The Waterloo High School wrestling team only has one major hurdle in its bid for a Mississippi Valley Conference title: themselves.

The Bulldogs are sitting in a stellar position — they were ranked 11th in the state in the most recent Class 2A poll.

But their biggest challenge may be staying on the mats.

“We are just a little hurt,” head coach Pat Stewart said Monday. “We’ve got an injury at 182 (pounds) with (Kory) Schaefer. He’s been out for a while with his shoulder. We had one kid miss weight tonight, so he didn’t wrestle. We’ll be back at it Thursday night against East Alton-Wood River and Cahokia at home.”

Monday night, the ‘Dogs kept their record-setting pace going with two more wins to improve to 11-2 in dual matches on the season. They beat conference foes Civic Memorial, 46-19, and Jerseyville, 40-31.

“We figured we would go up and win these two duals,” Stewart said. “We are kind of where we need to be as this is our best start ever at 11-2.”

Before the season started, Stewart said that he hoped the team would win the conference championship. This could be the year that it happens, as Stewart noted that perennial powerhouse Triad is not as good as in previous years.

“They’re kind of down a little bit this year, which is good for our sake,” Stewart said. “It’s our year to capitalize on it. We still have got to get through Highland and Mascoutah. But I think we will beat both of them.”

In Monday’s matches, senior Austin Stewart kept his stellar season in check with two more wins. He improved to 22-6 on the season. Junior Dylan Siebenberger notched two more wins to improve to 16-4 overall. Senior Max Jennings also won two matches.

Corey Cissell won both of his matches, while twin brother Cody Cissell split his. Stewart said that he lost to one of the top five wrestlers in the state. Korey Johnson moved up to the 220-pound weight class for Monday’s meet and split his matches.

A welcome sight on the floor was the return of Bryce Kirk, who had been injured. He now stands at 11-4 after his wins.

“He won both of his matches, which is good,” coach Stewart said. “It’s good to have him back in the lineup.”

Coach Stewart did say he wasn’t happy with his team’s overall performance in the last tournament. Waterloo finished 14th in the Lincoln Invitational on Dec. 29-30. Last year, the Bulldogs took fifth place.

Austin Stewart took first place in the 152-pound class at the tourney. He pinned three of the four wrestlers he faced. Mack Mundy took fifth place in the 145-pound weight class.

He avenged his loss in the quarterfinals by beating the same opponent for fifth place.
But it was a tough tournament for the Bulldogs.

“It just kind of hurt us a little bit not wrestling too well up at Lincoln as a team,” coach Stewart said. “But we did go up there with some injuries. We had two kids out of the lineup who would have scored some points for us.”

The only team in Waterloo’s way this year is themselves. The team has three more dual matches left, five more conference duals and one tournament in Quincy remaining.

“Hopefully we can be a little healthier heading up to Quincy and competing up there,” coach Stewart said. “We just have got to heal. We need to step up and wrestle a little better in some spots or we aren’t going to be where we want to at the end. I’m pleased overall, but we could be a little bit better than we are right now.”