Mike Slyman Keeps State Championship All in the Family

Michael Slyman, a Lindbergh High School junior, achieved his at the state championship wrestling tournament at the Mizzou Arena Saturday when he not only won the state championship, but one-upped his dad.

“This was the goal all along,” Slyman said. “We set that goal at the beginning of the year, and he stayed on track.”

Slyman defeated Timberland’s Jesse Freise 2-0 in the 152-pound bracket to win the state championship as a junior. His father, Mike Slyman, who is Lindbergh's athletic director and a legendary wrestler at the school in the 1970s, was a second place finisher in his junior year.

Mike Slyman has been coaching his son since he was five years old. Back then, they were wrestling in the basement. Saturday night, the stage was much bigger as father and son celebrated young Slyman's first state championship.

“We were in the back and I told him to just have fun,” Slyman said. “That made it nice. I know he was calm, and I was calm, too.”

It wasn’t the first goal the father and son have accomplished together, and it probably won’t be the last. As Slyman said: “It was awesome.”

Overall, Lindbergh finished tied for 13th place with 38.5 points.