Nate Schneider
Sports Scene
The core of the St. Louis wrestling team is in great shape this winter as five former state qualifiers or medalists are back in the fold.
But question marks are scattered throughout the rest of the lineup as youth and inexperience provide some challenges in the early going this season, but also show there is a tremendous upside for the Sharks as a team.
“We’re not quite where we’ve been in the past right now,” Sharks coach Kevin Kuhn said. “We’re in a position where we have five state qualifiers or placers, but everyone else is a freshman or a first-year wrestler. We had some kids from last year who opted not to wrestle this year, so that hurt some.”
St. Louis is currently 4-4 in dual meets heading into the Bob Threloff Invitational it will host on Dec. 28, but Kuhn keeps reminding his wrestlers that they have yet to wrestle a Division 4 team.
The Sharks have had an outstanding five-year run with four district titles, but they have been unable to get over the hump in regionals with some heartbreaking losses.
Leading the charge this winter in part is senior Jake Davis, who is undefeated thus far while bouncing between 152 and 160 pounds. He recently won a tournament by pinning Hesperia’s Gerrit Yates, who is the defending state champion at 152 pounds and a three-time state finalist.
Davis advanced to the state semifinals at 145 last winter and has shown he is a clear contender at whichever weight class he falls into.
Fellow senior Jayce Kuehnlein is the state runner-up at 135 pounds, but is now bumped up to 145 and 152 pounds. Kuhn hasn’t ruled him out dropping to as low as 140 by the state tournament.
Ernie Diaz, also a senior, advanced to the round of 16 last year and will look to better that although he is being slowed by an injury right now.
“His only loss this year is because he suffered a knee injury and had to default,” Kuhn said of Diaz. “He came back and got a win for us over Shepherd, but it’s something that will probably eventually require surgery. For now he’s probably going to have to put up with it. He is a small 189-pounder and we’d like him to transition to 171 at some point.”
Junior Isaac Howd advanced to the round of 16 last year at 130 pounds, while another junior in Ryan Downs qualified for the state finals as a freshman in 2016.
Additional wrestlers to keep an eye out for include sophomores Gavin Giles (119) and Alex Newton (103), a couple bright spots that could help propel the Sharks forward.
“We’re a work in progress with the young kids,” Kuhn added. “We lost a dual to Clare and a dual to Shepherd, where we gave up bonus points with our young kids. If we fix that, we win. We have a month-and-a-half to teach our young kids not to get caught on their back. We still believe we have the pieces in place to make a nice postseason run.”