Excelsior Springs, Mo. – The Excelsior Springs High School Women’s Wrestling team, led by head coach Scott Schwab, closed out a challenging season with determination and resilience. The 16-member squad showcased their strength and perseverance, battling through tough competition along the way.
Although none of the female athletes placed at state this year, Schwab noted the team’s progress with athletes placing at districts and moving up their ranking at the Battle at The Katy Trail Wrestling Tournament in Sedalia. He explained that the Battle at Katy Trail tournament is fairly large, with 50 schools attending, and this year, as the ESHS Women’s team landed placement in the top seven. This marked a significant achievement over last year’s ranking, where they placed 15th overall. Thus, marking their result “a big accomplishment,” Schwab said, “Overall for the season, the team had a 6-4 dual record.”
Not only has the ESHS Women’s team been moving up in ranks, but Schwab also added that the young athletes competed at districts as Lillian Goetz made it to the Finals round competing for a first or second win. Others on the team made it to the semi-final round known as the ‘Blood Round’. Schwab added, “The ‘Blood Round’ is on the back side of the bracket and determines if an athlete will wrestle for third or fourth place, those that place, the top four make it to go on and compete at state.
The following athletes made it to the ‘Blood Round’ including:
- Sophomore Analese Happy
- Senior Kaitlynn Foster
- Senior Wamble Tunstall,
- Freshman Haylee Ray
- Junior Gabby Scrivener
- Junior Adrien Crawley
- Freshman Lillian Goetz.
Of those students, Lillian Goetz secured a chance to compete at state tournament as, “Lillian won her championship round and lost in the quarterfinal round,” Schwab said, “She then came back and won the next two wrestle-back rounds.” Later during the state competition in the “Blood Round’, Lillian faced a top competitor she had faced prior at the district from the Kearney School District.
Even though the team had successful state wins, Schwab noted it just wasn’t enough to bring home any medals; He added, “I am proud of these young women,” Schwab said. “The team is very young, with a lot of freshmen making up the core of the team, but they were still able to achieve some significant accomplishments this season.”
In addition to the team’s overall district and state-bound milestone achievements, the ESHS Women’s team also received conference awards recognizing top wrestlers in each weight class. This year’s All-Conference women wrestlers from Excelsior include:
First Team All-Conference:
Haylee Ray (155lb weight division)
Second Team All-Conference:
Lillian Goetz (120lb weight division)
Kaitlynn Foster (125lb weight division)
Pyper Layton (135lb weight division)
Wamble Tunstall (155lb weight division)
Honorable Mention:
Analese Happy (110lb weight division)
Looking forward, Schwab, along with assistant coach Brock Nessa and coach C.J. Robinson, plans to continue teaching each athlete the fundamentals of wrestling while encouraging each young athlete to remain focused during the off-season. As for their team goal, Schwab said he will continue to grow the ESHS Women’s Wrestling team while highlighting the need for each athlete to “take pride in their work and never get discouraged by setbacks.”
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