Twaddle named top All-Winter athlete
DAILY FORUM FILE PHOTO
Maryville wrestler Matt Twaddle, sporting a black eye from the district tournament, gets ready to battle with Clinton’s Adrian Ransom in the first round of the Class 2 Missouri State Wrestling Championships at Mizzou Arena in Columbia. Twaddle beat Ransom to advance to the quarterfinal round..
Matt Twaddle, a senior at Maryville High, said it was about second grade when he first hit the wrestling mat.
“Wrestling has by far meant more than any sport to me,” he said. “It’s given me more in life – a better outlook, work-ethic, dedication, and drive.”
Epitomizing the athlete-from-birth trope, Twaddle attended junior tournaments throughout his youth. He said that his final result at the state tournament last month was a culmination of all the effort he’d exerted since he was in rompers.
For his efforts throughout the 2016-2017 wrestling season, Twaddle has been named Daily Forum’s All-Winter Male Athlete of the Year.
The week after winning the district tournament, Twaddle gritted out a third-place finish in Mizzou Arena. The senior won the quarterfinal match in Columbia by exhilarating 5-3 decision over Sullivan’s Dalton Ward. He lost a 7-2 soul-crushing decision to Pleasant Hill’s Cole Lightfoot in the semifinal.
The three-sport athlete had the distinct pleasure of ending his wrestling career with a pair of victories.
He defeated Eldon’s Dawson Brandt in the consolation semis before defeating Dalton Ward again for the right to the third-highest spot on the podium.
“I definitely wanted to make the most of it and bring home a medal. You’re just trying to enjoy every moment of it and soak it all in, because you know you’re never going to be there again,” Twaddle said. “You want to have the mindset of going down there and taking care of business, but you want to have fun in the process.”
Twaddle said that the future is a bright for a program that he leaves behind. He’s given so much to the program in the past four seasons, and along with the culture-shaping efforts of fellow state-qualifiers Ryan Owens and Jackson Sanders, Maryville wrestling has been gifted with momentum that coach Connor Kellerstrass can carry into the future.
Twaddle’s dad doesn’t know how the constant striving for unachievable, true perfection wouldn’t drive someone mad.
“He’ll come home, hang around for a bit, and sometimes as late as 9 o’clock he’ll go back to the gym,” Matt’s father, Bryan, said. “I’ll tell you the thing about Matt, he’s not a quitter, and that’s a big reason why he’s excelled in sports. He’s always trying to perfect whatever move it is, if it’s a golf swing, a (wrestling) shot, a tackle. He’s been so dedicated in sports, and also especially in school. Even now, he’ll take off and go to the gym at night. I’m thinking, ‘You’re a golfer, I don’t get it.’”
Bryan said that he and Matt’s mother, Sherri, have been on the trail following Matt’s athletic endeavors since he was a little boy. The family has relished everything from pee wee football to a state championship game, kid’s club wrestling to the Columbia podium, and an ambitious junior golf undertaking that took Matt all the way to Sedalia.
“It’s dedication for us too,” Bryan said. “We just try and keep up with him.”
Twaddle finished his wrestling season with a record of 32-9, a Midland Empire championship, a district championship, and – although he didn’t think so at the time – a sweet, sweet bronze medal. He has yet to decide where he will continue his education, but he is interested in the sciences and has been looking at applicable schools in the Kansas City metro.
Kellerstrass said that the family component played a large part in Twaddle’s leading the program to heights it hadn’t seen under his tenure.
“Matt has always been successful throughout his high school career. I think a huge factor in his success was how he began at the youth level and had a great, supportive family along the way,” Kellerstrass said. “Every day during practice, he’d lead by example. During drilling sessions, he’d be helping the younger guys. Often during the live wrestling portion of practice, Matt would be wrestling with some of the coaching staff to keep pushing himself to be better.
“He just strives to be excellent in all areas.”
Twaddle said that getting dumped by Monett in the state championship football game put a small hindrance on his getting rolling on the mat in the early season.
If not for the shattering loss, however, he doesn’t know if his already-exceptional dedication would have hit the fever pitch that allowed him to mount the podium.
He says that the time from making it to state wrestling as a freshman to his time there as a senior was radically different.
“Right after football season, it was a little tough to get going after a hard loss in the state title game,” Twaddle said. “Once we got in there and got going, it was a little easier everyday. We put our heads down and worked as hard as we could.
“It helped. I was able to make a name for myself and finally reach the podium.”
For the 170-pounder, it’s all a matter of the culture he shaped that will stand long after he leaves the double-doors of MHS for the final time.
Twaddle seemingly doesn’t care about individual accolades – he cares about the grit and grind that come along with improving. He cares about his teammates, about his program, and particularly about the level of academics he knows he must achieve in order to turn any far-fetched dream to reality.
Most importantly, Twaddle cares about the people who stood alongside him, eschewing the significant boon of being the most touted of the talented group.
“It’s great to see all the hard work pay off and bring some teammates with me,” Twaddle said. “All my life, I’ve been wrestling and looking forward to standing on that podium. It’s nice to see all that pay off in the end and be up there.
“People started to tune in online in the later rounds and watch those matches, and that can do a lot going forward to get younger kids interested and get the whole thing rolling. Hopefully we can get up to 35 or 40 wrestlers in the room, that’d be incredible someday.”
DAILY FORUM FILE PHOTO
Daily Forum’s All-Winter male athlete of the year Matt Twaddle takes the podium after finishing third at the state tournament. Twaddle finished his season 32-9.
