Jackson's Dickerson battled back from injury to become one of 11 area wrestlers headed to state

Jackson coach Steve Wachter was exuberant after his team qualified eight wrestlers for the Missouri Wrestling Championships at last week's Class 4 District 1 meet.

Among the most unlikely qualifiers was 220-pound junior Bryce Dickerson.

It's not that Dickerson, who wrestled his freshman and sophomore seasons, was short on talent.

No, it's just that Wachter knew the uphill climb Dickerson faced after being carted off a football field in screaming agony less than five months earlier in Farmington, Missouri.

Dickerson suffered displaced fractures in both bones -- tibia and fibula -- in his lower right leg on Sept. 11. He had a rod inserted during surgery four days later.

Jackson's Micah Collier tries to take down Sikeston's Justus Faulkner in the 145-pound third-place match of the SEMO Conference Tournament on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2016 at Cape Central High School. Collier won the match.Fred Lynch

"After he got hurt, I was like, 'Boy, I don't know,'" Wachter said. "I mean, it was a dramatic injury."

Dickerson watched the remainder of the football season from the sideline, propped up by crutches.

His football season done, wrestling loomed on the horizon, and it was iffy at best -- if there were no complications and if he received medical clearance. The ifs, accompanied by hard work, have fallen into place for Dickerson. Thus far, 2016 has been kinder to Dickerson in the athletic arena than 2015.

He began practicing with the Indians around the first of the year, debuted in a match against Sikeston about two weeks later, and on Saturday he made the qualification for state in dramatic fashion. It took him four sudden-death overtime periods to secure his win against Fox junior Shane Wiegand, ultimately winning 3-2 and locking in a top-four district finish.

"We were really, really proud of him," Wachter said. "We talked about that as soon as we were going home that night. We were talking to him about how proud we were, and I said, 'I bet you didn't think this was going to happen to you.'"

Dickerson will be packing a 13-8 record for his first appearance at the state meet, which begins today and runs through Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia, Missouri.

"For him to recover from that injury is really unbelievable," Wachter said. "He's really worked hard through therapy to get himself back in there. That was a pretty devastating injury to break your leg and then to get back in wrestling. It kind of shows his courage and his mental toughness to getting back in there with us."

Wachter's team recently completed its fourth consecutive unbeaten season in dual meets, going 10-0 in extending its winning streak to 41 matches. The Indians also claimed their fourth consecutive Tigers Classic, doing it all with a squad that has had its share of injuries.

"We've had a lot of things we've had to overcome as a dual team," Wachter said. "We've had several concussions and we've had some other medical issues. We really haven't had our full lineup in any tournament or dual this year. We've never had all 14 of our best kids wrestling at any one time. We did have more healthier going into the district."

The Indians tied for second in the team standings at the district meet, with junior Gus Guilliams (120, 45-5) and senior Carson McCord (170, 38-4) winning district titles and securing No. 1 seeds at the state meet. Also advancing were senior Jake Byrd (126, 45-3), who will be making his fourth state appearance, junior Payne Guilliams (138, 28-4), and seniors Micah Collier (145, 31-8), Gabriel Dudley (160, 30-7) and Zach Norrick (195, 26-8).

Norrick had to deal with a concussion during the season. Payne Guiliams missed the beginning of the season due to a rib injury sustained during football, Micah Collier endured injuries, including a eye injury that caused him to default from the third-place match at district. Dudley missed his junior season after having knee surgery due to a football injury.

"Almost every one of my wrestlers has had something to overcome," Wachter said. "Almost every single one of them, whether it be this year or last year. That's why I'm most proud of them for overcoming adversity and being able to make it to the state championships."

Gus Guilliams, Byrd, Collier and McCord were part of a seven-wrestler contingent last year, and all four went 2-2 against the rugged Class 4 competition.

"There's no assurances just because you've been up there, 'Hey, now I'm going to go up there and get a medal,'" Wachter said. "But it does give you a little more confidence when you're up there and you're a little more familiar with things. I think it might give you a little bit of an edge over people that haven't been there before."

At the state meet, wrestlers will be competing in 16-man weight divisions, with the top six awarded all-state medals.

"Our goal each year is to try make the top 10 in the state [in team score] in Class 4," Wachter said. "That's a pretty realistic goal each year. This year, we thought that might be a really tough goal to reach, and it still might be when we get up there."

Gus Guilliams and McCord, who placed sixth at 170 as a sophomore, are positioned best to advance early in the tournament, with both facing No. 4 seeds from another district.

Guilliams would not encounter either of the top two-ranked ranked wrestlers in the state, senior Sidney Oliver (44-1) of Holt and junior Cameron Valdiviez (45-0) of Rockhurst, until the championship match of 120. Oliver is a defending state champion, having beaten then-Jackson-senior Jarrett Reisenbichler in the 113 semifinals last year.

Oliver also owns a victory over Guilliams this season.

McCord will have to contend with the likes of Park Hill senior Canten Marriott (49-1) and Jefferson City senior Logan Moriarity (42-3).

"It's hard to say which wrestler has the best edge because you just don't know the depth of some of those weight classes," Wachter said.

Other local wrestlers

Notre Dame will be represented by freshman Evan Dowdy (113, 20-23) and junior Bruce Ha (145, 27-9) in the Class 2 competition. Dowdy will open against Oak Grove senior Jet Tryon (40-3), while Ha will face junior Tanner Sparks (43-4) of Kirksville in the first round.

Cape Central has one qualifier in the Class 3 competition in 113-pound sophomore Brendan Wilkins (7-10). Wilkins will face freshman Trenton Legrotte (30-13) of Grain Valley in the first round.