Jonathan Bowen
The distance from Westminster to William Woods is less than a mile. This cross-town rivalry was scheduled in hopes of it becoming an annual event on both team’s schedules moving forward.
Growing the sport and taking it one match at a time is what Head Men’s Coach Tony Eierman is all about. When the school just a few blocks down the road from Westminster, William Woods, was going to start a wrestling program, they had to add them to the schedule in hopes of it becoming an annual event on both team’s schedules. There was a bleacher capacity crowd at the Fulton, MO Recplex for both the women’s and men’s duals.
The ladies would start things off with their dual by William Woods earning a set of forfeits at the lower weights, one of which Westminister typically has someone. However, Coach Eierman pointed out after the duals that this wrestler along with 1 or 2 others didn’t make weight and therefore had to wrestle up which ended up costing Westminster some team points. So before any Lady Blue Jay stepped on the mat to wrestle, they were down 10-0.
Anna Stephens was the first Lady Blue Jay to put team points on the board for Westminster at 136 lbs. After giving up two early takedowns, she would score a reversal and then some exposure points before securing the pin about halfway through the 1st period.
The two teams would split the next two weight classes, which helped Westminster close the gap on William Woods’ lead to within 3 (14-11). However, it would be all William Woods in the upper two weights with a tech fall and a forfeit to finalize the dual by a score of 22-12 in favor of the Owls….
