There are some real good eighth-graders coming up. We return almost a full squad with state championship experience, and when they graduate, the ones replacing them will be tougher than your average sophomore.

If you're a state champ at this level, you keep wrestling the same guys all the way up. So if you just stay where you are (placement wise), you're a state champ, but you always want to improve.

We're real excited about sending 11 to state. We also got a big boost from our junior varsity wrestlers, which is what you need to win a district championship.

Our fourth-graders were very successful. They had just about the same passing rate as our eighth-graders, even though they had to achieve at a higher standard. We have to figure out how to have the same success at eighth grade.

We probably had 20 or 25 third- to eighth-graders just wanting a picture taken with her when we got back to the pep assembly (on Sunday). What this is going to do for my program the next few years ...

This has always been a dream of mine and this is as good as winning a state championship, but it would have been nice to win both.