The 17-team field at this weekend’s Derby Invitational wrestling tournament is loaded. So loaded that Emporia High — Class 5A’s top-ranked team, with several of the top-ranked wrestlers in the state — didn’t know if it would have a single top seed upon this morning’s bracket draw.
So when the Spartans jump into action in Derby this afternoon — their first tournament of the post-holiday break schedule — they could be doing so as relative underdogs, a rather rare position for them to be in.
“We have a lot of high-ranked teams — I mean, Goddard, Bishop Carroll, I mean anybody like that,” senior Tavo Dikin said. “And everybody wants to take our first-string spot. And we’re not gonna let ’em have it.”
To keep the top ranking in their grasp, the Spartans will be working on translating the details of their mat work — the little things — to this weekend’s tournament. Buckbee has been stressing the details all season long, and they’ve been a focus over the last two weeks of practice.
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