The bloodlines are still there. That's one thing that has to be encouraging.
North County wrestling, built by guys named Paulsen and Lapinski, still draws some juice from those winning bloodlines. This is a new generation, but Mark Paulsen at Hazelwood Central and Jake Lapinski at McCluer North are connections to the way things used to be.
When it came to wrestling, things used to be impossibly good in North County. North County teams owned the state championship from the late 1940s through the '70s and kept a pretty decent grip on it through the mid-1990s.
Things have changed in the last 16 years. North County has gone through a dry spell. Dry? It has been parched.
The title drought is not going to end this year. Lapinski's Stars are North County's best team -- and one of the best in the area -- but they won't end the dry spell. Not this year, anyway.
"Wrestling is a slow process," Lapinski said. "State titles are not won over one season or won over a couple seasons. It's a long process."
Paul Lapinski, who is Jake's father, coached Riverview Gardens to four state titles in the 1970s and two more top-four finishes in the '80s. In the old days, he said, there never was a doubt that a North County team would make a run at a title.
"(You knew) somebody in North County was going to be a contender," he said.
North County schools had something few other schools in the 1950s, '60s and '70s could match: They had coaches who knew the sport inside and out. No other part of the state could match the coaching firepower of Missouri Wrestling Hall of Famers John Moore of Ritenour, Charlie Sherertz of McCluer North (and St. Louis Northwest) and Don Paulsen and Lapinski of Riverview Gardens.
"North County, in its heyday, (won because) there just weren't that many (quality) coaches around the state," Lapinski said.
The North County wrestling factories of the 1970s and '80s produced some top coaches as well as top wrestlers. Rocky Streb, who is rebuilding the CBC program after making Oakville into a power, was a state champ on one of Lapinski's Riverview teams. Scott Sissom, who has a built a strong program at Lafayette, won two state titles in the mid-1980s while wrestling at Hazelwood West. Following on their heels are Mark Paulsen, Jake Lapinski and others.
"It's all due to better programs, and the better programs are the result of better coaching," Paul Lapinski said about the growth of wrestling.
Paul Lapinski's theory can be seen in the wrestling boon in Kansas City and St. Charles County. Kansas City won one large-schools state title in the first 50 years of the state tournament, but it now has won 13 consecutive large-schools titles. A St. Charles County school didn't make a run at a title until the 1980s, but those teams now routinely are among the best.
There is another factor in the wrestling explosion in Kansas City and St. Charles County: Youth wrestling programs have grown like topsy in both areas.
"You take those teams in Kansas City that have been good, their little league programs have been terrific," Paul Lapinski said.
North County's youth league wrestling faded to nothing for a time. "That's definitely put them behind," Paul Lapinski said.
But kids wrestling is making a comback in North County. Jake Lapinski is pouring a lot of time and effort into the Major Decision youth program, and the club is starting to send wrestlers to McCluer North and other North County schools.
"Major Decision has been a huge benefit to our program," Lapinski said.
While the good old days likely are gone forever, Jake Lapinski said there is a sense that wrestling at McCluer North is on the upswing. With top-20 state finishes in the last several years, there is optimism at Hazelwood Central, Hazelwood East and Hazelwood West, too.
"No one sees this as half empty," Jake Lapinski said, "it's half full."
TOUGHEST IN TOWN
It is an argument certain to raise blood pressure and hackles: What high school sport churns out the toughest athletes?
Some sports won't even turn in a lineup card in this battle. Others have heart and soul -- to say nothing of reputation -- invested in the outcome.
Wrestling, of course, is a contender. A sport that lists Michael Chandler -- Northwest and Mizzou wrestling, MMA champ -- on its roster has its toughness bona fides in order. Cross country is part of the argument, too. Running a 3.1-mile event is hard; racing a 3.1-mile event is brutal.
Aaden Aaden of Summit knows both sides of the argument. The 5-foot-6, 114-pound senior not only competes in both sports, but he excels in both. The Falcons' No. 2 runner in cross country, he was a member of the 3,200-meter relay team that won the Class 4 state title last spring.
Saturday, the 113-pound wrestler won his second Route 141 Rumble tournament title, pinning Parker Neptune of Washington in the second period in the championship match. The win boosted his season mark to 22-5.
Aaden, who was born in Somalia, is familiar with the "who's toughest?" argument. "So much of it is how mentally tough you are," he said.
The key, he said, is not giving into the desperate weariness of racing or the aches and pains of wrestling. The next part of the race must be finished, the next period of wrestling has to be fought.
"You tell yourself it's not that bad," he said with a smile.
That line has gotten a little easier for Aaden to repeat as he's gotten older and stronger. A two-time state qualifier in wrestling, he remembers there was scant comfort in the it's-not-that-bad mantra when he wrestled as a freshman.
"My freshman year when I was on varsity, I got whupped up on," he said.
The last two seasons, Aaden has done most of the whupping. Last year, he went 31-17. This season he's won 22 matches and reached the finals at three of Summit's four tournament stops.
So? Which is tougher: wrestling or cross country?
"I'd have to say wrestling's a little harder," he said. "There's more to wrestling, I think, because it's not just wrestling -- you have to cut weight, too."
EDWARDSVILLE CAPTURES RARE TITLE
One of the area's premier programs, Edwardsville ended a long drought Saturday by winning the St. Charles West Warrior Invitational.
"It's been a while, probably since we dropped out of the Mascoutah Invitational eight years ago,'' Tigers coach Jon Wagner replied when asked about his team's last in-season team title.
A big reason for Edwardsville's lack of tournament success is Wagner's approach to tournaments. This season, for example, the Tigers competed in the Ron Sauer Duals at Fox, the Dvorak in suburban Chicago and the Cheesehead in Wisconsin.
"All three are quality events; at Dvorak and at the Cheesehead, we saw some of the top competition in the Midwest,'' Wagner said. "But that's part of our plan to expose our guys to the best in order to hopefully prepare them for that they'll face in the state series.
"The key to that, though, is making sure that your wrestlers completely understand that it's to their benefit. We had guys who really wrestled well and really didn't have much to show for it because of the competition they were up against. I think that's why today, winning the team title, meant so much to them.''
TAKE DOWN AGAINST CANCER
When Vianney hosts CBC in a Metro Catholic Conference dual Saturday, the Griffins will be wrestling for a cause -- breast cancer awareness. The Vianney athletes and their parents have purchased 150 or so pink "Take Down Against Cancer'' shirts to wear in support that night. In addition, the Griffins will be wearing white singlets that feature the Vianney logo in pink across the chest as well as a breast cancer ribbon on the back.
Action begins at 6 p.m.
WEEKEND ROUNDUP
• Mediapolis beat out Alton, Belleville East, Cahokia and two-time defending champion Triad to capture the 43rd annual Quincy Invitational. Area champions were Triad's Cole Wysocki (106), Belleville East's Deonte McNary (126), Belleville East's Skyler Procasky (138), Mascoutah's Lavion Mayes (145) Cahokia's David Frazier (152), Triad's Jake Tindle (170) and Alton's Taylor McGiffen (182).
• Ladue picked up its fourth tournament title of the season, beating out Fort Zumwalt North for the championship at St. Charles. The Rams, who earlier won at John Burroughs, Chaminade and De Smet, were led by champion Antonio Escobar (106) and runners-up Grant Sachs (132), Charlie Berry (152) and Chris Shirley (182). Other local winners were Zumwalt North's Zach Nelson (113), McCluer South-Berkeley's John Williams (120), McCluer South-Berkeley's Wardell Morgan (126), Maplewood-Richmond Heights' Montell Maggitt (132), Fort Zumwalt South's Cody Zeik (138), Chaminade's Max Wilhelm (152), Zumwalt North's Ryan Thomas (170), Warrenton's J.J. Fillipek (182), University City's Tarique Jefferson (195), McCluer's John Cain (220) and Pattonville's Dylan Hogan (285).
