The Republic wrestling team won’t take an undefeated dual record into its home tournament Saturday — but they’re close.
The Tiger wrestlers have lost only one dual all season, to nationally recognized wrestling power Neosho earlier this week. The Tigers immediately rebounded with a win over Camdenton in their second meet of the night.
Coach Jerry Morton says the loss to Neosho helps him and his wrestlers get a gauge on their progress to this point in the season.
“Anytime you have a great team, you use them as a measuring stick — especially a team that’s consistently good, year after year,” Morton says. “We’ve been having a good season and that showed up even in the loss. Those were the most points we’ve scored against Neosho ever. To win three matches against them definitely shows we are trending upwards in the program.”
Although the Tigers beat Camdenton handily as a follow-up to their Neosho loss, Morton says the quick turnaround did pose some problems.
“We had some guys who didn’t quite recover from their tough Neosho matches,” Morton says. “Johnathon Beckett had wrestled a state placer to a tiebreaker overtime match. To lose that close one, then come back and wrestle Camdenton and end up losing that match — he was probably still thinking about that match previously.”
About halfway through the season, the Tigers have already put together an unprecedented string of successes. But Morton says it’s too early to say how this season will ultimately rank for Republic’s program.
“If you’re looking at the season in terms of dual victories and tournament placers, I’d have to say this is one of the best seasons we’ve ever had,” he says. “If you look at it in terms of where we’re going to end up in the state, that’s undecided still. It would be great to top six state qualifiers, but it’s going to take a lot of work to get there.”
The Tigers host the Republic Invitational Saturday. They’ll also honor the team’s seniors Saturday afternoon.
