The girls wrestling team had their first tournament with both JV and varsity girls at Wright City on Saturday, Nov. 22. The girls have been practicing for around three weeks to get ready for this tournament
There were 12 schools at this tournament, including Liberty. The brackets were round-robins and then out of that people got put into either a winners bracket or a consolation bracket
Kat Zink (12) was able to score first place in her last first tournament of her high school career. The first round she had a bye, then she was able to pin her second opponent in 37 seconds. She then pinned her last opponent in the round robin in 43 seconds.
Zink was then put into the winners bracket where she had to go against two girls. She pinned the first girl in 2 minutes and 52 seconds, then she went to the first place and winning the tournament with a pin in 1 minute and 18 seconds.
“It’s such a bittersweet feeling, having this be my last season,” Zink said.
Sophia Collinson (9) also got first place, with this being her first ever tournament after joining wrestling this year. Collinson only had one other girl in her bracket, so they did a best out of three. She won both times, making them only wrestle twice. She pinned her first in 2 minutes, then the next match lasted a little longer but Collinson pinned her opponent in 3 minutes and 14 seconds.
“It feels really good getting first place because I’ve never gotten first in wrestling before and it was my first match ever but I was definitely tired but in a really good mood,” Collinson said.
A lot of girls had to go weight classes up, because of the hydration test that the state mandates. These hydration tests tell the wrestlers how many pounds they can lose in a certain amount of time to remain healthy. So many girls had to go weight classes up because they were not allowed to lose enough weight to go to the weight class under.
Overall, the team won a lot of matches to start of the season well.
The next tournament is on Tuesday, Nov. 25 at Warrenton. This is a JV tournament only, where our new wrestlers should be able to shine.
