2017-18 Winter Preview: Ozark Wrestling

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By Kary Booher (For OzarksSportsZone.com)

Back in the early 1990s, you could find Tod Sundlie wrestling for the Ozark Tigers and coach Carl Jackson, and the sport just became a way of life for him.

This season, after 15 years coaching in some capacity, Sundlie takes over the Ozark High School wrestling program and does so for a team that returns four state qualifiers and offers some interesting talent in the room.

“I’m excited to work with these boys,” Sundlie said. “There already was a great staff in place and great facilities. I just want to contribute however I can.”

Sundlie insisted that any story about Ozark focus on wrestlers, but it’s hard to ignore his promotion to the top job. After all, he is a former state placer and 1995 Ozark graduate himself and, after college, never wanted to leave the sport.

He has been a longtime assistant, also coached the junior high school a couple of years and moved to Wisconsin before returning in 2002.

Sundlie takes over for Shawn Kellis, now the assistant, and you figure the two of them will recruit the hallways pretty well.

“I love the sport because it teaches lifelong lessons,” Sundlie said.

Ozark has been one of the area’s better programs and appears to keep that narrative.

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After all, its returning state qualifiers are Jake Nichols at 113 pounds, Nikki Gladkov at 160, Ryan Taylor at 182 and Jace Gorn at 285.

The Tigers also return a strong cast of guys with varsity experience in 120-pounder Wyatt Snyder, 126-pounder Riley Sundlie, 132-pound Logan Sorensen, 138-pounder Cooper St. John and 170-pound Tyson Albright.

At the Class 4 state tournament last year, Nichols showed well, winning his first match and bouncing back from a second-round loss to position himself for a chance at the medal round. But he fell short. Gladkov, Taylor and Gorn went 1-2 there.

“We were close,” Sundlie said of having a state placer. “It was fun to watch them go up there and compete. We feel like they can hopefully bring some hardware home this year.”

Nichols has “a lot of talent” Sundlie said.

Gladkov owned the summer, apparently.

“It was fun to watch him grow this summer, and he’s willing to put in the work,” Sundlie said. “He went to a lot of campus and tournaments, including the Midwest Nationals.”

Taylor could be the team’s sparkplug.

“Ryan’s one of those kids who loves a good brawl,” Sundlie said. “He’s always competing, and he’s come a long way. He just has a great attitude.”

Gorn has shown good footwork in the past couple of years.

“He’s tough mentally and tough physically,” Sundlie said. “He’s a kid who could bring some hardware home if he can stay healthy.”

The team will miss 195-pounder Nathaniel Burlage, who unfortunately wrecked a knee during the football season and will miss the wrestling season. Sundlie expects that he’ll attend practices, regardless.

That could be a key factor for the returning varsity guys – and others — seeking to break through to the state tournament.

“A lot of those guys got a lot of varsity experience and wrestled a lot of matches,” Sundlie said. “They know what they’ve got to do.”

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