Every year, the bar is set high for the Oxford Middle School wrestling team. Wrestling might not be big everywhere, but it is here in Oxford and the kids know it’s a tradition for Wildcats to do well on the mat.

“We have very high expectations at our program but, in many respects, we exceeded expectations this year,” said Head Coach Jack Beall. “Last year we were a very, very talented team and lost many of our kids to the high school. So, I think a lot of people were kind of overlooking us a little bit. But not my kids, because they have come to expect to do well.”

This season’s group of athletes rose to the occasion and became the OAA champs for the fourth consecutive year, took second in the Chatterson Tournament and became Oakland County’s first-ever three-peat champs.

The Wildcats have won the county meet six times and took down South Lyon United this year to make tournament history. Though South Lyon led most of the day, Oxford slowly chipped away at their lead.

“We kind of just kept doing our thing and knew that we weren’t going to have a ton of first places, and that was never really the strategy,” Beall said.

Down at one point by 65 points, Oxford took the county crown and got individual county titles for Lukas Smith, Tate Myre, Judah Winkleman and Marco Vackaro.

While they expected to win the tournament, being the first-ever three-peat champs meant a lot to the athletes.

“In our level of wrestling, each year is kind of a new year,” Beall said. “So, for them to say they were a three-peat is big. I only had (one kid) who was on all three teams. You know, I’ve only got them for three years.”

That one kid to compete on all three teams is Coen Everhard, who is now the only middle school wrestler in Oakland County who can say he’s been on three county champion teams.

On the day of the tournament, Beall said kids who pulled out important, expectation-exceeding match wins were captain Jacob Massie, Brady Drake, RJ Clark and Ryan Bauer.

Though it’s always hard to say goodbye to the eight-graders, Beall said he will have a lot of returning talent from this year’s sixth-grade class, which is led by Luke Johnson.

“Our sixth-grade class contributed to our success a lot this year,” Beall said. “I would say that this is the most that a sixth-grade class has really played a part in our success since I’ve been here.”