High school wrestling catching on in Mississippi
Feb. 18—Wrestling is catching on fast in Mississippi.
The fledgling sport will hold its dual team state tournament today at the Mississippi School for the Blind. The individual championships are next weekend at St. Andrew's High School.
Eighteen schools — nine in the north, nine in the south — have fielded wrestling teams this season. That includes Oxford, which had five grapplers win at the North half meet.
This is the Chargers' first season on the mats, and they're coached by Konrad Ernst. His assistant is Brandon Beckerdite, who helped jumpstart the sport three years ago when he and Tupelo's Brian Cox formed the Mississippi Wrestling Foundation.
"We started Oct. 10, and they've been hitting the mat rolling, and we've been doing great," Beckerdite said of the Chargers. "They've embraced us coaches and believe in the system and the culture we've been building here in Oxford."
Beckerdite started wrestling when he was 4 years old and competed in Illinois during high school. He's been living in Oxford for 11 years and believes the sport can thrive in this area.
"Wrestling attracts the kids that need this sport, if you get what I'm saying," he said. "It's your rougher kids, your kids that need an outlet to get out that anger, that energy, that frustration. I mean, all walks of life come through wrestling, but this is one of those outlets for kids who don't have anything or haven't grown up playing baseball their whole life. They can come do this, and we can make them good at this pretty quick."
More than 400 athletes have taken up wrestling in the state, most of them boys. There are 14 weight classes for boys, ranging from 106 pounds to 275 pounds.
Wrestling will be sanctioned by the Mississippi High School Activities Association starting next season. Beckerdite said he's had several good conversations with MHSAA executive director Rickey Neaves about the sport's future.
During wrestling's debut season last year, nine schools competed. That number doubled this year, and more schools are showing an interest in adding the sport.
"Now we've got schools calling us, saying, 'We've heard how awesome this is and how much everybody's loving it. How do we get to be a part of it?' Now it's just finding these teams and finding these schools that want to be a part of it," Beckerdite said.
