There may not be a more dominant team in Missouri in recent years than Liberty.
The perennial powerhouse has won five consecutive state championships and haven’t been challenged by any team in Class four in that time period.
Head coach Dustin Brewer and his grapplers hope to extend that state championship streak to six this year but they’ll have to do it without three of their top wrestlers from last year’s team.
Three-time state champion Hunter Taylor and four-time state champion Gavin Linsman both graduated and were among the best pound-for-pound wrestlers in the state. Both were staples of the Liberty program and will leave behind some huge voids in the Blue Jays lineup.
Senior Isaiah Hung, who won his first state championship last season as a 215-pounder, is not listed on the Liberty roster on MSHSAA.org. He committed to South Dakota State as edge rusher and linebacker.
So Liberty will enter the 2024-25 season with three of its four state champions from last season, but still return a good amount of talent and have some talented freshmen entering the fray.
“We’re going to be a young team,” Brewer said. “We are probably going to have more freshmen in our lineup than we have ever had. We have some guys that have come off injuries that will be in our lineup. We are going to have a competitive lineup. We are going to have some growing pains in the beginning, but I think we will be ready to go by districts.”
Senior Peyton Westpfahl is the lone returner who has a state championship under his belt. He finished the 2023-24 season with a 40-4 record and he dominated his bracket at state, getting pins in three of his four matches in the 175-pound bracket.