Western Missouri Girls Tournament

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By Michael Smith

With multiple girls wrestling teams having their top wrestlers sit out of the tournament, that opened the door for any team to win the Western Missouri Girls Tournament.

St. Joseph Central, which had not placed in the top three in any tournament this season, broke through to win the tournament with 259 points Wednesday at Kansas City Center High School. Lathrop was second with 207 points and Excelsior Springs was third with 206.5.

The Indians had five girls wrestlers win their divisions and another wrestler take a runner up spot in her division.

Interviews:

“We had some girls out with injuries, so honestly, we could have done a lot better,” sophomore Kayanna Cannon said. “I felt like our team has definitely increased over the past few years.”

Cannon was one Central wrestler to win her division as she earned her spot atop the podium in the 115-pound weight division. In her round-robin bracket she pinned all of her opponents to take first place.

“I am just in my second year of wrestling and I am pretty proud of myself.” Cannon said. “I still feel like I have a lot to improve but I feel like I am going to get somewhere. 

“I feel like I can get up really well from the bottom. As a newer girl, one of the hardest things is to work on the bottom so you don’t get pinned.”

Her teammate, junior Ashley Slade (135), found similar success. She pinned three of her opponents and won by tech fall (18-2) against Alyssa Betts of Excelsior Springs as she cruised to a division championship.

“I felt like I wrestled amazing,” Slade said. “I had a bad day at practice yesterday but I redeemed myself today. I worked on my legs because they were giving out on me a little bit.”

Freshman Ella Mae Cready (145) had an impressive showing Wednesday ass she improved her record to 6-1 after winning five matches in the tournament. She pinned four out of five of her opponents and defeated Fort Osage’s Ashlynn Clark by medical forfeit to earn a spot atop the podium.

She was able to accomplish this after recently clearing concussion protocol.

“I felt really good,” Cready said. “I had two concussions and I am finally back. I am really happy with the outcome today. It was pretty difficult (to clear concussion protocol).”

Junior Hailie Wagner (190) breezed through her first four matches, getting first-period pins in all of them. That set up a finals match with Fort Osage’s Isabelle Adams. She had to work hard for it, but she earned a fall in 3:59.

“I felt like I wrestled pretty great,” Wagner said. “The snapdown and the chop worked really well for me.”

Hope Charlton (235) was in a small round robin bracket and got a couple of keys wins for the Indians as she pinned both of her opponents in less than a minute.

“I have added a lot into my tool box that I can use,” Charlton said. “That makes wrestling me a lot less predictable.”

Below is a summary of the winners of the other weight classes not already mentioned:

100/105: Lathrop’s Aubrey Schrunk went into overtime with Center’s J Colbert and got a takedown to win 10-8 in the championship match of her weight class.

110: Center’s Taiyahna Pruett made quick work of Annalese Happy of Excelsior Springs in the title bout as she got a pin in 1:07 to earn first place.

120: Lathrop senior Ali Gonzalez dominated her bracket by getting a pin in 57 seconds in the semifinals and then getting a fall over St. Joseph Central’s Madelynn Hughes in 38 seconds in the championship bout.

125: Lathrop senior Jordan Diercks pinned Excelsior Springs senior Jaylenn Hudlemeyer in 2:03 during the title bout to take first place.

130: Polo sophomore Allexa Storts came out on top in her weight class after a win by fall against Lexington sophomore Elizabeth Hager in 2:53 during the first-place match.

140: Lexington freshman Mireya Gonzalez took a 13-2 major decision against Lathrop senior Makayla Knight in the first-place match.

155: Carrollton sophomore Allie Jones went 2-0 in her round-robin bracket, defeating Polo’s Alicia Garcia Palacios 10-7 and pinning Fort Osage’s Riley Morris to take her weight class.

170: Lexington junior Karlena Steinhauser pinned Raytown sophomore Leuia Vai Iatala in 40 seconds in the championship match to take first place.

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Written by Michael Smith

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