St. Louis’ Kuehnlein a state title contender
John Raffel
Sports Scene
St. Louis’ Jayce Kuehnlein is in his senior wrestling season and is looking to have an outstanding one.
Kuehnlein was a qualifier at the state meet as a freshman and went 1-2. He was all-state with a seventh-place finish at 135. Last year, he was state runner-up at 135.
“Going into the season, I knew I had a good chance at making a run at the state finals and at the championship,” Kuehnlein said. “It was disappointing to lose, especially when you’re so close to where you wanted to be. But it was definitely a stepping stone to help me realize where I’m at as a wrestler and what I can do, especially this year.”
Kuehnlein is starting out the season at 145. He’s unsure where he’ll be wrestling at in the postseason this year.
He’s currently at 10-1.
“I think I’m wrestling the best I can so far,” he said. “I’m getting some tough matches early in the season, which I feel is important. These matches are helping me for March when I’ll need them the most.”
Kuehnlein’s strength as a wrestler is being able to take anybody down and being very tough on top.
He expects to see some tough competition in the Hudson Super 16 in January.
“That should be the toughest competition we’ll see all year,” Kuehnlein said.