The wrestling team has its first dual meets Thursday at the Nest against R.L. Turner and Justin Northwest at 6 p.m with the team looking for early success.

“The expectations have not deviated at all,” head wrestling coach Jason Thurston said. “We graduated 21 kids last year, so a lot of teams in the district think Liberty is going to be down but I don’t think so at all.”

The team is ready to begin a new season and compete at the highest level that they can.

“I’m really excited for this season,” senior Tyler Hogg said. “It’s just another year we get to go out and just show our dominance as a team and just go out there and get more awareness about the sport of wrestling.”

The girls team is the largest in the district with 14 girls which has Thurston hoping for success this season.

“On the girls side we are the defending state runner up and we fully expect to win the state title this year,” Thurston said. “We have all 4 of our girls who scored points including Logan who is a state champ, we have two other girls who were third and one who was fourth. For the girls it’s to win district, to win region, and to win the state title.”

The boys team won the State Dual Championship last year and even with the team losing some guys to graduation, there is hope for state placings.

“For the boys we are fully expecting to compete for the state title as well,” Thurstson said. “ We have Jordan who is the defending state champ, we have John Green who was fifth in state last year, we have four or five other guys who we think could absolutely get on the podium at state this year.”

The team starts the season in high gear as it has its first tournament on Friday.

“This year is really about us coming together as a team,” Hogg said. “We have a lot of younger guys who are going to have to learn how to step up, and the older guys are going to have to teach them how to step up, so this year we’re really going to be on top of our game.