Head coach Kevin Dill is familiar with raw talent coming out of nowhere, and making a name for themselves in their first year on his wrestling team. Last year, graduate Dillon Fox qualified for State in his first year ever wrestling. Now from Washington High School in Iowa, sophomore Ben Bohr has made a name for himself. It all started by outmatching O’Fallon Christian’s best wrestler, who was a top wrestler at State last season, in the Pirates’ tri-meet with Lutheran. Since then, Bohr has been ranked second in the state for his weight class of 106, but he’s not paying attention to the title.

“Rankings don’t matter at all, the last meet matters and that’s State,” Bohr said.

Not only has he brought intensity to the meets, his fellow teammates have said Bohr has brought a whole new mentality to their practices. Junior AJ Clutter, who has qualified for State the past two years, loves the competition the new guy has brought to the program.

“[He] brings a new tempo, fills the gaps that we didn’t have,” Clutter said. “Our team was going to improve no matter what, we have a new motor this year.”

The Pirates are hoping to send Bohr and Clutter to State as well as sophomore Cody Thorne, who is coming off a foot injury he suffered during football season. One asset they will unfortunately miss this season is junior Jordan Kestner, who recently had surgery on a torn labrum and bicep tendon and a dislocated shoulder he suffered during a match.

“It sucks cause I had a chance to place at State,” Kestner said. “But it also takes away from my teammates like AJ and Ben, who need competition outside of the meets.”

Dill is confident in his varsity wrestlers to make it there and go deep into the tournament.

“All our guys returning, I expect them to qualify to State. This year’s the year we bring home some medals,” Dill said.

“[We] just have to keep practicing, focusing during practice and not goof around,” senior Donnie Payne said.

The time away from meets will be crucial for the team, especially with one of their most-experienced wrestlers in Kestner out for the season. But the other varsity wrestlers, specifically Bohr, will never let anything get in the way of their ultimate goal.

“He brings an example of what we want to see in a wrestler every day with his work ethic,” Dill said.

“We have to keep the intensity up on the mats, it keeps the pace up and breaks your opponents down mentally,” Bohr said. “You’ve got to have confidence, don’t settle for anything less.”