A Season of Success for First-Year Wildcat Coach
Staff Photo by Sam Martin
Tri-County head coach Stacy Simpson (background), alongside assistant Les Marts, signals for an escape point during Tyler Lashbrook’s second-round match against Winterset’s Jacob England at the state wrestling meet last month. The Wildcats accrued 19 dual wins, five district qualifiers and sent two wrestlers to the state meet in Simpson’s first year at the helm.
“My biggest goal was to have the kids work up to their potential.”
Stacy Simpson
Simpson has no qualms with shared program with So. Hardin
By Sam Martin
The Record Sports
Entering his first season as head coach of the Tri-County wrestling program, Stacy Simpson had an idea of what to expect.
Having led the junior high program for 12 seasons, he knew the kind of talent he had to work with.
“My biggest goal was to have the kids work up to their potential,” Simpson said. “I knew we had a lot of kids with experience that I noticed at the junior high (level), so I had high expectations.”
His team did not disappoint. The Wildcats finished 19-13, advanced five wrestlers to districts, where two qualified for the state meet, the first time in 15 years that Tri-County sent two wrestlers to Des Moines.
Tri-County opened the season on a tear, winning 11 of its first 14 duals, due in large part to its depth at each weight as the Wildcats began the season with all 14 weights filled.
“It was very beneficial — at the beginning of the season we had all 14 weights covered and we were winning most of them fairly handily,” Simpson said. “Toward the middle of the season after Christmas we had a little problem meeting all weights, whether it was injuries or disciplinary problems.
“When we started not meeting all those weights, we started losing close matches. I truly believe that as a coach and as a team, the key component is to have the weights filled and have them filled with quality kids.”
Ben King, who transferred back to Conrad after one year at Centerville and one at Ottumwa, was sidelined for much of the year by a nagging shoulder injury, and 112-pounder Nick Day battled a host of ailments.
Tri-County sent freshman Sawyer Anderson (103), juniors King (130), Ryan Lutes (119) and Tyler Lashbrook (135), and senior Shane Kruse (285) to the district meet. Anderson, who racked up 33 wins in his freshman season, was edged out of a state berth and finished third. Lutes, who grabbed his 100th career victory in the NICL conference wrestling meet, finished third as well. Kruse was fourth, while both Lashbrook and King took second to advance to state.
The state qualifications were not only a reflection of the wrestlers’ hard work, but also of the contributions from the rest of the team, Simpson said.
“When those two boys walk into the wrestling room and start working hard, it kind of inspires those around them,” he said. “That goes back to our wrestling room — if they didn’t have good people to compete against every day in that wrestling room, they wouldn’t be where they’re at. Those kids who are behind them are to be commended too.”
In Des Moines, Lashbrook picked up a pair of wins and placed eighth. King, plagued by the shoulder injury, was eliminated the first day.
Simpson’s first year at the helm appears to be Tri-County’s 22nd and final season in its current format. While Grundy Center is thought to be looking at sharing a wrestling program with Gladbrook-Reinbeck/North Tama, BCLUW appears ready to combine with South Hardin.
Sharing a program with South Hardin would give wrestlers a nice practice room at the high school in Eldora, and a sharp decline in BCLUW’s male enrollment in the coming years makes sharing with South Hardin a more realistic alternative than competing alone.
Simpson, who moved his family to Conrad from New Providence last year in part to be closer to the wrestling program, is open to the idea.
“I get along with the coaches great up there, Mike Olson and Bill Grothoff,” he said. “I lived over in that district all the way up until last year so I’ve worked with Grothoff in little league with football and wrestling.
“I work very well with those coaches over there. If things go the right way, I’d be very welcoming to have them come and we can be a team.”
Comet's Ehn Encouraged by New Football Schedule