2021-22 Winter Preview: Hollister Wrestling

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By Pat Dailey (For OzarkSportsZone.com)

Hollister welcomes back two Sectional qualifiers from last season who will try to take things a step further this season and make a run at qualifying for State.

Gage Moore was 4-14 as a freshman and placed third at 189 pounds in Class 2 District 5 a year ago. Grant Jones was 9-17 as a sophomore and made it to Sectionals at 120 pounds.

“Gage ‘wrested up’ a lot last year,” said Nate Nicholson, who co-coaches the Tigers along with Jeff Engel. “I probably would expect him to wrestle at 170 or 189 this year, depending on how much weight he gained in the off-season.

“Grant is jumping up from 120 to 132,” Nicholson added. He’s been very active in his wrestling and did a lot of free-style tournaments over the summer. We expect him to do well this year.”

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The Tigers also boast experienced returnees in Layton Newell, Devon Girard and Dylan O’Rourke.

Newell was 8-18 as a junior last year at 138 pounds.

“He was in a tough weight class last year,” Nicholson said. “We’ve worked on getting him stronger to try to get him to the next level. Technique-wise, he’s great.”

Girard was 6-18 as a sophomore last year at 152 pounds

“Devon has a great work ethic and is a good leader,” Nicholson said. “He works well with the other kids, He has a good chance to do well. We’re working on getting him more experience and getting more technique into his repertoire of moves.

“We saw great improvement in both Devon and Dylan,” Engel said. “We are eager to see that progression continue.”

The Tigers are hopeful Ernesto Montoya can do well as a freshman at 160 pounds.

Nicholson and Engel won’t have their wrestlers endure any dramatic weight cuts.

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“We want them to be healthy and strong,” Nicholson said. “We don’t want them cutting a bunch of weight. If they’re in between weight classes, we may try to see if we can get them down a bit. But wherever you’re at when you come in at the start of the season, we try to work you around that weight.”

Hollister’s regular-season tournament trail will include trips to the McDonald County Tournament, the Versailles Tournament, Parkview’s Kinloch Classic, the Big Eight Tournament and the Buffalo Tournament.

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