HUNTSVILLE —
The Hornet wrestlers enter the District 20-5A meet today with a high level of experience compared to this time last season.
Huntsville wrestlers have more than 20 matches under their belts, whereas they only had eight a year ago.
That experience, the Hornets believe, is what allows them to have a little more confidence than expected as they travel to Conroe today for a meet that begins at 9:30 a.m.
Huntsville will compete against the schools from Conroe, Humble, Klein and Willis.
“All of our kids are going up to the next level a lot easier this year,” Hornets senior Jeron Tarpley said. “We’ll probably have three or four people go to regionals and last year we only had one.”
Huntsville head coach Dean Schaub expects Tarpley to be one of his top male performers, wrestling in the 138-pound weight class.
Tarpley and Nathan Dombush (145-pound division) earned silver medals in the varsity boys competition at last Saturday’s meet hosted by Sam Houston High School in Houston. Huntsville finished second in the varsity boys competition, while the Lady Hornets took third in the varsity girls division and Huntsville’s junior varsity boys came home as meet champions.
For the girls, upperclassmen Jimmie Brummett and Michelle Wyatt are expected to have a strong district showing, as well as freshman Marissa Dixon.
Brummett won a gold medal in the 95-pound division last Saturday, while Dixon won a silver medal in the 138-pound division.
“I think it’s pretty fun,” Dixon said. “I’ve learned so much. My weight class has so many district champs and state qualifiers. I’ve been wrestling up, so it’s so much harder.”
Even though Wyatt is a senior, she is in her first year of competitive wrestling but sees herself performing better than she expected.
“I’d just really like to try to make it to regionals,” Wyatt said. “I’ve learned a lot but I feel like if I would’ve started earlier, I probably would’ve been a whole lot better.”
Schaub continues to praise his athletes for coming so far since being a such a raw group in November.
“They’ve improved more than 100 percent since November,” Schaub said. “For our seniors, I tell them to give it what they’ve got. Don’t hold anything back. And I told our younger kids that are coming back next year that they will be twice the wrestlers they are now. We’re going to get some good experience. So I really just want to go in there and gets some experience at this tournament.”
The varsity meet is held today, while the junior varsity meet will take place on Saturday.
Sports
Related Photos
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Huntsville senior David Harris gets a short workout in with freshman Jordan Johnson during wrestling practice Thursday afternoon. The Hornets are heading to the District 20-5A wrestling meet today and Saturday. The Huntsville girls and boys will be grappling with wrestlers from schools like The Woodlands, College Park, Klein, Klein Forest and Kingwood Park starting this morning at 9:30 at Conroe High School. Tom Waddill
Discussion
Hornet wrestlers ready for district
Grapplers optimistic about advancing to regionals
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