Looking at 2013Division ITeam Ret Qual. 1sts 2nds 3rds 4ths 5ths 6thsSoddy-Daisy 9 1 1 1 1 1 0Cleveland 7 2 0 1 1 0 0Blackman 7 0 1 0 0 0 0Heritge 7 0 0 1 0 0 0 0Beech 6 0 0 0 0 1 0Central 6 0 0 0 0 0 0Pigeon Forge 6 0 0 0 1 0 0Ravenwood 6 0 1 0 0 0 0Walker Valley 6 0 0 0 0 1 0Bradley Central 5 0 0 0 1 0Clarksville 5 0 0 0 1 0 1East Ridge 5 0 0 0 0 0 0Riverdale 5 0 1 0 0 0 0Division IITeam Ret Med 1sts 2nds 3rds 4ths 5ths 6thsBaylor 9 1 3 1 3 1 0Christian Bros. 8 2 2 1 1 1 1Father Ryan 8 0 3 0 3 1 1McCallie 7 1 1 1 2 1 1MBA 6 0 1 1 1 0 3Returning championsDivision I106 -- Chris DeBien, Cleveland113 -- Austin Stevison, Cleveland120 -- Jacob Stevens, Soddy-DaisyDivision II106 -- Elijah Oliver, Christian Brothers113 -- Alex Elsea, McCallie120 -- Adam Connell, McCallie145 -- Kaleb Baker, Christian Brothers220 -- Amos Mason, Brentwood Academy
Some reruns never get old. It's shaping up as more of the same for Tennessee high school wrestling in 2012-13 with Soddy-Daisy and Cleveland taking the early Division I roles as favorites and a four-team race expected with Father Ryan, Christian Brothers, Baylor and McCallie for the Division II championships.
Cleveland won the state title in 2011, skipping past Bradley Central and Soddy-Daisy, and Soddy-Daisy rebounded to win the 2012 crown. The Trojans and Blue Raiders also were the Class AAA state duals finalists with Soddy-Daisy emerging a winner by seven points.
Baylor had an eight-year streak of winning one of the two Division II championships snapped with Christian Brothers, which beat the Red Raiders by a point in the duals semis, taking the duals crown over Father Ryan and then Father Ryan winning the traditional championship.
"Christian Brothers loses three starters. I think they will be by far the next [power] team in the state," McCallie coach Mike Newman said. "Up through 220 they'll be loaded, and they should be especially tough in the lower weights."
The Purple Wave will return four state finalists, two of them champions, and four other eight medalists. But Father Ryan also will have eight medalists back, and McCallie will have seven.
"Christian Brothers had a kid this year that was third in the state in 2011 that couldn't get in the lineup," Newman said.
Baylor also has a 2011 medalist, Cole Holloway, who wasn't in the lineup this year but should be back next season. The former state champion missed almost all of this season because of injuries.
"I wouldn't be surprised if the same four are in a similar fight, but I'd definitely give Christian Brothers the upper hand," Red Raiders coach Ben Nelson said.
His team is losing five-time champion Zach Watson and 152-pound champion Matthew Cate.
"They're losing the heart of their team as far as leadership," Newman said.
But Nelson knows better than anyone what's in his stable.
"I think we have a good group of youngsters and I'm excited about next year," he said.
Cleveland and Soddy-Daisy have similarities to Christian Brothers in that each had a 2011 medalist who wasn't in the 2012 state tournament lineup -- the Blue Raiders' Joel Simpkins, who was third, and the Trojans' Jonah Smith, a 2011 state champion.
"I've been saying for years that we were on a collision course with Soddy-Daisy," Cleveland coach Eric Phillips said. "What I was at the middle school my first three years in Cleveland we were making a lot of national [freestyle] trips and a lot of those [Soddy-Daisy] kids were with us. And when we were not traveling together they showed up at a lot of the same tournaments.
"So, yeah, it's real likely that we're going to be beating each other up again. And I'll probably have one eye on my guys and one eye peeking across the river at what they're doing."
Soddy-Daisy is looking for upper-weight replacements including for Brett Ervin, who spent much of the year at 195 before dropping to 182, state champion Billy Swanson (220) and state third-place finisher Alex Seeley (285).
"We had stopping power in the upper weights and those are going to be big shoes to fill," Trojans coach Steve Henry said. "This year we had clusters where we were pretty solid, and the guys in the lower middle weights and those in the upper weights often competed to see who'd carry the load. The guys in that upper weight cluster really pulled their weight this past weekend."
The Trojans also lose Campbell Lewis, a four-time state champion, but they have a two-time champion back in 120-pound Jacob Stevens, better known among his teammates as "Wild Thing."
Cleveland has champs Chris DeBien (106) and Austin Stevison (113) among its returning seven qualifiers and four medalists, while Soddy-Daisy has five medalists among its nine returning qualifiers.
Contact Ward Gossett at wgossett@timesfreepress.com or 423-886-4765.