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Veteran Knights wrestlers looking for SPC crown
By MIKE TENNEY
These days, Episcopal head wrestling coach Steve Liesz is feeling better.
He was back on the job last week after the football team was eliminated from reaching the Southwest Preparatory Conference championship game, but admitted right after the 33-28 loss to Dallas St. Mark’s that sealed their fate, he wasn’t ready for football to end.
He also wasn’t ready to see a lot of his players switch from shoulder pads and helmets to wrestling uniforms.
“I enjoy wrestling,” said Leisz. “I enjoy coaching wrestling. But I wanted another week of football for me and my players. We like for our football players to wrestle, but I wanted them playing football for another week.”
The Knights have a veteran bunch of wrestlers and are looking to reach the top of the SPC mountain after taking second behind, you guessed it, St. Mark’s.
Episcopal had top three finishes in 13 of the 15 different weight classes at the 2008 SPC tournament and have a lot of those wrestlers back.
“Our goal is to win it,” said Leisz. “We were second last year and we want to take one more step forward this year. We have a lot of kids with a lot of experience, so I feel like we have a chance to do it.”
They are strong in both the smaller and large weight classes.
“We have a wide range of good wrestlers,” said Leisz. “We’re very fortunate to have some depth in the smaller weight divisions and some depth in the bigs as well.”
Senior Ben Estus at 103 pounds is the returning SPC champion in that weight class, although he will be wrestling at 112 this year.
Junior Harrison Kane was second in the 119 as a sophomore. He will be in the 125 weight class this year.
Junior Ryan Snyder was third in the 125 and he will be in the 119 or 125 this year. Leisz said it depends on what he and a couple of other wrestlers do.
“We’re trying to make sure we have a quality wrestler in each weight class and we’re fortunate to have some guys that we can more around and look at in different weights,” said Leisz.
Senior Will Baird will start the year handling the 130 duties after seeing a lot of time in the ring as a junior.
Senior Taylor Callender was the runner-up in the 135 and he will be in the 140 category.
Junior Cameron Leisz was third in the 160-pound division last winter.
Senior Chris Wawro is back in the 189 after placing third in that SPC weight class.
Greg Holmes was the third place finisher at 215 and returns this year looking to reach that championship match.
The Knights also have a super heavyweight wrestler in senior John Wooldridge, who is committed to play football at TCU. Wooldridge was also third in the SPC as a junior.
The only weight classes the Knights failed to win, place or show last year came in the 130 and 171 and at the moment they appear to have the 130 covered.
“We feel like we’re pretty strong from top to bottom,” said coach Leisz. “I think the kids feel like we have a chance to have a pretty good year.”
Besides the SPC title, one of the team’s goals is to reach the State Dual Championships in January in Amarillo.
It’s kind of a mini-state tournament involving the 16 best teams in Texas and Leisz wants his troops to be part of it.
“We want to make it to the state dual tournament because you’re talking about the very best teams in Texas,” he said. “Much like winning the SPC, we’re making being one of the teams to get invited to the State Duals one of our goals.”
The Knights have a true heavyweight schedule with dates against many 5A opponents when they aren’t taking on their private school colleagues.
“We try to schedule the very best to help our team be the best it can be,” he said. “When you take on some of these schools we’re going against like Cinco Ranch and Lamar and other strong 5A schools you find out just where you are. But we’re ready to go and we’re very excited about the season.”
Even if it did start a few days earlier than he and a few of his matmen would have preferred.
He was back on the job last week after the football team was eliminated from reaching the Southwest Preparatory Conference championship game, but admitted right after the 33-28 loss to Dallas St. Mark’s that sealed their fate, he wasn’t ready for football to end.
He also wasn’t ready to see a lot of his players switch from shoulder pads and helmets to wrestling uniforms.
“I enjoy wrestling,” said Leisz. “I enjoy coaching wrestling. But I wanted another week of football for me and my players. We like for our football players to wrestle, but I wanted them playing football for another week.”
The Knights have a veteran bunch of wrestlers and are looking to reach the top of the SPC mountain after taking second behind, you guessed it, St. Mark’s.
Episcopal had top three finishes in 13 of the 15 different weight classes at the 2008 SPC tournament and have a lot of those wrestlers back.
“Our goal is to win it,” said Leisz. “We were second last year and we want to take one more step forward this year. We have a lot of kids with a lot of experience, so I feel like we have a chance to do it.”
They are strong in both the smaller and large weight classes.
“We have a wide range of good wrestlers,” said Leisz. “We’re very fortunate to have some depth in the smaller weight divisions and some depth in the bigs as well.”
Senior Ben Estus at 103 pounds is the returning SPC champion in that weight class, although he will be wrestling at 112 this year.
Junior Harrison Kane was second in the 119 as a sophomore. He will be in the 125 weight class this year.
Junior Ryan Snyder was third in the 125 and he will be in the 119 or 125 this year. Leisz said it depends on what he and a couple of other wrestlers do.
“We’re trying to make sure we have a quality wrestler in each weight class and we’re fortunate to have some guys that we can more around and look at in different weights,” said Leisz.
Senior Will Baird will start the year handling the 130 duties after seeing a lot of time in the ring as a junior.
Senior Taylor Callender was the runner-up in the 135 and he will be in the 140 category.
Junior Cameron Leisz was third in the 160-pound division last winter.
Senior Chris Wawro is back in the 189 after placing third in that SPC weight class.
Greg Holmes was the third place finisher at 215 and returns this year looking to reach that championship match.
The Knights also have a super heavyweight wrestler in senior John Wooldridge, who is committed to play football at TCU. Wooldridge was also third in the SPC as a junior.
The only weight classes the Knights failed to win, place or show last year came in the 130 and 171 and at the moment they appear to have the 130 covered.
“We feel like we’re pretty strong from top to bottom,” said coach Leisz. “I think the kids feel like we have a chance to have a pretty good year.”
Besides the SPC title, one of the team’s goals is to reach the State Dual Championships in January in Amarillo.
It’s kind of a mini-state tournament involving the 16 best teams in Texas and Leisz wants his troops to be part of it.
“We want to make it to the state dual tournament because you’re talking about the very best teams in Texas,” he said. “Much like winning the SPC, we’re making being one of the teams to get invited to the State Duals one of our goals.”
The Knights have a true heavyweight schedule with dates against many 5A opponents when they aren’t taking on their private school colleagues.
“We try to schedule the very best to help our team be the best it can be,” he said. “When you take on some of these schools we’re going against like Cinco Ranch and Lamar and other strong 5A schools you find out just where you are. But we’re ready to go and we’re very excited about the season.”
Even if it did start a few days earlier than he and a few of his matmen would have preferred.
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