Jackson’s Noah Gibson ready for only shot at state

Jackson senior Noah Gibson has spent much of his high school career as Liam Bryant’s understudy.

Through the years of Bryant reaching the state tournament, placing among the top four, and winning a Semoball award, Gibson was his practice partner.

“I owe pretty much everything I know to him and coach [Jerry] Garland teaching me last year,” Gibson said. I was his practice partner for his state run and it helped me a lot.”

This year was his time, his chance to continue the legacy of success among Jackson heavyweights. Much of the season was spent going to tournaments around Missouri and even taking on competitors from Illinois. Gibson said he found the varsity experience to be “very eye-opening.”

“You see a lot a lot more different teams throughout the state of Missouri,” Gibson said. "You see guys you've never seen before. You kind of just stand there and go, ‘Wow, how many guys are out there?’ Real animals, I guess you could say of dominating wrestlers.”

Gibson found the early season tournaments to be “a reality check was senior varsity wrestling is all about.” He said his favorite tournament was the Lee’s Summit Holiday Tournament, where he finished in 6th place and picked up four wins.

“I would say that was my favorite one so far,” Gibson said. “It was fun to travel five hours and see, you know, the Kansas City area and so you know, stay at the hotel and see how guys are.”

Gibson (23-9) looks back at the Lafayette Tournament as a time when wrestling through adversity gave him the confidence to make a postseason run. He sprained his ankle during a match but was able to continue and win the next match.

“I don't want to be that guy who quits or forfeits,” Gibson said. “Coach [Steve Wachter] told me if you don't want to wrestle, we shouldn't hurt this ankle as much as we should. The match happened so fast so I didn't have time to tell him before I was up and so I just went out. I wrestled very cautiously, I didn't take shots, but I stood my ground, I fought the entire time, and I won 3-1.

“If I can do it hurt and can come back from something and wrestle to the best of my ability, even though I’m hurt, I could do anything,” he said. “So I'm very highly motivated after that match and I'm very excited for when districts come.”

Jackson hosts the Class 4 District 1 Tournament as in a position to send a handful of wrestlers to the state tournament. The Indians have a trio of wrestlers in Tyler Beyatte (33-5), Griffin Horman (34-3), and Landon Vassalli (30-4) with at least 30 wins and many more with over 20 wins.

After going 42-6 last year Beyatte feels less pressure as a senior that this postseason is ‘my time”

“There's less pressure because it's my last year,” Beyatte said. “I feel like I can just go all in and not have to worry about anything else.”

Beyatte went through a physical transformation over the offseason through strenuous strength training and a steady diet of chicken and rice. He pushed his bench press personal best to 325lbs and can squat 550 pounds, which he is more proud of, and credits that exercise to being “more explosive.”

Horman has been one of the Indians' best wrestlers since his freshman year. He’s finished senior season with more wins than last year.

“I think I have more confidence in myself,” Horman said. “I think I'm better prepared this year and in my mind wise I'm in a better place and I'm in a better spot than I was last year.”

Normally teams are at an advantage of being the home team in events but in sports like track and wrestling, there is a certain beauty of going on the road.

“I feel like a lot of people would see it as an advantage,” Horman said. “I kind of think it's weird. I don't like it as much. I feel like part of the sport is traveling and going to different places but it'll be nice. It'll be nice to sleep in my bed and get prepared in my house and be able to do my normal nightly routines and stuff at home, keep my mind in the game and stay focused for each day.”

The Indians felt like a different team after losing a rare home duel meet against Ste. Genevieve.

“I think it changed our ego and that we know we can lose,” Beyatte said. “I think we're training harder after that.”

“We have to be as tough as we possibly can at all times,” Gibson said. “We can't let our guard down.”

The district tournament begins on Friday at 5 p.m. and continues through Saturday.