Jonathan Bowen
Christmas Break tournaments help set the tone for the second half of the season. The Wonder Woman Tournament has been one of the best measuring sticks of how well a wrestler will finish their season. Last year, the Wonder Woman tournament director chose to expand to include an opportunity for the younger/less experienced wrestlers to compete for the tournament’s championship belts and plaques to their podium finishers.
The Mexico Lady Bulldogs have faired well at both of these events over the past few seasons, with a handful of podium finishers between the two events. Some of the younger Lady Bulldogs are still recovering from injuries from their matches at the Battle of Katy Trail but should return to action just after the New Year Holiday.
The Lady Bulldogs brought 4 to this event. For all of them, it would be their first opportunity to experience a traditional double-elimination bracket tournament this season.
The two lighter-weight wrestlers for Mexico didn’t fair well today. They both would go 0-2.
Highlights:
Alyssa Knight at 135 lbs. struck out in the opening round of wrestling but got into a rhythm after that. In her first-round wrestle-back match, it didn’t start well either for her. She would give up the quick initial takedown to her opponent from North Point. After being on bottom for nearly a minute she would earn an escape, then a takedown of her own, right before the end of the first period. Her opponent chose the top position to start the 2nd period. After earning a penalty point and an escape, Knight would get a takedown with a minute left to go in the period, taking her opponent straight to her back. She secured the fall with 12 seconds left in the period. Alyssa Knight would go on to win the next round to reach the blood round to reach the podium. Unfortunately, she would come up short against her opponent from Northwest (Cedar Hill) to finish in 8th, just missing the podium….
