It’s the first season the girls have gotten to compete in their own tournament under the direction of the Missouri State High School Activities Association. Their matches will run concurrently with the boys’ meet during the three-day event.
Lafayette won the Class 1 District 1 team title with 121 points on Saturday in St. Clair. Northwest was second with 99. Seckman (sixth, 63 points), De Soto (seventh, 74), Windsor (17th, 26.5), Eureka (19th, 22), Hillsboro (21st, 21), Fox (25th, 18) and Festus (28th, 15) rounded out the team scores from the Leader coverage areas.
Northwest finished its dual-meet schedule with a record of 11-0. Head coach Ron Wilhelm said he had a feeling the district team title would come down to his Lions and the Lancers.
“Absolutely, I did. We wrestled well,” said Wilhelm, who was missing regulars Sophia Peirick and Sierra Thomas because of illnesses. “But we came within 10 points of the title without them and the girls who filled in for them did an excellent job and wrestled their hearts out. Lafayette is ranked No. 1 in the state for a reason. We gave them all they could handle.”
The top three wrestlers in each of the 12 weight classes qualified for state. Three county wrestlers won district championships.
Seckman freshman Madison Conrad won the 126-pound title by pinning Lafayette freshman Derriona Johnson in 3:20.
De Soto junior Hunter Bullock won the next title at 131 with a fall over St. James freshman Emily Light in 3:33.
Dragons sophomore Jaycee Foeller stayed unbeaten (31-0) at 167 by sticking Lafayette sophomore Josette Partney in 1:03.
Despite her national ranking, Foeller said she knew this year wasn’t going to be a breeze. Wrestling over the summer helped her hone her skills.
“It really keeps me in shape so I don’t have to worry about it when the season starts. I just try to improve every day,” said Foeller, who’s only had four bouts go all six minutes this season. “Anybody can have a bad day. Just because I’m ranked No. 1, I don’t let that get to my head.
“I don’t know what the other girls in the other districts are doing, so I’m just going to critique myself.”
Like Foeller, Bullock (30-5) pinned all of her district opponents. Bullock didn’t win any matches last year, competing against mostly boys.
“That girl (Light) put up a fight,” an exuberant Bullock said afterward. “We took turns putting each other on our backs. I was like, ‘I have to get this.’ When she had me on my back, I was praying not to get pinned. When a girl knows how to be heavy, it’s hard to get out. I took her head and rolled her.”
De Soto head coach John Brown was barely audible after yelling encouragement to Bullock during her title match.
“That’s why I lost my voice,” said Brown, who has led the De Soto boys to six straight Jefferson County Activities Association titles. “Hunter threw a head and arm, got (Light) on her back, relaxed and got turned and she stayed on her back for 40 seconds. She tried to do a cradle and her head was hanging over and Hunter pulled her head.”
Brown said Foeller has that natural killer instinct that all state champions possess.
“She wrestles the boys and she’s very aggressive,” Brown said.
Conrad (19-7) won all three of her district matches by fall. She’ll be joined at state by teammate Corrine McClure, a junior 121-pounder. McClure (16-6) won her first two matches with pins, and won a 5-1 decision in the semifinals before being pinned in 2:20 by North County sophomore Makayla Whatley (26-1) in the championship.
Seckman head coach Ryan Moyer said he didn’t know what he was getting himself into when girls started showing up in his wrestling room. Three girls quickly turned into 11, and now two Jaguars are part of the inaugural first class at state. Senior Sarah Murray missed the cutoff after losing in the third-place match at 103.
“I really wished (Sarah Murray) could have won that last match. She’s one of the hardest workers on the team,” Moyer said. “When you get to that bubble match for the boys, that’s a huge match. Here, if you win that match, you still have to win another one.”
Conrad battled through an injury last week to win the district title.
“She pinned her way through the tournament. We’re looking forward to how the state brackets draw up and put together a game plan so we can come home with two state medalists,” Moyer said.
Moyer said McClure’s passion for the sport is evident every time she steps on the mat.
“She goes hard from start to finish,” he said. “We were right in that (finals) match and stepped the wrong way.”
Moyer said this year’s girls laid a solid foundation for the future at Seckman.
“I hope we have 20 to 30 girls next year,” he said. “When we do the walk of champions (at Seckman) right before state, it’s going to be a cool experience for them.”
Two unbeaten wrestlers faced off for the title at 103 when Fox senior Hailie Terry met Lafayette freshman Faith Cole. Terry was 27-0 going into the bout with Cole, who pinned Terry in the first period to improve to 19-0.
“Cole is an all-around tough wrestler,” Fox head coach Tyson Campbell said. “She’s slick on her feet and tough on top. We knew that going in.
“Hailie wrestles a tough schedule and wrestles boys matches for us. She’s had losses on the boys side, so she’s not unfamiliar with losing. She’ll bounce back, put two good weeks of practice and use this as motivation to get ready for the state tournament.”
Windsor sophomore Reilly Baughman (15-4) is a veteran wrestler who’s been going up against boys since her football coach in seventh grade told her she should go out for the sport. Baughman met Festus freshman Kirsten Klein in the third-place match at 110 and won 16-0 by technical fall at 2:55, eliminating the upstart Klein from state contention.
As she waited to receive her medal, Baughman was trembling with a mixture of adrenaline and excitement.
“I’m happy and filled with joy,” she said. “This is the thing I’ve wanted the most. The football coach told me I’d be good at wrestling because I was a defensive end and very good at tackling. I fell in love with the sport.
“I love it because of all the compassion we have for the sport and we want to train as hard as we can.”
Klein reached the third-place match on a bit of a fluke after Mehlville senior Mennatalla Alnamoora was disqualified in the third-round wrestlebacks for biting Klein’s arm.
Klein, who joined the Tigers halfway through the season, laughed off being bitten and missing a trip to state by one place. She didn’t have any wins this season before the district tournament.
“I don’t really know why I joined the team. I had this feeling,” Klein said. “My science teacher (Festus head coach Tom McFarland) told me about it and it sounded like fun. So I went home and told my mom and she was in shock because I’m a (cross country) runner.”
Northwest had the most state qualifiers of area teams with three. Sophomore Emma Spencer (21-14) finished third at 126 pounds after pinning Washington sophomore McKenna Deckelman in 2:19. Deckelman beat Spencer earlier this season.
“She goes from being unseeded to being a state qualifier,” Wilhelm said.
St. James senior Heather Pankey needed just 20 seconds to stick Northwest junior Taylor Murphey in the 136-pound final. Murphey is 28-4 and leads the Lions in wins this season.
“Taylor’s been our top dog all year. We had a feeling she’d get (to state),” Wilhelm said.
Freshman Macie Twine (25-9) was Wilhelm’s surprise state qualifier after Twine came in second at 235 to undefeated Mehlville junior Samantha Apple (25-0), who twisted Twine onto her back for a pin at 3:10.
“Not only did she come out of nowhere, but she probably has the best hips on the team and for a wrestler that’s very important,” Wilhelm said of Twine. “It’s tough to get her out of position. Her only loss was to a girl who’s ranked fourth in the country. Macie is a dangerous person at state.”
Five Hillsboro wrestlers – Joey Madding, freshman, 110; Mikalyn Barciszewski, freshman, 121; Amber Cage, junior, 143; Julianna Johnson, junior, 152; Marissa Hudman, sophomore, 235 – competed in the District 1 tournament, but none of the Hawks finished in the top three.
Barciszewski and Cage were eliminated in the match before the third-place bout.
“I know Cage is going to be upset about it,” Hillsboro head coach Matt Mitchell said. “The great thing is this is her first year wrestling, and I’m proud of her for taking that dive and making it as far as she did. That was the biggest weight class here and the best weight class. She’s right there in the top four or five. She just got caught in a bad position.
“We thought she’d get the fall right away and the longer those matches go, they can go the other way.”
Jags finish second at home
While the Seckman girls were competing in their first own district tournament in St. Clair on Saturday, the boys hosted the Seckman Invitational in Imperial the same day.
“I have a great coaching staff and we’re able to handle two tournaments in the same day because of that,” Moyer said.
Jefferson City won the 15-team field with 310.5 points and Seckman finished second with 291.5. The other county school at the tournament was De Soto, which was sixth with 139.5 points.
The Jaguars captured championships in three of the first four weight classes (106 pounds, 120, 126) and four overall (195).
Seckman sophomore Devin Haag (27-10) won the 106-pound title with a 15-2 major decision over Lee’s Summit freshman Nathan Wishne. Freshman Keagan Miller (28-8) beat Washington junior Ben Griffen in a 14-1 major decision at 120 for the Jags’ second crown. Senior Kai Orine improved to 28-1 with the 126-pound championship with a first-period fall over Washington senior Dana Cates. And senior Blake Fritz won a 9-3 decision over Troy Buchanan senior Jon Hepburn at 195.
Orine is seeking his third straight Class 4 state championship next week.
Sophomore Blake Jost (second, 113); junior Fischer Valleroy (second, 132); sophomore Zachary Warren (third, 138); junior Anthony Chellew (second, 145); freshman Dylan Carlton (fifth, 160); senior Andrew Warren (sixth, 182); sophomore Colton Critchlow (third, 220); and junior Joe Klutho (fourth, 285) were Seckman’s other medalists.
De Soto junior Landon Porter, who was second in the state in Class 3 at 285 in 2018, ran his undefeated record to 31-0 after he pinned Affton senior Nick Hill in 2:33 in the tournament final.
Senior Zachary Stevens (fifth, 126); senior Devin Francis (sixth, 132); sophomore Luke Bradley (fifth, 145); senior Lucas Watson (second, 182); and junior Hunter Lebel (second, 220) won medals for the Dragons.
Seckman is with Fox and Northwest at the Class 4 District 1 tournament at Saint Louis University High on Friday and Saturday. De Soto is in Class 3 District 1 at Farmington on Friday and Saturday with Hillsboro, Festus and Windsor.