Wessell, Jackson wrestling surge at Missouri/Illinois Challenge

Brysen Wessell began his high school wrestling career with lofty goals, but like many fellow underclassmen, had to make a slight adjustment.

Initially, the Jackson heavyweight wanted to be a three-time state champion, but after his first year as an Indian wrestler ended just outside of a top-six place finish, he’s content settling for two.

Upon wrestling his sophomore year at 215 pounds, where he was a conference champion and District 1 runner-up before a 2-2 run at last season’s Class 4 state tournament ended his campaign in heartbreak, Wessell has bumped up to 285 and says he feels much stronger and has accelerated his development.

“It's nice to be able to eat and put on muscle and just keep growing,” Wessell said. “I got people I wrestle with down in the practice room and they're true heavyweights, so it preps me just for my matches every day. I feel just fine and prepared when I go out there.”

It didn’t take long for Wessell to fit into his new weight.

In Jackson’s Missouri/Illinois dual meet Challenge on Wednesday, no one came particularly close to Jackson’s big man — a standout two-sport athlete who was also recently named the 2024 SEMO North Conference Lineman of the Year, as well as a Class 6 All-State selection in football.

Wessell decked Marion’s Logan Black in just 32 seconds before pinning Carbondale’s Jordyn Lomax-Brown with a cement mixer at the 1:32 mark and receiving a forfeit against Murphysboro inside the Jackson Senior High School gymnasium.

“The most impressive thing about Brysen is how good a young man he is,” head coach Steve Wachter said. “Not only on the mat, but off the mat. Extremely respectful and works hard, cares about everybody. I mean, he's really an outstanding person as well as a wrestler. So, that's probably the main thing about Brysen that I really like, but he's gotten so much stronger and getting more confident all the time.”

And while Wessell is busy making headlines, so is his team.

The Indians are 5-0 in dual meets this season to go along with a second-place finish at the Francis Howell North Tournament and a first-place finish at the Farmington Scramble Tournament this past weekend.

On Wednesday, Jackson raced to a clean 3-0 sweep over its three Illinois opponents — Marion, Murphysboro and Carbondale — and beating each team by 27 points or more.

In the 75-0 shutout victory over Marion, the Indians picked up bonus-point victories in 12 of 13 contested bouts. The most entertaining match of the dual came at 126 pounds between Jackson junior Graidy Rice and Marion’s Riddick Cook. Tied 6-6 late in the second period, Rice, who bumped up from 120, hit a slick counter duck under takedown with 20 seconds remaining in the frame to take a 9-6 lead. Then in the third period, Rice secured a tight underhook and hip tossed Cook flat on his back for a pin at the 4:50 mark.

While the Indians pounded Carbondale 62-12, they were more tested at several weights. At 150 pounds, promising sophomore Caleb Schlick fell to Carbondale’s Tyshawn Welch 3-2 after surrendering a double-leg takedown at the edge of the boundary with 10 seconds left in the match. One bout later, Jackson’s Sawyer Goodwin won the match of the dual when he pinned Jon Martin with a crossface cradle after trailing 7-4 entering the final period.

The closest dual of the young season so far came in a 49-22 win over Murphysboro in the finale, where Jackson won nine of 14 bouts. Schlick and Goodwin notched back-to-back pins at 150 and 157 before senior Matthew May grinded out a 4-3 win at 165. May scored a match-tying takedown with 10 seconds left in the second period before getting a free escape and fending off several of his opponent’s shot attempts in the third to pull away with a win.

“Overall, we wrestled really tough,” Wachter said. “We have kids that are going to be making weight cuts and they've been cutting this week for this weekend at KCI, but I bumped them up for tonight. So, sometimes when you make those weight cuts and then you have to wrestle up, it's a little bit tough.”

Jackson will return to action this weekend when the Indians compete in the 2024 Kansas City Stampede Tournament on Friday, Dec. 20, and Saturday, Dec. 21.

Jackson JV makes history

Wednesday night was a historic one for the Jackson wrestling community. After blowing out Carbondale 71-6 and Marion 78-0, the Indians’ junior varsity team set a state-record 300th straight dual meet victory.

Wachter said that the historic milestone is a testament to the wrestling family, as well as Jackson’s developmental club “Optimist” and the dedicated coaches who have helped the many wrestlers put in the work behind the scenes.

“It's really a tribute to the community because it's a culture here,” Wachter said. “It's not just me and Coach (Jerry) Golden, but Coach (Lance) Schlick had run USA club and now Cody is. We have a bunch of Optimist coaches and a large number of them have contributed coaching the younger kids over all the years. In the 1980s, I ran the Optimist League, and that's where I had a lot of other coaches that were committed that came in. So, it's not just one coach or two coaches, it’s really a community. We call it our wrestling family that we have, but that's what's made it.”

Wachter recognized in front of home crowd

Jackson head wrestling coach Steve Wachter gets recognized for his National Wrestling Hall of Fame induction before the Missouri/Illinois Challenge on Wednesday, Dec. 18. Kaiden Karper ~ kkarper@semoball.com

Before the action began on Wednesday evening, Wachter was recognized on the center mat after being inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame on October 20.

Now in his 43rd year as the head coach of the storied Jackson program, Wachter has accumulated a dual meet record of 259-17-1, while helping the Indians produce 18 undefeated regular seasons, 122 conference championships, 79 state medalists, and seven state champions.

“It means an awful lot because of the people that are in there,” Wachter said. “I’ve been around them and got a lot of help from those people that are already in the Hall. So, I mean, it makes me feel very honored and I'm very proud to be a part of it, but I'm smart enough and old enough to know that I wouldn't be there without my assistant Coach Golden and I wouldn't be there without all my other coaches that I have. I also wouldn't be there without the parent support and the people in the community, and the school has always been great to me. They've been real positive and back me up all the time. So, I have a lot and then, of course, my wife and my family. You can't ever forget about them. So, I've been very fortunate, very lucky. I've been very blessed.”