clean up our technique and be able to execute the moves when we are tired. We need to be able to be very disciplined when we are working on our skill sets to build this mindset in our routine. We have the kids in the room that are wanting to work and eager to learn, and they are holding each other accountable in the room and outside of the room. This is going to be very critical for us being able to correct our technique and our mindset.”

Last season, Ogle finished 2-8 overall at 113 pounds, Colt Taylor 21-10 at 126, Moore 18-16 at 138, Boles 8-9 at 145, Carter 22-7 at 152, Heilbrun 12-18 at 160, Rose 5-24 at 170, Liam Taylor 14-17 at 182, White 13-9 at 195, and Belcher 10-5 at 220.

The Cardinals open their new season on Tuesday night at COC rival Joplin and their schedule has duals against Diamond and host Monett (Dec. 8), Carl Junction at home (Dec. 13), Frontenac at home (Dec. 15), Seneca at home (Jan. 3), Neosho and McDonald County at Neosho (Jan. 12), Marshfield on the road (Jan. 17), and Carthage at home (Jan. 24).

Their tournament slate begins Dec. 10 at Carl Junction and continues with Harrisonville (Dec. 16), Parkview (Dec. 29), Monett (Jan. 7), Rockwood Summit (Jan. 14), and Paola (Jan. 20).

Webb City hosts the conference tournament Jan. 28, and the Cardinals have district competition in mid-February.

“Being disciplined, keeping our goals in our view, showing up each day and be willing to work harder than anyone else, and make progress each day becoming a little better every chance we get,” Williams said of the keys to having a successful season.

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