Who in region 8 has a chance at state?

[JTWrestler]

Who do you all think has a good chance in placing in individual state as well as team state?

[Nainten]

Let me state an obvious qualifier.  Region 8 is behind most the other regions when it comes to wrestling.  In the last two years the region has had exactly one individual placer (6^th place, Nathan Enzor) who graduated last year.  I don’t even know the last time the region had a team place at state.  They say the best predictor of future performance is past performance.  In that case the outlook isn’t rosy, but I’ll indulge and give it a shot. 

Collierville had a surprise freshman in Jared Briant (sp?) who came on really strong at year’s end and won some matches at state.  I would expect if he progresses on schedule he could challenge somewhere for a low placing in his sophomore year.   Houston returns a host of state qualifiers but they did not get a lot of points at the tournament as a group.  Travis Arthur, and Keaton Jones are the top returning point getters for that group.  It remains to be seen what happens with Grayson Young this season.  If healthy and on his feed, he has an outside shot to place in the low-middle weights.  Arlington returns Caleb Morgan and Mike Mowery as the best prospects to medal.  Like Briant, Morgan is expected to better his performance at 106 this year.  He has grown into that weight now and is a full-fledged 106.  I think he has a great chance to be top 6.  In fact I think I expect him to be.  Mowery wrestled 152 all season walking around between 144 and 147.  This year if he gets his weight up he will be a definite medal contender.  Bolton’s talented Kris Bledsoe will get another shot this year to place.  He did not have a great tournament last year but he is a dangerous wrestler and it would not surprise me if he managed to place.  I think things have to break his way but definitely doable.  Bartlett has a Dawson Johnson who has a shot at 182.   David Thomas is also good and has a wide open style but I am not convinced he is consistent enough to hold up until the medal rounds at state. 

Those are the ones that jump out to me.  There are other good wrestlers like Mullins and Costner in Cordova and Scott-McCabe in Collierville but they will have to make major leaps from last year to have any chance at placing.   Rayveon Hardin had a breakout season last year at 195 but underperformed at states so it remains to be seen what kind of advances he made in the offseason.  It should be fun to follow and I hope we do much, much better than one 6^th place come February.  If I left anyone out please feel free to add them.