Rayburn to take over Jackson youth wrestling program

JACKSON -- The future of Jackson wrestling soon will be in the hands of a relative youngster, but no one doubts 19-year-old Luke Rayburn will be ready to take over the reins.

"He's still developing his style," Jackson USA Wrestling club president Mark Guilliams said, "but we like his style. He's very good with the younger kids."

Not far removed from his wrestling days at Jackson High School, Rayburn is a freshman at Southeast Missouri State who will become the head coach for Jackson USA Wrestling next year. The position currently is occupied by Jeff Scott, who just completed his first year as a paid assistant to coach Steve Wachter with the Jackson High School varsity program. Scott also teaches American history in the district, and next year will have two sons in high school.

"Luke won 200 matches for us," Scott said. "He knows coach Wachter's system, and we've always worked real hard to make this a feeder program for the high school."

Jackson USA Wrestling, formed in the mid-1990s, has fed the high school with some good ones over the years. During Scott's seven seasons, the club has sent several state qualifiers to the Indians program.

The club provides the bridge between the Optimist club's youth program for beginners and the junior high and high school programs. It has divisions for wrestlers 8-and-under, 10-and-under, 12-and-under and 14-and-under with competition in AAU and USA wrestling.

Rayburn, who began wrestling with the Optimist program at the age of 5, wrestled five years in the Jackson USA club before his four-year varsity career.

"It helped me a lot," he said. "Of course, Optimists helps you with the fundamentals, but when you get to the AAU program, they start teaching you more advanced moves like the high school does, and it gets you used to the high school system of wrestling while you're in second, third and fourth grades. The fundamentals are there so when you go into high school, you're just tweaking things."

Guilliams knows the demands of the five-month season require a large commitment by the young athletes and their parents. During a media day Monday in advance of the March 29 and 30 state tournament in Columbia, which will include 17 wrestlers from the club, Guilliams called it the toughest youth sport.

"When we practice, there is no playing around," said Guilliams, who said as many as 25 different people can lend their hand to the coaching. "It takes a lot of dedication, but from a group of about 70 kids, we had two or three this year [who didn[']t finish the season]. These are quality kids, and they stick with it.

"We respect everyone who walks in the door, whether they're a beginner or they've been wrestling for years. We spend as much time as we can with every one of them."

With that philosophy, and the emphasis Guilliams and others place on attracting younger children to the sport, the club grew from 52 wrestlers last year to the 70 range this year. And of the 17 who will wrestle at the state tournament in Columbia, 11 were in either the 8-and-under or 10-and-under age divisions.

The club hopes to grow into triple digits in the near future.

"I think it's going to make our job a lot more fun," Rayburn said. "It can only help our high school program. Our goal is to get those guys ready for high school and beyond that."

Rayburn's link to Jackson's high school program goes beyond just being a wrestler for Wachter.

"He is my uncle, and I grew up watching him coach," Rayburn said. "I always wanted to be like my Uncle Steve. Growing up, our team always was real competitive in the state and won the Tiger Classic every year, and I always wanted to be that guy who brought home trophies for the school."

He is studying at Southeast to be a teacher and coach. He believes his youth will help him in the next few years.

"I just got done with wrestling a year ago, so I'm still pretty fresh with what's going on and pretty current with new techniques," he said. "I have a passion for coaching."

Scott has enjoyed his time coaching the young wrestlers with whom he has eventually worked at the high school level. His own son Jeremiah, an eighth-grader, will wrestle next weekend at the state meet for the second straight year after finishing fourth last year. Another son Josh is a sophomore who wrestled varsity for the Indians this season.

"There have been a lot of good memories," he said. "I guess a couple of the highlights would be Cody Rouse and Kamden Rampley when they both had undefeated state championship years [for Jackson High School], watching Justin Miller and Jamie Schumacher from the time they were in fifth grade go almost year-round until they finished their career this year [at the high school state tournament].

"Jackson has about as knowledgeable of a fan base as anyplace in this area, and this is a great coaching staff. A lot of camaraderie."