Coach Greg Buckbee wishes his Emporia High wrestlers had no way to see the brackets for this weekend’s State tournament at Valley Center.
Looking at your bracket, of course, promotes looking ahead to your next round’s opponent — an opponent you may not even reach if you’re not properly focused.
“If it was up to me, they would not see a bracket at all,” Buckbee said. “... And I tell them all the time, ‘There’s only one person stopping you from a State title right now, and that’s the person in front of you.’ I don’t want them looking at that bracket whatsoever. I told them it’s our job.”
Good philosophy.
In practice, good luck getting the Spartans to avoid looking at their brackets to see what the quarterfinals, semis and finals might bring — even if they’re intent on keeping their minds trained on Round One.
“I have (looked). I actually don’t like studying brackets,” said senior Tavo Dikin (28-4), the state’s No. 2-ranked wrestler at 140 pounds in the Feb. 17 rankings. “I just go out there on the mat, and whoever I have to wrestle, I wrestle. It’s more mental, I think. But it is a nice bracket. It panned out real nice for me.”
Junior Lorenzo Serna (33-3) will face Newton’s David Garcia (11-11) in the first round of the heavyweight class. He has about the same philosophy Dikin has on looking at the field he’ll face.
“I did once,” said Serna, ranked No. 2. “I try not to look at it, because I don’t want to play it out. Then I’ll just get nervous and not focus on the guy in front of me.”
Senior Justin Rose (22-4) didn’t shy away from checking out the 130-pound bracket. Also ranked No. 2 in the state, Rose faces Miege’s John Hanson (12-23) in Round One.