Liberty grapplers reach for success

When Dom Duncan took over the Liberty High School wrestling program last year, he knew the Lancers’ biggest obstacle wasn’t wins and losses, but getting enough participants to fill the weight classes.

“Basically, anybody’s that not playing basketball I’ve grabbed and tried to talk into wrestling,” said the second-year head coach. “If they weren’t a basketball player at some point during the fall, they have heard me, probably multiple times, to turn out for wrestling.”

While spending much of last year filling just eight of the 14 weight classes, Duncan’s Lancers finished a school-record 12th place in the State A/B Tournament.

“There were a couple of surprises,” Duncan said. “I think I’d be lying if I said, ‘No, we weren’t surprised at all.’

“We sent two guys to the state tournament that had losing records. They got hot at the right time of the season.”

Now Liberty will try to one up that success as it starts a new wrestling season. The Lancers return four of those wrestlers who went to state last year: sophomore Brian Mumby at 130 pounds, junior Adam Thies at 135 pounds, 140-pound senior Andrew Smith and senior Zach Skaggs at 160 pounds. Thies, whose third-place finish is the highest amongst the returnees, is expected to be a chief contender for the state crown this season.

“He knows he was right there last year,” said Duncan. “It was one mistake between a state championship and not, so in the off-season he has trained with that in mind, with one goal and one vision – to be the state champion this year.

“He won’t accept anything less than that.”

The battle remains the same for the Lancers, though. While they have more wrestlers out this season, experience will be a major issue.

“We have a young team,” Duncan said. “We have 10 first-year wrestlers out of our 15-man team.”

The new kids on the block are also getting a taste of a challenging schedule as the Lancers build their way towards March.

“We wrestle tough tournaments,” said Duncan. “That’s the biggest thing.

“We try to find the toughest matches we can find. It doesn’t do them any good to be able to roll people all the time. They need to get into those close matches at Tri-State, the Clearwater Classic, and a couple of other tougher tournaments.”

For the returnees, they just hope the excitement built up for Liberty wrestling last year will carry over in fan support this season.

“Last year, I think we had the most (fans) I had ever seen at a wrestling match,” said Smith, who finished sixth at state last year. “The stands were pretty much full.

“It was pretty amazing, actually. It gets us more excited.”

The Lancers also know the best way to keep that support is another strong finish this season.

“I hope we place at least in the top five as a team at the A/B State Tournament because that would be great,” said Thies. “More guys to make it to state, and more guys to place at state.

“Last year we had the most people make it to state that I’ve ever known in Liberty history. It would be great if we kept that tradition going because more people would show up if they see we’re doing better.”

“They have a big board at state, and I’d kind of hope to see our school name up on it,” Smith said. “I think it’s the top 10, and I think we were 13th (12th overall), second for the B schools. I just want to see our school name up there.”

“I think we have a couple of guys with a legitimate shot at the state championships,” said Duncan.

“Our team goal is to be the top B school in the state when the season ends.,” he said. “That’s what we shoot for, and hopefully that will get us on the leader board at state, and we’ll have another year where it’s better than last year.”