The Upperman Bees Wrestlers emerged victorious in state championships last week.
Individual states saw four wrestlers qualify for the Bees in the state tournament. Two of the four wrestlers ended up winning state tournaments last week, including Jake Stinnett at 106 pounds and Grady Phelps at 126 pounds. Head Coach Cameron Stinnett said all the kids have put in a tremendous amount of work.
“They all go into the room each day, they work really hard.” Stinnett said. “We just have to try to focus on the message and try to keep their minds where they should be and don’t get too far ahead of themselves and that’s what we’ve done.”
Stinnett said he hopes to attack next season with the same amount of confidence. Upperman returns most of their team heading into next season.
“What’s really impressive to me is you have four kids that qualify for state but you still have a room full of kids come in and help get those guys prepared.” Stinnett said. “A good number of the kids that might have been in that room the last couple weeks, their state journey was over, they weren’t gonna qualify and move on, but they came in and they were good practice partners for our guys that were going and they helped them get the most that they could.”
Stinnett said that his team has showed really good support for the wrestlers that went to state.
“We were fortunate enough to have some depth on our team.” Stinnett said. “It’s a very individual sport but at the same time, it can be a team sport.”
The Bees secured enough team points to qualify for regional dual tournaments after their district tournament performance. Their regular season included the Bees hosting the number one ranked team in the state in Soddy Daisy.
“It was just a great effort all season long,” Stinnett said.