More than 500 wrestlers packed the gym at Battle High School, a testimony to the surging popularity of the sport. The tournament was cancelled last year because of COVID-19. This year’s event went off with no restrictions, just seven weeks before the state championships return to Columbia after a one-year transplanting to Independence, also because of COVID.
Lebanon, the defending state champion, appears on track to repeat after winning at Battle with 229 points, well ahead of runner-up Cassville (156 points). Nixa took third (134) and Washington fourth (122). Eureka had 73 points.
“I’ve told the girls mentally you want them prepared, but this is bigger than the state meet,” Eureka head coach Mark Gentry said. “It was a really well-put-together tournament. It’s the largest high school tournament that I know of. It gives you a chance to test yourself against the best of the best. Just to survive Day 1 was an accomplishment for a lot of the girls.”
The growth of girls wrestling in the state has been nothing short of remarkable. In the first year (2018-2019), there were 912 female wrestlers. This year that number ballooned to 1,637. State officials already have said that girls wrestling will split into two classes next season.
“It shows you beginning girls wrestling was a good idea,” Gentry said. “The affirmation is in the numbers. This is the fastest-growing sport in the country. I’m an old dinosaur and this was a paradigm shift for me, but once I saw what was going on I jumped in with both feet. Like all tournaments, it showed the girls where they’re at and what the coaches need to focus on in the wrestling room. This tournament gives us a lot of data.”
As an example of how tough the double-elimination brackets were, Eureka junior Lilly McCollum, a two-time state qualifier who finished fourth in the state at 102 pounds last year, almost didn’t make it to the medal stand at Battle. In the second round at 100 pounds, McCollum (11-3) lost a 4-1 decision to Troy Buchanan freshman Zoey Haney, who ended up losing a 6-2 decision in the final to Nixa senior Ashlyn Eli (20-0), last season’s state champion at 102. McCollum won three matches in the loser’s bracket to go 4-3 for the tournament and finished eighth.
“There are those unknown factors and she faced a freshman who’s really solid in all three positions, and that’s why (Haney) made it to the finals,” Gentry said. “Lilly made one error and when you’ve got kids that closely matched, one transition can lose a match and that was the case. It took her a round to shake that one off.”
The other Wildcats competing at Wonder Woman were Lilly’s sister, junior
Avery, at 125, senior Emily Neumann (135), freshman Amina Phillip (141), senior Faith Ruoff (149), junior Florida Niyokusenga (159), senior Harper Wood (174) and freshman Addison Neumann (194).
Emily Neumann (15-2) pinned her first two opponents before Lebanon junior Bailey Joiner (20-2) beat her by fall in the quarterfinals. Neumann fought her way through the consolation bracket before losing to Joiner again, 9-8, in the third-place match. The champion at 135 pounds was Clinton freshman Amitria McNack (22-0), one of the many rising young stars at the meet. She pinned all five opponents she faced, four of them in less than 65 seconds.
Niyokusenga (11-3), a powerful wrestler, received byes in the first three rounds. When she finally took the mat, she was pinned by another freshman, Nixa’s Calyese Dupree, who reached the final before being stuck by Fort Osage junior Haley Ward (23-0), the returning state champion at 151.
The Eureka girls and boys teams were both scheduled to wrestle in
duals with Rockwood rivals Lafayette and Marquette this week, after the Leader deadline, with the girls then competing in Lafayette’s Fred Ross Invitational on Saturday.