Michael Smith
The North Kansas City girls wrestling team could be one to look out for in the high school girls wrestling landscape.
The Hornets had an impressive showing in Saturday’s Coffman Girls Invitational Tournament at Truman High School.
The Hornets dominated, scoring 178 points to take first place as a team. Kansas City Center was second with 124.5 points and Truman was third with 70.
Northtown had a whopping seven wrestlers who came away with first-place finishes in their weight divisions and two others placing in the top three.
“Our team has definitely grown a lot since last year,” Northtown sophomore Anh Ngo said. “We have been working really hard inside the wrestling room. I am pretty proud of our team.”
The Coffman Invitational was a warmup for Northtown as it will be competing in one of the most difficult tournaments in the Midwest, the Kansas City Stampede, which will take place this Saturday.
Ngo (120 pounds) could be someone who could contend for a top eight spot at the Stampede. On Saturday, she was dominant as she won all of her matches by a first-period pin, including one over West Platte’s Addison Bailey in the championship match.
“I was pretty happy,” Ngo said. “It was not particularly hard or anything but I have been putting in a lot of work during the summer. I was working on setting up my shots since I didn’t do that well last year.”
Returning state medalist Paige Strauch (170), a junior, could be someone who could compete for a state championship for the Hornets and is a key piece to the team. On Saturday, she finished 5-0 with two pins in 46 and 31 seconds in her final two matches to earn a gold medal….
