Park Hill Wrestling hopes loss is a turning point

Every season has a turning point or a series of turning points, where the result changes the course individuals and the team had been on previously. Sometimes it can be brought on by an internal conflict within the team that brings them together and other times it could be caused directly by what happens in the process of competition. It’s too early to tell, but after beating Lee’s Summit and St. Joe Central earlier in the week, the Park Hill wrestling team has come to what they hope is a turning point after a one point loss to Northland rival Staley in the second round of a tri-dual featuring St. Joe Benton last Thursday night.

After Russ Coleman started the Trojans off at 130 with a victory against Jeremy Goss, Park Hill would go on to loss six of the next seven matches falling further and further behind. The exception was Preston Crouse’s pin of David Montoya in 1:11 at the 145 level. The Trojans’ fortunes turned though, starting at the 215and heavyweight divisions with Travis Marcum and Nolan Smith who fought out match wins 4-1 and 4-0, respectively. John Erneste took care of business at 103 with a pin in 1:59 followed by Michael Olsen’s technical fall against Chris Allen at 112. With one match remaining, the Trojans wouldn’t want anyone other than defending state champion Bricker Dixon on the mat at 125 against Trevor Engle. A contentious match followed with blood being drawn from Staley’s Engle which caused a stop in competition. Ultimately, Dixon outlasted Engle 9-4, but left Park Hill on the short end of a 31-30 victory for Staley.

“We were looking forward to tonight’s dual. We knew Staley was tough,” coach Bill Erneste said. “One of the neat things about wrestling is that it’s the fairest sport in the world. Usually the hungry dog gets fed. They (Staley) knew tonight would make them better so congratulations to them.”

For Staley the victory was a sign of a strengthening program. For Park Hill, it serves as a source of motivation.

“We thought we were going to win, maybe some of our guys were complacent. The good thing about it is, we’ve got a lot of season left,” Erneste said. “Maybe this slap in our face will let us know we need to work harder.”

Still early in the season, the loss could also be a reminder of how big of a target Park Hill wrestling has on its back from building a consistently strong program year in, year out. But Erneste made clear, that last year isn’t this year, and those accomplishments won’t win them anything this season.

“We have the state trophy in the closet. The reason we have it in the closet is so that they can see it when they weigh in and know that it was last year, not this year,” Erneste said.

While seniors Crouse and Dixon along with Cody Goodwin are helping provide leadership in this early part of the season, Erneste says right now the team is going through a growing period and the younger wrestlers getting tougher including Michael Olsen, whose key technical fall setup Dixon’s final match, and John Erneste, who pinned a tough opponent in the sixth ranked Jonathon Melton.

“That’s big, but you can’t always count on the freshman,” Erneste said. “Have to have some other guys to get in there and help us.”

Park Hill will travel to Jefferson City this weekend to compete in the Capital City Classic. As the season begins its steep descent onto the district tournament, the Trojans hope to be able to combine their decorated seniors with their eager young underclassmen to form a group capable of scoring enough points as a team to once again compete against the state’s best at districts and state in February.