By JESSE TEMPLE
jtemple@muncie.gannett.com

YORKTOWN — Like he does every year around this time, Yorktown wrestling coach Trent McCormick recently held a preseason banquet for his team to kick off another year of Tigers wrestling.

McCormick, in his 22nd year as coach, addressed the usual goals and expectations, delivering his message in front of more than 100 wrestlers, siblings and parents in the school cafeteria.

Then, he did something he does not normally do. He showed those in attendance the rings.

There was the team championship ring he earned as a junior in 1985 as a wrestler at Delta, the second-place team ring in 1986 and the individual wrestling championship ring he snagged as a senior in ’86. Rings typically are reserved for top two team and individual finishers at state.

But McCormick’s three-ring show-and-tell session wasn’t about gloating. It served a different purpose.

“I held those up and said, ‘I want you to feel what I felt,’ ” McCormick recalled. “ ‘That special feeling. And you can do that. We have the potential if we do the right things this year.’ ”

You see, this year is not like most seasons at Yorktown. And McCormick knows it. Yes, the Tigers consistently maintain lofty expectations and possess the horses to qualify individuals at state on a regular basis.

This season, however, the Tigers believe they have more than horses in the stable. They think they’ve got thoroughbreds, with enough skill from top to bottom to go where no Tigers team has gone before: The Indiana high school wrestling final four.

Twice before, Yorktown has reached the quarterfinals of the team state tournament. In both instances, 2000 and 2001, the Tigers lost in the opening round. And individually, no Yorktown wrestler has captured a state title since 1979.

Climbing both hurdles appears to be a realistic goal this season.

“I honestly have never seen such a great compilation of wrestlers, even on the national teams that I’ve been on,” said senior Trent Castner, who will wrestle at 171 pounds. “All of these wrestlers have the potential to go to state, I’m sure.”

Yorktown is ranked No. 9 in the preseason coaches’ poll. The Tigers also are coming off their second consecutive team title at the Disney Duals at Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Florida. Yorktown won the small class team title, comprised of schools from all over the country.

Individually, Yorktown is equally strong, with eight wrestlers returning after placing in the top four at regionals.

Senior Derek Bevans enters the year ranked as the No. 3 wrestler at 125 pounds a season after going 42-4 to finish sixth at state in the 119-pound weight class. Junior Andrew Heistand received a preseason No. 3 ranking at 135 pounds. He polished off a 38-5 sophomore campaign with a sixth-placing showing at 125 pounds.

And senior Ross Janney also holds a preseason No. 3 rank at the 285-pound heavyweight division after finishing 37-6 in the same weight class last year.

Other Yorktown wrestlers who cracked the state-wide top 15 are Jake Anderson (12th, 119 pounds), Devon Jackson (eighth, 130 pounds), Caleb Smith (15th, 152 pounds) and Castner (12th, 171 pounds).

In total, the team has 13 seniors, nine of whom are in the Yorktown starting lineup.

Given all those numbers, there certainly is reason for higher-than-usual expectations at Yorktown.

Of course, talk is cheap. The Tigers will get their first glimpse of exactly where they stand when their season begins Nov. 28 against Peru.

“It’s easy to talk about all our goals,” said senior Cody Harper, who will wrestle at 145 pounds. “But we have to start putting in the hard work to get those goals accomplished.”

Do that, and perhaps a team championship ring is waiting for the Tigers come late February.

Contact prep sports reporter Jesse Temple at 213-5807.