The Fulton Hornets loaded up at the last two Class 2, District 2 wrestling championships, emerging with consecutive team titles and a combined 23 state qualifiers.
Those impressive totals were the launching point for Fulton's remarkable runs to second- and third-place finishes in Class 2 in 2015 and 2016, respectively.
Fulton head coach Eric Hudson isn't quite sure how to gauge the collective prospects for his eight Hornet wrestlers at this year's District 2 championships, which begin at 6 tonight at St. Charles West High School. Wrestling will continue at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
"I have a hard time knowing what to expect," Hudson said before practice Wednesday afternoon. "We have kids who have experience - they've been to the tournament before, placed before, so I think that their chances are obviously higher because they've dealt with the situation before.
" Our kids are pretty loose and ready to compete, and I feel like we've done a lot to get ready for it. I expect us to go in and compete well, but as far as how many we get through (to state), I have no idea."
The Hornets will be led this weekend by a quartet of seasoned wrestlers - junior Tucker Caswell at 132 pounds, seniors Brandon Dews and Devan Hudson at 126 and 138, respectively, and junior Colton Bristol at 170.
Caswell is 30-2 on the season and ranked No. 1 at 132 pounds by missouriwrestling.com, while Dews (23-5) is No. 5 at 126.
"Tucker's had some tough matches where he's been able to come out on top. We went to Hickman and learned quite a bit by going to that tournament, a couple of things that we could have fixed where we could have won matches," Hudson said. " I like where he's at - we have been cognizant of weaknesses and worked to improve those. Tucker's done a lot of work on his own, so whatever Tucker gets will certainly be well-deserved.
"Brandon's got to go out and be aggressive, and wrestle well, and do the things he's always done well - put people in bad position and get falls. I'm hopeful that he will go in and just be aggressive, and not even worry about, and know this is his last opportunity and he might as well go out with a bang."
Bristol is ranked No. 3 at 170 pounds with a 12-4 mark, but hasn't wrestled since early January when he suffered a labrum injury in his shoulder. He was recently cleared to compete after getting a second evaluation, but still might need offseason surgery.
Devan Hudson, meanwhile, has a 17-14 record at 138 pounds.
"He (Bristol) is going to hop in there and we're going to see what he can do," Eric Hudson said. "He looks OK in practice and I ask him how he feels, and he says it bothers him a little bit, but it's just kind of is what it is.
"Devan's going to have to wrestle well. We've battled a lot of injury and sickness this year and he's in good spirits. He's been a great leader for us all this year - it's been good to have him up here in the (practice) room."
Also competing for Fulton will be freshman Jackson Caswell (23-8) at 106 pounds, junior Jacob Kern (14-9) - who's also been battling a labrum injury - at 145, junior Solomon Huff (19-14) at 120, and senior Cameron Vititoe (15-17) at 182.
Eric Hudson expects a pair of North Central Missouri Conference foes - second-ranked Mexico and No. 10 Moberly - to be the top challengers for the District 2 team championships. The tournament field is also made up of host St. Charles West, Christian, John Burroughs, Kirksville, McCluer South-Berkeley, Miller Career Academy, Missouri Military Academy, Normandy Collaborative, Orchard Farm, Priory, Soldan International Studies, Vashon and Winfield.
"We haven't seen a lot of those other teams, we don't know what they've got," Hudson said. "Sometimes it comes down to matchups and what those other teams do with those matchups.
"We're just going to have to see. For us, it would be nice to say that we're going to sneak in and maybe bring home a second-place trophy, or something like that. There will have to be a lot of things that fall into place."