Hard work pays off for William Monroe wrestling team

Saturday was a day of good news for William Monroe grapplers.
Eight wrestlers qualified to advance to regional competitions and Mike Sizemore was named coach of the year by his peers at the Jefferson District Wrestling Tournament held at Louisa County High School on Saturday, February 7th.
Wrestlers had to place fourth or better to advance to the Region II tournament, which will be held Friday and Saturday, February 13 and 14, at Park View Sterling High School. The eight qualifiers are:
• 103 weight class: sophomore Calvin Biesecker, 3rd place in the JD tournament
• 112-weight class: freshman Perrin Mills, 3rd place
• 119-weight class: freshman Adam Weisenborn, 4th place
• 140-weight class: senior Deonne Kenney, 2nd place
• 145-weight class: senior Chris McCann, 4th place
• 152-weight class: freshman Doug Sizemore, 4th place
• 171-weight class: sophomore Ben Sizemore, 4th place
• 189-weight class: sophomore Zach Cummings, 4th place
Freshman Ryan Roman qualified as the fifth place alternate in the 160-pound weight class.
The wrestling program is in just its second year at William Monroe
"I am extremely excited, pleased and proud with the efforts of my wrestlers," said Sizemore. "We exceeded our expectations for the year. Last year, we had no regional qualifiers (one came in as an alternate). Going from zero qualifiers to eight is a nice job by the wrestlers."
But it's not over, says Sizemore.
"As far as I'm concerned, we've got one more week of practice to get better. We might go beyond our wildest dreams and qualify for the state tournament."
As for receiving Coach of the Year honors, Sizemore says: "To be honored as coach of the year that's a nice little positive for myself.”
But he’s not about to ease up, says Sizemore.
“We’re certainly not going to rest on what we've accomplished. We've got a lot more work to do, starting this week and on to the next year. We always want to set our sights a little higher each year."
He continued: "What we really want to see for William Monroe wrestling --the only way we'll get better as a program -- is to have as many Greene County youth as possible become involved with wrestling. Let the word be known: William Monroe is off and running with the wrestling program."