The contingent of Belton Pirates girls wrestlers on the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals grew this year.
Coach Greg Linhart had nine go this year, two more than a past trip to the Fargodome in Fargo, North Dakota.
The return trip to the south part of the metro featured two All-Americans — one more than last year.
Malena Borja and Ellie Drennon took home those honors, but for the Belton program this was a building block, Linhart said.
Also there were Jackie Penaloza, Africa Fabian, Sydney Stifter, Abigail Hayes, Kendall Driscoll, Aryna Roberts and Auriana Anzaldua.
Stifter went 4-2 and lost in the consolation quarterfinals, a win shy of a medal.
While most of them didn’t have the success they wanted, there was a silver lining.
“The big part is the experience, the camp life and learning techniques from other coaches,” Linhart said. “It’s getting the relationships with other kids and other coaches from across the state. (Fargo) gives the kids an opportunity to hear the same thing, but from a different coach. Hearing the same thing from me time after time gets repetitive, and they’re like, ‘Well, do I really believe that or not?’ But when they hear it from another coach, it’s like, ‘Man, Linhart says the same thing so obviously this is something we need to work on.”
Drennon said she met people from the state she had never met before preparing for the trip.
“Fargo is the biggest tournament in America,” the Belton coach said. “If you are competing there, then district next year at Monett High School or wherever they are going to be at should be a piece of cake. Going from a big tournament like Fargo with 30 mats to a small district tournament with like two mats … it’s all about preparation for the next step.”
Of the nine girls that went to North Dakota, seven of them will be back in the Pirates lineup next year.
Fabian (110), Roberts (145) and Borja (235) were state qualifiers in the 2025-26 season. The two that won’t return are Stifter and Penaloza, both seniors who were also state qualifiers.
Linhart said the loss by Stifter at Fargo was a tough one to swallow as she lost in the blood round for the second year in a row. Both of her losses were to All-Americans: Eva Zimmerman from Utah and Summer Mutschler from Maryland.
However, coming home with two All-Americans is a big stepping stone for Belton.
“Ellie was kind of the surprise one because she was the underdog, so for her to go out and persevere and knock off a couple of girls she probably shouldn’t have knocked off was big,” Linhart said. “I don’t think either of them really knows what kind of accomplishment that is, honestly. It’s a pretty big deal.”
A big turning point has been the mental aspect of it. Linhart said technique and conditioning are a vital part, but instilling the winning mindset and how the wrestlers believe in themselves will turn into better outcomes.
“We focus a lot on the mindset part of the sport,” he said.
Looking ahead to the 2026-27 season
With Fargo in the rearview mirror, the start of the MSHSAA 2026-27 season. The week of Nov. 1 is the start of practice for girls wrestling, with the boys starting the following week. The first day of competition can be Nov. 15.
Belton took 11th in the Class 2 meet last year with 65 points.
Even with the success at the national level at either Southern Plains, for Women’s National Duals, or USA Wrestling Folkstyle or Fargo, Linhart knows the Pirates will see tough competition at state next year.
He mentioned Kearney, Nixa, Wentzville Holt and Willard among top contenders. Nixa is the reigning Class 2 champion, while fellow Central Ozark Conference schools Willard took second and Republic was 8th.
“The best thing we can do is worry about ourselves and be the best version of Belton that we can represent and just give the best that we can get because it’s tough,” Linhart said. “It’s really tough in Missouri. Hopefully this can push us to bring home a team trophy of some sort next year.”
Belton has never brought home a team trophy since the sport started in the 2018-19 season.
However, Belton, as a whole, hasn’t had a lot of luck in girls sports. The only trophy is a runner-up finish in softball in 2024.
For reference, girls basketball has made the playoffs once, girls soccer has never had the postseason, softball has been to the postseason times since 1980 and the volleyball team’s lone postseason trip was in 1989.
So, Linhart’s squad has a chance to make some magic.
The next part is waiting to see if they will be in Class 2 or Class 3.
MSHSAA adds an extra class this year and Belton is projected to be at the cutline, so they could be one of the largest Class 2 schools or the smallest Class 3 schools.
The state will release assignments on Nov. 20.
However, the expansion shows how wrestling went from one class in the 2018-19 season to now three.
The change also means the girls will not wrestle at the same tournament as the boys for the first time. The Class 1-3 girls finals will be held Feb. 18-20 at Hearnes Center in Columbia.
“So it’s good for the sport and it’s good for the girls to get more opportunities and more medals, more state champions and teams,” Linhart said.