BEARDEN

Bearden wrestlers pin success outside the limelight

John Shearer
Shopper News

The Bearden High School wrestling team practices in the former football locker room that has no windows.

But the wrestlers can still easily see what is required in this sport in which preparation and effort are closely related to results. And that is what 220-pound senior Nick Law enjoys.

“I like the idea that you can get out there and you are on your own, and you put it all out there and you get what you put into it,” he said while waiting for practice to start recently. “Whatever you put into it, it shows on the mat.”

He has apparently been putting plenty into the sport, as both he and 145-pound teammate Matheson Meade were ranked fifth in their respective weight classes in the state in a recent ranking.

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Despite being able to visualize their goals and expected path, however, they admittedly still don’t get a lot of eyes on them competing, save for parents and a few friends. The reason is that wrestling is a minor sport at Bearden and about every other Knox County school.

“Football and basketball are king,” said Bearden wrestling coach Donnie Floyd. “I’m not a big promoter. But I wish wrestling was bigger.”

Bearden's Jayce Welch performs a power half nelson on his Stone Memorial opponent during a recent match.

However, that has not stopped a couple dozen wrestlers at Bearden from working hard every day this winter to enjoy some big intrinsic rewards, even if they don’t get the big headlines.

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The team defeated rival Farragut in the District Duals last week before losing to Stone Memorial of Crossville, one of the more competitive teams in their classification.

While wrestling is often associated with losing weight to make a weight class, Bearden this year has been trying to add weight, at least collectively in terms of trying to get more bodies out for the sport.

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“I made a big push this year to recruit kids” (within the school), Floyd  said. “My numbers had dropped in the past. We had really good wrestlers, and the kids were breaking records the past three years. But since I was focused so much on that, I didn’t build the base up. So I went into a huge recruiting push this year.”

He said he had about 30 students come out for practice this year at the start of the year, and he now has about 22 still practicing regularly, which he says is a good number.

Bearden wrestling coach Donnie Floyd talks with Samuel Hensley prior to a match.

Besides Law and Meade, others standing out so far include Dylan Burns at 126 and Samuel Hensley at 182. Others competing and at least allowing him to mostly fill up a roster are Skylar Terry at 106, Kirill Prosekov at 113, Daniel Fuss at 120, Billie Eadie at 132, Connor Cloer at 138, Elijah Ragsdale at 152, Aiden Duarte at 160, Samuel Sui at 170, and Parker Gilstrap at heavyweight. Seth Arana had been wrestling at 170 but has been injured.

“We’ve really got some good individuals trying to build up the base,” Floyd said.

Besides the wrestlers from the other schools, Law is also battling that other perennial wrestling opponent – the aforementioned weight scales. But he has been mostly winning that battle, too, he said.

“I came down from heavyweight class to try and be more competitive, and so far it is going pretty solid,” he said.

Bearden's Nick Law does a half nelson on his Stone Memorial opponent during a recent wrestling match.

Floyd, the son of a longtime wrestling referee, can certainly relate to the challenges his wrestlers face, as he was a former wrestler who finished third in the state in high school at South-Doyle. He went on to make All-American at Maryville College before an injury.

From there, he went straight from lacing up his wrestling shoes to putting on his coaching sneakers and is now in his 12th year with the Bearden program.

“I started as a 22-year-old kid who didn’t know anything but wrestling,” he said. “It’s been a growing process.”

And the sport has continued to grow on him as he has tried to help the youngsters enjoy the sport and gain valuable lessons from it, even if their names are not often found at the top of the sports page.

“I’m more about letting your actions show for you,” he said.