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For Kansas City area high school wrestling, it doesn't get much bigger than this.
It's Jan. 8 and Oak Park, Missouri's big-class defending team champion, is competing in a dual in front of 1,000 fans who have crammed into the Iowa City West gymnasium. The night's spotlight shines on Oak Park junior Zack Bailey and opponent Mitch Mueller, a senior, in a 135-pound matchup of two of the top wrestlers in the nation. Some of the drama revolved around Mueller's recent decision to go to Iowa State despite being within a mile of the Iowa campus. Also at stake was the No. 1 ranking in the country in their weight class.
Bailey won a hard-fought 3-2 decision, but he seemed low-key about the entire experience. If anything, he was more worked up about the fact he and his teammates won eight of the 14 matches against one of Iowa's top teams.
“I think anyone else on our team could have done just as well if put in that situation,” Bailey said. “Our team is pretty solid, and everybody stepped up.''
Led by Bailey, Oak Park has three nationally ranked wrestlers. The team is rated the 25th-best team in the country by Wrestling International Newsmagazine and 32nd by Amateur Wrestling News.
Led by Oak Park, the Kansas City area is getting quite a bit of publicity and recognition as well.
There are 15 KC-area wrestlers who have been nationally ranked by various recruiting publications this season. The top individual, Bailey, is No. 1 at 135 pounds. His Oak Park teammate, sophomore Scott O'Donnell (112); senior Louis Caputo of Blue Springs (189); and junior Nick Shumate of Blue Valley Northwest (103) also are in the top 10 on several lists.
“Kansas City has some dynamite kids. I have been real impressed with the progress they have made,” said Dan Fickel, who has been doing Wrestling USA's prep and college rankings for 20 years. “Oak Park is an outstanding up-and-coming program nationally. Bailey could probably be one of the highest-recruited kids in the country next year.”
Several area coaches agree that these rankings bring long-deserved national attention, but they also won't take them too seriously.
“It's a credit to the coaches here,'' Park Hill coach Bill Erneste said. “The reason we're getting ranked is because we're traveling a lot more. Rankings are nice to look at. But as a coach you use it as a motivator more than anything else. If you live your life by them, you will be disappointed.”
Bailey's sudden rise to the top shows just how recruiters can easily overlook a major talent.
After moving from St. Joseph to join Oak Park's program as a freshman, Bailey won back-to-back Missouri Class 3 state titles. But the lack of summer exposure was the primary reason Bailey was still an unknown nationally.
As a first-time competitor at the Junior Freestyle Nationals in July at Fargo, N.D., Bailey won the 130-pound title against Indiana-bound senior Angel Escobedo of Griffin, Ind.
“He's improved a lot from last year, but wrestling during the summer was important,” Oak Park sophomore Jacob Nay said. “We think him being No. 1 is a real big thing. It feels like it's everybody's ranking, because we helped him.”
Oak Park has caught the eye of some national polls over other Kansas City teams because of its tough schedule.
The Northmen traveled to Iowa, Oklahoma and Illinois to wrestle nationally ranked opponents this year. They suffered their only dual defeat to El Reno, Okla., a top-10 team.
Caputo, The Star's All-Metro wrestler of the year last season, is a little envious of Oak Park's road trips but said he wouldn't want Blue Springs to get distracted at all during the season.
“You can only wrestle the same people for so long. I would have liked to travel more, but I can understand the reasoning why we didn't,” said Caputo, who has competed internationally during the summer. “Traveling out of state is great, but your ultimate goal is to win a state title.”
Caputo is undefeated at 26-0, and his only win against a nationally ranked wrestler was a 6-4 overtime decision against his summer teammate Taylor Moore of Oak Grove in the final of the 189-pound class of the Raytown South Christmas tournament.
When it comes to national rankings, Moore is an example of a wrestler who has been ranked solely on his performances during the summer. He didn't wrestle at all for Oak Grove last seasonafter transferring with his twin brother from Rockhurst.
Moore has never placed at state, but he was ranked higher than two-time state champion Caputo at 189 pounds in one publication entering this season. He dominated the summer circuit two years ago, when he became the first Cadet (16-and-under) wrestler to win the triple crown of folkstyle, Greco-Roman and freestyle national titles at 189 pounds.
Oak Grove coach Bob Glasgow hopes that success and the ranking finally carry over to the high school season.
“I still think rankings are great, especially around recruiting time,” he said.
“There's is some added pressure to perform when you do well during the summer and get ranked. But it's something that comes with the territory.”
To reach Marcus Fuller, high school reporter for The Star, call (816) 234-4363 or send e-mail to mfuller@kcstar.com.
Kansas City's top-ranked wrestlers
Wt. Rec. WUSA WIN AWN
Zack Bailey, Oak Park, jr.
135 29-0 1 2 1
Louis Caputo, Blue Springs, sr.
189 27-0 8 8 7
Shane Nay, Oak Park, jr.
130 28-0 3 20 NR
Scott O'Donnell, Oak Park, soph.
112 30-0 4 7 NR
Nick Shumate, BV Northwest, jr.
103 18-2 9 3 7
WUSA (Wrestling USA), WIN (Wrestling International Newsmagazine), AWN (Amateur Wrestling News)
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