Wonder Woman Wrestling in Columbia

The girls wrestling team competed in Columbia Missouri and took home some awards.

Natalie Walsh and Kana Chung|January 15, 2020

Senior Sophia Tran placed fourth at the tournament on Jan. 3 and 4. She earned a plaque for her sucsesses.

The girls wrestling team traveled for the first time to Columbia Missouri to compete in the Wonder Woman Wrestling Tournament. On Jan. 3 and 4, the girls competed and won awards. One of these awards was won by senior Sophia Tran who placed fourth in the tournament.

“I got fourth place… I have a lot of pressure from me from everyone: the coaches and the principals. It’s a lot of pressure, and being a leader and showing leadership is really crucial,” Tran said.

Throughout this tournament, there were also several girls who competed with injuries or got injured. For sophomore Melaina Stieg, a previous injury that hasn’t fully healed was a battle that she faced.

“I have a high sprained ankle, and it happened one of our first tournaments of the season. Just, a girl came down on it wrong, and it’s been injured for a while now because I continue to wrestle on it afterwards instead of letting it heal,” Stieg said.

While wrestling, the girls tend to contort their bodies into ways that may seem impossible: bending like pretzels, folding like origami. This tends to lead to injuries and soreness.

“With certain moves, it definitely puts a toll on your body. You can feel it,” Stieg said.

With injuries being common in this sport, it was clear that an injury was likely to happen that day. Junior Rhyen Standridge, previously undefeated in her season, took a blow to the head and a twist to her elbow and was out for the weekend.

With the team’s loss of Standridge at the tournament, more nerves began to settle in the team’s atmosphere. Sophomore Kennedy Eggering remarks on the anticipation each teammate faces before their matches.

“Everyone was insanely nervous, because you never really know what to expect before a match, because you never know what the person’s going to do,” Eggering said. “It was a crazy environment, there were so many people there. Especially in finals, when we had to wrestle under the spotlight, it was intense. Very intense.”

Since this tournament, the girls have competed a couple of times; once at Francis Howell North and yesterday while hosting GACs. Tonight, Jan. 15, the girls and boys face Howell at home at 6:00 PM. The first fifty students that come and support with get free white out shirts.

Stay updated with the girl’s schedule on the MSHSAA website.