By Kory Carpenter

Record Sports Editor

Dan Filipek grew up in a family of wrestlers.

His brothers, William and J.J., wrestled at Warrenton until 2011 and 2013, respectively.

When Filipek was in eighth grade, he joined the family business.

Four years later, the Warrenton senior is the best wrestler in the Filipek family, which isn’t a knock on William or J.J. or anyone else. Because these days, Dan Filipek is better than just about anyone he steps on the mat with.

He won 22 matches as a freshman, and followed that up with a 46-6 record and second-place finish at the Class 3 state tournament as a sophomore.

“He surprised people his sophomore year, but last year he didn’t surprise anyone,” Warrenton Head Coach Kevin Fowler said. 

It didn’t matter.

Filipek broke the school record with 53 wins, and brought an undefeated record to the 152-pound Class 3 state championship match.

He lost to Oak Park’s Hunter Shelton in a tiebreaker, and recommitted himself to getting better in the offseason.

That’s not to say he wasn’t already a fixture in gyms during the summer, because he was. But unfortunately for opponents in the 160-pound weight class this season, Filipek got better.

He wrestled everywhere from North Dakota to North Carolina. 

He sought out the best wrestlers in the country because he wanted to know where he stood, and he wanted to know what to work on.

“I’ve always tried to find the toughest competition, and my parents were always driving me around the state to find the best competition and best training partners,” Filipek said. “I’ve seen a lot of the country and I’ve wrestled a lot of the country, too.”

In the offseason, he wrestled the No. 1 high school wrestler in the country, Haiden Hidlay.

He lost by a single takedown.

“I hung with him the whole match, so I just knew I was ready for the next level,” he said.

It wasn’t always this easy for Filipek.

As a freshman in high school, he was still new to the sport.

J.J., a senior, was not.

“Those were not fun practices,” Filipek said. 

Being the closest to J.J.’s weight — but nearly 40 pounds lighter — meant hours of practice time spent with his back on the mat.

“I had that freshman mentality and wanted to take a lot of breaks,” Filipek said. “And he was just beating me down.”

Three years later, Filipek still craves the competition.

“He just wants to wrestle good kids,” Fowler said. “You’ll see some kids dodge people by going up or down a weight class, but he seeks out the best kids in the state and just wants to wrestle them.”

Wrestling the best in the country in the offseason has helped Filipek in two ways.

When you have wrestled amongst the best in the country at the biggest tournaments in the country, the Missouri State Championships in Mizzou Arena don’t seem as daunting.

“Wrestling at these big tournaments just reminds you that no matter how big state is, it’s just another tournament,” he said. “That’s what I really focused on over the summer.”

He also focused on cleaning up minor glitches in his game and getting better positioning in matches.

His coach calls him one of the best wrestlers in the state, and an overlooked wrestler in the entire country.

He sits 15 wins away from breaking the Warrenton career record, and barring an injury, will likely graduate with the school records in winning percentage, falls and team points.

He plans on wrestling in college, and has gotten looked at by Maryville University and McKendree University, where J.J. wrestles.

He hopes to visit Campbell University as well, a Division I program in North Carolina.

Before that, though, Filipek has a state championship to chase.

“Hopefully he’ll get the job done this year,” Fowler said. “Three-time finalists don’t come around all the time.”

STATE CONTENDER? — Warrenton senior Dan Filipek grapples with an opponent during a match last season at the state tournament. Filipek is looking to reach the Class 3 state finals for the third season in a row.         Derrick Forsythe photo.