The girls wrestling team had their first meet at Olathe West Friday, Dec. 1. Freshman Chris Hale placed fourth, junior Raina Frantz placed third, junior Piper Wendler placed second, junior Lexus Pennel placed second and sophomore Finley Rose placed second.
The team has been working hard to prepare for their first meet and was very happy with their results, according to Wendler.
“It was the first meet [and] we all did really well,” Wendler said. “We had a bunch of girls get their first pins, even the new girls.”
Sophomore Tristyn Jones, the team’s manager, thinks the success of the team has raised expectations for future success.
“The expectations got a lot higher because we could see everybody’s potential,” Jones said. “We could see that everybody can actually [be] really good if they put everything into it.”
Even with their success, junior Cadence Kerr believes there is still work to be done for the rest of the season and that helping girls understand the rules will help them improve.
“We [can] work on some skill improvement, and then a better understanding of the rules,” Kerr said.
Jones believes that the key to future success is in the smaller things too.
“We need more people to show up consistently to practices and to work on their technique,” Jones said.
Kerr, who has been on the team since it was founded her freshman year, has seen great improvement from herself this year already.
“I feel like I did better than what I did last year,” Kerr said. “I’m excited to improve more, especially with new coaching this year. I feel like this is going to be a much better year for me.”
The team has a new head coach and Wendler believes the new coaching has really helped the new girls get comfortable and learn the basics.
“Our coach is our biggest supporter and a great person,” Wendler said. “He’s done really good, helping new girls get through all this new stuff.”
Along with new coaching Jones believes that dedication from the whole team has helped.
“There’s a lot more girls this year and a lot more dedication from [them],” Jones said. “People are taking it more seriously than last year.”
Kerr learned a lot about herself from this meet and thinks wanting to win helped her to be more successful so far this year.
“I need to go out there and think that I’m going to be the one to win [and] go out there more aggressively,” Kerr said. “I need to want the win.”
