The MO West Fire Dragons, a team that consisted of some of the best girls in Missouri had a chance to do something impressive.
It entered a tough Central Cup Dual Tournament, which featured girls wrestlers from Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma Sunday at Belton High School.
The Fire Dragons started off well in their pool bracket, getting 59-12 win over the Midwest Misfitz, a 35-31 victory over Husky WC Navy out of Oklahoma and a 70-4 drubbing of Rocket Wrestling.
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- Kylee Whalen, Belton (95)
- Louise Juitt, Belton (140)
- Savanna Franklin, Belton (135)
- Anh Ngo, North Kansas City (115)
However, they ran into a tough match in the last pool play dual against Sudden Victory of Kansas. MO West held a 34-25 lead going into the final two matches, but Justice Thomas pinned North Kansas City’s Paige Strauch in the 170-pound match and Hayleen Martinez earned a 12-0 tech fall victory over Platte County’s Nicole Fernandez at 190 to give Sudden Victory a 36-34 team win.
Because of that, MO West went up against WTC of Kansas in the third-place match. The Fire won the first five matches of the dual and cruised to a 42-24 win to take third.
Against WTC, Belton’s Kylee Whalen (95 pounds) was the first of five winners to start. She defeated Layten Boltz 10-3 to put her team ahead 3-1.
“I thought it was a really good match,” Whalen said. “I enjoyed it. I had fun. My throws were working and I was able to keep my distance and keep out of ties.”
The Liberty sister duo of Lilly (100) and Sandy Breeden (105) followed up with wins of their own as they earned pain in 1 minute and 15 seconds and a 10-0 tech fall respectively. Lafayette County’s Kyana Huseynov (110) then rolled to a 10-0 tech fall against Brooklyn Simpson to put MO West up 17-1.
North Kansas City’s Anh Ngo (115) completed the five-match winning streak with a 10-0 tech fall over Reece Anderson.
“I think I wrestled pretty well,” Ngo said. “The Kansas match was a little tough, but I got what I wanted out of that performance.
WTC won the next two matches to narrow the gap to 20-10, but Fort Osage’s Alina Wackerman (130) got MO West back on track with a 8-0 win over Kenzlie Crain.
High school folkstyle state champion Savanna Franklin (135) of Belton showed why she’s one of the best girls wrestlers in the Midwest as she pinned Eden Hill in just 44 seconds. Her high school teammate, Louise Juitt (140) then followed with a pin of Lexi Means in 54 seconds.
“I think I did all right,” Juitt said. “Overall, I wrestled well. I was sprawling and I snuck my hand in there and got the cradle.”
WTC then rattled off three consecutive wins before Fernandez (190) stopped the bleeding with an 8-5 win over Sofia Gray. Grain Valley’s Jayden Moehle (235) ended the dual with a forfeit victory.
