The Wright City girls wrestling squad brings back a host of returners, led by four returning state qualifiers over the past two seasons.
Wright City returns three state qualifiers from …
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The Wright City girls wrestling squad brings back a host of returners, led by four returning state qualifiers over the past two seasons.
Wright City returns three state qualifiers from last year’s team, including two wrestlers who earned a state medal last season. Junior Caelyn Hanff placed third at the state meet last season. She is a two-time state qualifier. Sophomore Kali Jensen placed fourth in her first trip to the state meet as a freshman.
Junior Ella Greenwell Washburn also qualified for state last season. Senior Elizabeth Riggs competed at the state meet in 2022.
“It’s early now because we’re not doing a lot of live and not pushing too much,” Wright City wrestling coach Fred Ross said last week. “Next week before our first tournament, we’ll start getting some live stuff and they’ll have to see kind of what it takes, you know, push themselves to try to get there. But having four (state) returners in the room is definitely a positive.”
Ross said all but two wrestlers on the girls wrestling team have experience in the sport. Two of their new wrestlers have experience wrestling in Little League competition. While wrestling in high school is a different challenge, Ross thinks their previous experience will help with the transition.
With the roster size and experience they possess, Ross anticipates the Lady Wildcats focusing both on the team score and individual performances for the wrestlers.
The Wright City boys wrestling roster is “mostly inexperienced,” Ross said. Of the 13 wrestlers on the Wright City boys roster, seven played on the football team.
“Their conditioning is just a little bit different than wrestling,” Ross said. “We did some two minute drills and they’re sucking air because they’re not used to going that hard that long. And, so we got some different stuff. Conditioning is important, but we have to get moves down. Some basic stuff.”
In all, the wrestling teams bring a combined 10 new faces to the rosters this season. With the number of new wrestlers, they are working on basics. Overall, Ross said he is pleased with how hard they are working and that they want to make themselves better.
Ross said the focus right now for the Wright City wrestlers is to get in shape as they prepare for their first competitions.
“Right now, we want to get in shape and get everybody going,” Ross said. “The girls get a first home tournament. It’s an open tournament. They won’t necessarily be at the right weight class because it’s still early in the season. But hopefully we wrestle well and we’re going to get everybody matches. That’s kind of the important thing early on in the season.
The Wright City girls wrestlers will compete in the Lady Wildcats Tournament Nov. 18. The Wright City boys wrestlers will open the season Nov. 30 with a home quad meet.
