SEDALIA - All it took was a flyer to persuade Caelyn Hanff to take a flier on wrestling.
And boy, the Wright City seventh-grader is sure glad she did.
Actually, perhaps girl is more …
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SEDALIA - All it took was a flyer to persuade Caelyn Hanff to take a flier on wrestling.
And boy, the Wright City seventh-grader is sure glad she did.
Actually, perhaps girl is more appropriate in this instance as Hanff won the 2020 Missouri/USA Girls State Tournament championship in the 14&under division of the 133-144-pound weight class, which was held at the Mathewson Exhibition Center on the Missouri State Fair Grounds in Sedalia last weekend.
Hanff is the first wrestler from any division in the Wright City junior program, which started last year, to win a state title.
“It felt awesome,” Hanff said. “Winning and getting my hand raised is my favorite part about wrestling.”
Hanff was one of three female wrestlers to compete for Wright City and the only one to place. Also in action were Lillian Heppermann, Samantha Yates and Zoe Hill.
Hanff was 4-0 in her matches and won them all by fall.
She defeated Kennady Cramer of the Titan Wrestling Institute (Lee’s Summit) in the opening round, Excelsior Spring’s Josie Bryant in the quarterfinals and Knob Noster’s Abby Sadler in the semifinals before taking out Pleasant Valley’s Noelle Parrot in the championship tilt, which was Hanff’s quickest match of the day.
“It was a pretty dominating performance for her to pin all of her opponents,” Wright City Coach David Rice said.
Though Hanff was cool and collected on the mat, she admitted there were some butterflies in her stomach before her matches started.
“I was especially nervous in the (semifinals against Sadler), because I knew she was undefeated,” Hanff said. “But each match helped me with my confidence.”
Hanff said she didn’t know much about wrestling before joining the Wright City’s junior program.
“My gym teacher gave me a flyer and I thought it looked cool and decided to try it,” she said.
Held concurrently with the girls tournament in Sedalia last weekend was the Missouri/USA Rookie State Tournament.
Wright City had three wrestlers medal in the Rookie State Tournament with William Heppermann placing third in the 10&under division of the 80-pound weight class; Collin Dake landing fifth in the 12 and under division of the 80-pound weight class and Kaeden Teubner finishing fifth in the 12 and under division of the 110-pound weight class.
Rice said Wright City currently has 41 kids enrolled in its youth program. They practice on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the high school cafeteria.
