There is one date every wrestler in Missouri has circled on his calendar -- Feb. 18. It's the date of the state finals, the season's last hurrah and brass ring. Or, as Justin Scott likes to think of it, the day the buffet line reopens.
Scott is ready for a real meal. A three-napkin meal. With seconds. And dessert.
The Holt senior has been on diet patrol for several months. At 5 feet 3 and 106 pounds, he hardly seems the sort to have weight issues. But Scott is a young man wrestling in a boy's weight class. Every meal -- every meal? try every ounce -- is something of a weight issue.
Scott turned 18 on Jan. 20. There was no cake or ice cream. Instead, there was a 26-second pin. The next day, the cake-less celebration continued with another pin and a technical fall to capture the title at the Eric Lewis Invitational at MICDS.
You know the phrase "stay hungry"? Scott knows it. And lives it.
"Last year, I ate what I wanted -- yeah, (those were) the good old days," he said. "Now, I have to eat healthy."
At 18, eating healthy seems a bit of a curse. But things could be worse. He could be eating healthy ... and losing. Instead, his record is as healthy as his diet. Heading into a dual last week against rival Timberland, Scott had a 21-3 record and was wrestling like a state qualifier -- and, who knows, maybe a state medalist.
The driven Scott fits in at Holt, a school where wrestling is no passing fancy. The Indians have two state titles and four top-five finishes in the last five seasons. Recently, with strong showings by Clayton Ream (145 pounds) and Scott, Holt has sandwiched second-place finishes at the GAC South and MICDS tournaments around a middle-of-the-pack showing at Jefferson City. Scott reached the finals of all three tournaments, winning at the GAC South and MICDS.
This year's success grew out of Scott's disappointment with a junior season as a 112-pounder that ran out of gas at the district tournament. Looking ahead, he vowed his senior season would be different. His things-to-do list was topped by three things: more training, more offseason wrestling and a move to a new weight class.
The typical weight-class shift is upward. While the temptation is to lose a couple pounds and be the biggest and baddest wrestler in a lighter weight class, the reality is that nature nearly always wins out. Wrestlers grow a year older and a year bigger. Last year's 106-pounder is this year's 113-pounder and next year's 120-pounder. And on and on.
But Scott refused to grow up -- at least temporarily. He also refused to give in when his lesser angels who would point and plead every time a McDonald's appeared on the horizon or the Holt cafeteria would dish up a treat with a dollop of fat.
"It was really hard," he said. "I would sit at lunch and watch people at my table. They'd be having hot dogs and hamburgers and I'd have an orange or a bottle of water."
Scott won't have to resist much longer. Everything he dreams about, from medals to meals, is right around the corner, near enough to touch -- and, yes, taste.
FIVE IN A ROW
Triad won its fifth consecutive Mississippi Valley Conference title, beating Mascoutah (49-28), Jerseyville (51-27), Waterloo (49-21), Highland (50-21) and Civic Memorial (58-17) in the Super Duals over the weekend at Triad.
“I can remember when getting that first title was our goal, so winning five in a row is definitely something we're proud of,'' Knights coach Russ Witzig said. “Coming in, I was a little concerned about a couple of teams, but our guys really stepped it up, wrestling about as well as they have all season. Now hopefully we can keep that going.''
Triad, which will compete this weekend in the Class 2A regional at Centralia, was led Saturday by its five conference champs _ Cole Wysocki (113), Kyle Graumenz (138), Chris Kenney (152), Jake Tindle (170) and Ben Throm (182).
Other MVC champs were Jerseyville's Troy Tuey (106), Civic Memorial's Gage Overton (120), Civic Memorial's David Pearce (126), Jerseyville's Cody Torrey (132), Mascoutah's Lavion Mayes (145), Jerseyville's Kody Zedolek (160), Highland's Dustin Rosborough (195), Waterloo's Omar Farag (220) and Highland's Tanner Farmer (285).
“It's not as tough as some other conferences, but when you look at the size of the schools involved, there's some pretty good talent,'' Witzig said. “Every team has a few real top-level kids and every year at state, our conference ends up bringing home a handful of medals.''
ROAD TO STATE
The state series in Illinois begins Saturday with regional tournaments. Local squads will compete at Edwardsville in Class 3A at Centralia and Chatham-Glenwood in Class 2A and at Althoff and West Frankfort in Class 1A.
Sectional tournaments will be held Feb. 10-11, with the state tournament slated for Feb. 16-18 at Assembly Hall in Champaign.
The Missouri postseason begins with district tournaments Feb. 10-11; state is Feb. 16-18 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.
A LOOK BACK
• Fort Zumwalt East's Windsor Evaes (145) was the lone local champion at the Blue Springs South Tournament Saturday. Other top area finishers were runners-up Tommy Makowsky (132) of Marquette and the Hazelwood Central duo of Terrell Mosely (152) and Isaiah Cooper (195).
• Cahokia, Carbondale and Mount Vernon finished in a three-way tie atop the South Seven Conference standings after each dropped a match Saturday in the league duals at Carbondale.
• Kearney of suburban Kansas City ran away with the Liberty Tournament title, finishing with nine champions and a runner-up. Fort Zumwalt South wrestlers Cody Zeik (138) and Alex Saldana (152) both finished second.
• Hillsboro won the 12-team Bob Georger Invitational at De Soto Saturday, getting titles from Cody Robertson (132), Luke Reeves (138), Caleb Thurman (152), Josh Waggoner (170) and Jarad Sheppard (195). Other area champions were De Soto's Aaron Minx (126), Windsor's Tyler Warren (145) and Herculaneum's Billy Duncan (160) and Brian Duncan (285).
