Will,

Last year was quite an up year for 5A and 6A last season, mostly 6A. The large class had studs on that team including Beard, Caldwell, Detmer, and Maple, who are all wrestling at the D1 level. Not to mention all of the D2 guys with Cox, Means, Fulbright, and Crank. Beard was the only one who lost , and that was from a funk move by Kriss of Colby (4A) who is currently wrestling at Indiana that pinned Beard. Napier and Maple was a barnburner with Maple coming out on top. Bortz of Pratt (4A) got a fall and he's at Oklahoma State. Kyler of Ellsworth (321A) got a fall and is now starting at FHSU.

Look at the results from the past years. The small schools have competed better and did win 2 of the 5 duals. Even the 321A wrestlers made major contributions in those wins. In 2007 six of the ten wins were by 321A wrestlers and in 2006 five of the eleven victories were by 321A kids. That's not that far of a jump back in time. Many of the wrestlers who will be in the dual this season will have practiced with the members of the '07 team as they were freshmen then. Even in a loss in 2005 the 321A wrestlers held the banner for the small school team winning 5 of the 8 matches won.

While the 321A classification has not seen the elite wrestlers that were their 10-15 years ago the wrestlers are still competing well against the best of the best from the large classes. Here's a list of those premier wrestlers from the 1990s and early to mid 2000s.

Clint Freeman of Ellsworth went to Missouri
Kelly and Billy Gable of St. Francis went to Oklahoma State
Travis Baker of Hoxie went to Nebraska
Nathan Lawrenz of Herington went to Northern Iowa
Chris Prusel of Effingham went to Iowa State
Michael Sprigg of Norton went to Army
Alex Thomas of Norton went to Nebraska

321A has been home to many heavy weights who would have had stellar careers at the division 1 level, but they all choose football instead. Jeff Boyle of Norton went to Wyoming and later played for the Cincinnati Bengals, he was a member of the Dapper Dan National Team. Steven Foster of Sedgwick plays football for Kansas, as does Duane Zlantnik of Rossville.

[Linked Image from media1.tenor.com]