The Tigers have six wrestlers at the state tournament in Columbia this week, tying their all-time record. Here’s a look at how they each qualified as their quest for a championship begins.
Heavyweight Shayne Piles is the long district champion from Republic. He defeated Zeke Wall of Carl Junction for the championship, but has his eyes on the top of another medal stand.
“To get to state again, that was a goal this year. Now I just have to take it to the next step and achieve the ultimate goal that’s been my drive this year: getting number-one on top of the podium at state,” Piles says. “I’m stoked to get there…and have a better showing than I did last year.”
Piles says he’s looking forward to having his teammates along for the ride.
“I’m excited to have five other guys going with me–really proud. It’s going to be fun to have other guys to cheer on. It’s just going to be a good time.”
Michael Taylor heads to state for the first time, qualifying as a freshman in the 106-pound weight class. He’s been looking ahead to this weekend from the start of the year.
“That was my main goal, to get to go to state and hang out with all the seniors that helped me get there and pushed me to the limit,” Taylor says. “We might sometimes look small or have some smaller dudes at higher weights, but we all work on our technique and we punch through in our wrestling room to get better and be the best.”
Johnathan Beckett had missed qualifying for state by a single point in his previous two seasons. He faced Corben Pugh, who had beaten him two weeks ago in overtime, in the qualifying match this year. But Beckett says his preparation leading up to districts kept him calm as overtime unfolded.
” told me how to beat this kid, then step for step I just stayed calm in my mind and hit what he told me to hit, and how to hit it. It was all there like he said it would be,” Beckett says.
Brandon O’Connell is headed back to state for a third time. He got there by beating Tyler Pace of Union in a “bubble match” that could have ended his season.
“I hate bubble matches. Even if you’ve wrestled a kid before, and you’ve beaten them before… it’s still nerve-wracking, because this is make-it-or-break-it,” O’Connell says. “I just kept telling myself, ‘Just have fun, because that’s why you do the sport is to have some fun.'”
Hunter Pyle advanced to state with a win over Deryl Vannostrand of Marshfield. He says in the moments leading up to his win-or-go-home qualifying match, coach Brade Swope helped him deal with the pressure.
“He came up to me, he looked me in the eyes and smiled at me and (said) ‘Just smile. It’s a fun match.’ I don’t think I could be here without that,” Pyle says.
Pyle credits Republic’s senior class for its leadership in the wrestling program.
“They’re all great guys. I’ve only been with them for two years, because I’m a sophomore, but there’s not a single one of them I don’t enjoy being around,” Pyle says.
At 195, Zach Dickens may have had the most dramatic win of the entire district tournament in his qualifying match. Dickens trailed Zachary Plummer 3-0 with about 30 seconds remaining, but came from behind to win as time expired, earning a place in the state tournament.
“Wrestling a tournament, you wrestle a lot of matches, and throughout the day you get really tired. I’m not going to lie. Those last 30 seconds, I was like, ‘Man, I’ve got to pull something out of my rear end,’ and I did,” Dickens says. “I knew I could get in and get a shot. I think he was only up 3-0 at the time. I could have at least tied it up and gone to overtime. I didn’t expect to pin him.”
Class 3 wrestling begins at 5 p.m. Thursday.