Battle-tested Jackson wrestlers head to state

Jackson coach Steve Wachter has been involved with the Jackson Indians wrestling program for 33 years, but something about this year's team is unlike any other.

"We started out the year with a lot of potential, and we still do have it. But I guess what's made this team pretty special is we've had a lot of adversity throughout the whole year, and they've never backed off as far as their training and their attitude toward being positive and working for success," Wachter said.

The Indians finished second in Saturday's Class 4 District 1 tournament at Northwest High School in Cedar Hill, Missouri, but Jackson's journey has been accompanied by plenty of hurdles.

Broken hands, Boxer's fractures, knee injuries, concussions -- the Indians have seen it all this season.

Yet none of that stopped Jackson from sending seven wrestlers to the Class 4 state championships, which are slated to begin 5 p.m. today at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri.

"Sometimes you'll have adversity in a match where bad things happen, and you've got to fight through it. Sometimes that adversity can be through the season because you're going to have that in life itself," Wachter said. "It's just been outstanding, as resilient as some of them have been."

While some of the Indians' top grapplers have been able to bounce back from injuries sustained earlier in the season, others haven't been as fortunate. Jackson's Josh Stone, who qualified for the state meet a year ago, suffered a broken bone in his hand during the third-place match of the St. Charles West Tournament on Jan. 19.

Stone, a senior at 182, was never able to return to finish his final season.

"He's a senior, and he won't ever get that shot again," Wachter said. "It kind of shows the closeness of wrestling. ... Each sport's kind of unique to itself, but wrestling is a pretty tough sport. I say it's a tough sport for tough people, so wrestlers have a mutual respect. Given that respect, I think Josh hangs in there with the rest of his teammates because he knows how tough it is."

Wachter said he's never experienced this many Boxer's fractures in one season during his 21 years as Jackson's head coach.

"These injuries are really kind of weird. They're not about over-training or wear-and-tear injuries," Wachter said about the rash of hand injuries. "They're just freaky injuries that sometimes do happen."

The Indians finished the season undefeated in dual meets and claimed their third consecutive SEMO Conference tournament title Jan. 24 at the Sikeston Field House. Wachter said his team's success has been sustained by depth from younger athletes, including Riley Mansker at 106 and Isaac Baker at 113.

"[Mansker] really had an outstanding season," Wachter said. "As a matter of fact, I think he was ranked ninth in state, while Gus [Guillams] was fifth or sixth in state ahead of Riley, but Riley was able to step it up and was really good for us at 106. ... Isaac Baker backed up [Jarrett] Reisenbichler all year long, and he's placed high in tournaments all year long as a freshman."

Wachter said his team has been extremely resilient.

"Sometimes, like in the case of Josh Stone, he's had a great attitude toward the rest of the team even though he can't wrestle," Wachter said. "Most of them have fought back through their injuries, and they're finishing out the rest of the season, like Jarrett Reisenbichler, Gus Guilliams, Preston Hobeck, Carson McCord, Micah Collier. Those guys have fought back through those things and done really, really well."

Reisenbichler will be the No. 1 seed at 113 but could face two of the three wrestlers that finished ahead of him at last year's state tournament in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Reisenbichler broke his hand earlier in the season but brings a perfect 11-0 record into this year's tournament.

"He'll have a hard time, but Jarrett's very resilient," Wachter said. "There's no one that's going to give you a better effort than Jarrett Reisenbichler's going to give you. He's going to go after it as best he can.

"The tough part is wrestling those high-level kids with a broken hand. That's going to be the tough part of the whole thing that he's going to have to mentally work out and figure out how to get this done."

Hobeck (25-2), a senior heavyweight district champion, and McCord (34-2), a junior district champion at 170, will each represent the Indians as No. 1 seeds.

"It's going to be really tough," Wachter said. "I know a lot of people don't understand, unless you're a coach, but [Class 4] wrestling is unbelievable. ... It's just so loaded and so deep."

Second-seeded Jake Byrd (41-4, 126) and second-seeded Clayton Collier (25-3, 152) will also return to state for Jackson, while 15th-seeded Guillams (21-3, 106) and second-seeded Micah Collier (33-5, 138) will be making their first trip for the Indians.

"Most of them have made this journey before. ... They're pretty excited and anxious to go, and I think they're looking forward to it," Wachter said. "It's a major challenge to get in there and try to earn an all-state berth. I don't have to do too much motivating for most of them. They're pretty self-motivated to do the best they can."