Thin in numbers, Trojans focusing more on traditionals
The Gordon Lee Mat Trojans qualified for the Class A State Duals last season and followed up with a third-place showing at the Area 3-A Traditional tournament later in the season.
But reaching both of those levels this season will prove to be a challenge.
Not only are the Trojans relatively young this season, numbers are also down in the Gordon Lee program overall. And while head coach Jason Mull believes his team will still be very solid when it comes to traditional events, having success in dual tournaments and matches may prove difficult.
“I’ve already talked to the guys about it,” he explained. “We’re not going to be a very strong dual team just from a numbers standpoint because we don’t have a lot of guys up top. I feel like, down low, we’re pretty solid. We have a lot of guys in those weight classes that are going to win a lot of matches and we can score some points at some traditional tournaments.
“But we’re going to be in a hole as far as duals and dual tournaments go. I don’t know if we’ll be able to correct that this year, but it’s just where we are right now. We’ll be using duals and dual tournaments strictly for mat time this year. For us to win duals this year, it’s going to take some forfeits by some other teams and we’re going to have to win a lot of the matches, but we should be pretty solid from 106 (pounds) up to about 145 or 152.”
The Trojans have just two seniors on the roster this year in Avery Geer and Owen Frost. Geer could wrestle anywhere from 132 to 145, while Frost will wrestle at either 170 or 182. Frost finished third in the area traditional tournament a year ago.
“They are two guys that have been with us for four years,” Mull added. “Avery is a guy that would have been a state qualifier for us last year, but suffered a late season knee injury and Owen is just a hard worker and we’ve come to expect that from him.”
Freshman Mckaden Martin will wrestle at 106 for the Trojans, while junior Hunter Burnette will likely start out at 113, but could drop a weight class prior to the area tournaments. Burnette should be a big point-scorer for Gordon Lee this season. He won an area title and was sectional runner-up last season before going on to finish as state runner-up at 106.
Sophomore Tomy Duke will wrestle at either 120 or 126. Duke was area runner-up and third at sectionals as a freshman and advanced to the state semifinals. Another freshman, Luke Taylor, is also expected to wrestle at 120. Sophomore Nathan Hundley could see time at 126 or 132, while another freshman, Penn Askew, will also compete around 126.
There are plenty of options in the middle weights. Freshman Alex Geesey, who is new to the Gordon Lee program and to wrestling in general, could compete at 132 or 138. Along with Geer, sophomore Logan Butler - third in area and fifth at sectionals last year - and freshman Montgomery Kephart could all fall anywhere from 132 to 145. Then at 152, the Trojans will have a pair of freshmen in Curtis Wells and Wyatt Mcdonald.
However, going into the start of the season, Frost is the only returning veteran in the heavier weights. Mull is also expecting sophomore Colin Mayes to see mat time at either 182 or 195, while Gordon Lee could be looking at a handful of forfeits in the other weight classes.
Rickey Murdock, the Gordon Lee Middle School coach, will once again be assisting the high school teams this season.
Because of the low numbers, Mull said one of the main keys to the season is keeping kids healthy.
“That’s going to be critical, that and getting our guys in the right spots,” he added. “We only have about 14 kids and the majority of them are in the lower weight classes, so where we do have kids, we have to make sure they’re in the right spots and we don’t have two good kids in the same weight class.”