Quincy Rice has added motivation heading into his final wrestling season.
The Wright City senior, who will wrestle at 215 pounds for the Wildcats, not only wants to make it to the state tournament in his final season, but he wants to keep the luster of the Rice family name when it comes to Wildcats’ wrestling.
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Quincy Rice has added motivation heading into his final wrestling season.
The Wright City senior, who will wrestle at 215 pounds for the Wildcats, not only wants to make it to the state tournament in his final season, but he wants to keep the luster of the Rice family name when it comes to Wildcats’ wrestling.
Rice’s father, David, has been a key figure in the Jr. Wildcats wrestling program, and his older brother, David Joseph, graduated from the school in 2022, finishing fourth in Class 2 that year.
“My dad built the junior wrestling program and my brother is the only medalist here, so that does leave big shoes to fill,” Rice said. “I’ve been working hard. There's a good chance I'll make it. I've been working really hard on the off-season. I've gotten a lot stronger. I've been working on my fitness a bit more.”
Wright City coach Fred Ross said there is every reason to believe that Rice will make good on his words. After all, he’s come close to making state the last two years.
“I think he set some expectations for himself, he really has,” Ross said. “He's lost in the blood round (the final state qualifying round) the last two years, so he's been really close.”
Rice joins the team’s state returner, senior Joseph Beitel (135), at the forefront of individual expectation headed into the season as he aims to make the state tournament.
While Rice looks to make it to the state stage, Ross said that Beitel will look to go beyond that.
“With JD returning, we hope he's (going to make a) step up,” Ross said. Get there and get (wins). Last year, he lost his two matches, but hopefully he'll step up. He's going to be in the same weight class, which is good. He didn't get any bigger. He got a little stronger and a little quicker, so we expect that out there.”
Ross said that an increase in numbers is the first step that should help the program. The coach added that he’s excited to see what some of the new faces can accomplish this season as they learn from both the coaching staff and the five returning wrestlers.
“We got most I've ever had since I've been here,” Ross said. “We’ve got sophomores who have a little bit of wrestling experience that came out this year. To Little League boys coming up (as freshmen) who did very well in Little League, so we expect them to do pretty well. I have a homeschool student, Caleb Murray (165), who's a senior, and we have expectations for him.”
Senior Ayden Dile (285) returns to wrestle for his second and final high school season. Ross said that he’s put in plenty of off-season work.
“Ayden worked his butt off,” Ross said. “This summer, he did some freestyle stuff as well.”
Dile said that there is a solid team dynamic that will only pay dividends for Wright City.
That dynamic does nothing but raise the bar for the team's expectations.
“Our biggest goal has got to be having more boys make it to and place at state this year,” Dile said. “We’ve already done a lot of bonding during practice and we’re working hard to make each other better.”
