#5: Pick Six

2012 was a record year for the Republic wrestling team, but that was just the start. After qualifying five wrestlers for the state tournament two seasons ago, they broke the record by sending six to Columbia in 2013. You voted their team success the #5 Republic Tiger Sports story of the year.

Coach Jerry Morton said at the start of the season, he wouldn’t have predicted that level of success for the team, but they saw a lot of improvement as the season wore on.

“It’s kind of a happy surprise,” says Morton. “Once we saw the (district) brackets and how things were working out for us, our upper expectation was six or seven. But if you’d have asked us at the beginning of the season, we were shooting for five, so it’s a pleasant surprise to have six going.”

The six qualifiers were Kerik Crouse (42-4), Cody Sandridge (40-6), Kyle Campbell (39-6), Tanner Willis (36-15), Justin Rogers (26-15), and Brandon O’Connell (25-14). Sandridge’s performance was the bright spot for the Tigers in Columbia, as he earned his second state medal in two years.

For the rest of the Tigers, a rocky start proved too much to overcome. Only Campbell won his first-round match, and five Republic wrestlers eventually were eliminated before the medal rounds. But the growing success of the program, and their record-setting performance, earned your vote as the fifth-biggest story of the year at Republic Tiger Sports.