The Warrenton wrestling teams return a half dozen state qualifiers and two state medalists.

The Warrenton boys wrestling squad returns five state qualifiers from last year’s team. 

The returning state qualifiers are highlighted by two wrestlers who medaled at the state tournament. Senior Jacob Ruff, fresh off an 11 sack season on the gridiron, returns this season after placing second at the state tournament last season. 

Ruff won a pair of overtime matches last season to advance to the championship match. Junior Noah Lohrmann also returns after earning a sixth place finish at the state meet. 

Jeremiah Kassing, Joshua Kassing and Manny McCauley also return after winning at least one match at last year’s state meet. 

“We’re going to try to place at state as a team,” Lohrmann said. “And then I think every individual that went to state last year is definitely looking to either place or win state.” 

With a strong number of returning state qualifiers, Warrenton head wrestling coach Clayton Olsson thinks the Warriors “should have a good, strong team.” He thinks last year’s experience at the state meet for their returning state qualifiers should help them if they qualify for the state meet again this season. 

“When you’re at state the first time you can get very nervous,” Olsson said. “It’s a big arena, a lot of people… So now that they’ve been there. And a couple of them have been there two times already. So now it’s just another tournament to them. Now they got the routines. They’re not worried about it. They know what to expect. So when they get there, they’ll be a little bit more relaxed and they can wrestle a little bit more open, which usually leads to better results.”

Early on in practice, the Warriors have worked on the basics, since they have some new wrestlers who have never wrestled before. While the inexperienced wrestlers work on the basics, the coaching staff gives the experienced wrestlers things to work on to improve their game. 

Olsson said the coaching staff’s focus for the wrestlers over the course of the season depends on their experience level. 

“For the new kids we’re really looking that they’re starting to string moves together,” Olsson said. “Because we teach them one at a time and then we start to try to teach them how to transition. And if they’re picking that up, if they’re not forgetting moves overnight, you know, things like that… But for our older guys, it’s really just we’re looking for them to find flaws that they had last year and see if those are still flaws or if they fixed those over the summer or if we need to keep working on them.”

Warrenton will open the season with a triangular against Hannibal and Helias Nov. 29 at Hannibal High School. 

Lady Warriors boast see boost in roster size 

The Warrenton Lady Warriors return a pair of wrestlers from last year’s team, while adding multiple wrestlers with varying experience. 

Warrenton sophomore Allison Vacek returns to the team after representing the Lady Warriors at the state tournament last season. Vacek dropped both of her matches at the state tournament. 

“This season I knew what to expect mostly and I have kind of like standards for myself that I’m looking to do this year,” Vacek said. “Last year was kind of like let’s just see how far we can go.”

Senior Emily Beumel is the other returning wrestler for the Lady Warriors. She enters her second season on the wrestling team. 

The Lady Warriors also feature several newcomers who have varying wrestling experience, Coach Michaela Denny said. 

“There are new wrestlers and there are girls that are coming to the team with some under their belt of knowing wrestling,” Denny said. “That is good to see them be partners and see the new girls growing and how quickly girls are picking up on things.”

Warrenton’s girls wrestling roster lists nine wrestlers this season after Warrenton only had three wrestlers last season. The Lady Warriors only have two upperclassmen on the team. 

“It is really nice because last year we only had three of us and we had to rotate out during drilling… We still have to rotate sometimes. But it just makes it easier to drill,” Vacek said. “And it gives us more partner opportunities because everyone wrestles differently. And then when we get to tournaments, it’ll be nice being able to watch others. Because that was something we kind of lacked last year.” 

Warrenton will open the season at the Wright City tournament Nov. 18.