TIFTON — They’re not in Tift County anymore. Blue Devils wrestlers K.J. Wilcox and Mori Alexander committed last week to compete at Northwest Kansas Technical College.
“They have a great opportunity in front of them to go to school, get an education,” said TCHS wrestling head coach Shawn Watson. “The second part of it, they get a chance to continue doing a sport that they love.”
Watson said the pressure will be on them even more in college. “They’ll be representing our ’T’, our school and our program,” he said. Watson wants their future coaches to be proud they recruited out of Tift County.
Northwest Kansas is located in Goodland. It’s a two-year school competing in the NJCAA, part of the Kansas Jayhawk Community College Conference.
After thanking God and his mom, Wilcox had a story to tell. When he first approached Watson about joining the team, Wilcox reflected that Watson probably figured he was all talk.
Wilcox turned in an outstanding year that saw him win the Region 1-6A title (a 13-4 decision) at 126 pounds and finish third at sectionals.
“I did what I said I was going to do,” he said. “We ended up having a good run this year,” Wilcox said, referring to Tift’s team region titles in both duals and traditional formats.
Alexander thanked God in his speech. He admitted he never thought he would be in the position to go halfway across America to wrestle. Watson and coaches kept him motivated, Alexander said. “Hard work pays off.”
He started his career as a heavyweight, but trimmed down to 175 pounds for his senior season.
Watson advised Alexander and Wilcox to make the most of their opportunity