Middle and High School success is putting Wellington on the map for girls wrestling
Wellington Middle School was Patriot League Champions. (Courtesy photo) Click to enlarge.
Averie Burns in 235-pound finals at the Class 4A State Tournament in Salina.
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow report — Last week, the Wellington girls wrestling team placed seventh at the Division II Class 4-1A State Tournament in Salina with two state placers. Two weeks earlier they were regional runner-up. Earlier they secured a second-straight Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. IV championship.
In between all that, the Wellington Middle School girls won their second straight Patriot League Championship in Clearwater.
It is safe to say, Wellington girl wrestling is in full tilt and has a bright future ahead.
Just four years, girls wrestling was such a novel concept that Sumner Newscow did a feature on a girl who moved from California to become Wellington’s first high school girls wrestler (see story here).
Mikeah Rodriguez
Mikeah Rodriguez, who would win second place at an unsanctioned Kansas state tournament at 132 pounds as a freshman, told Sumner Newscow on Feb. 13, 2018:
“Someone has to start something. Maybe if I would go out that would encourage some other girls to join as well.”
During that year she wrestled in two junior varsity tournaments with boys before wrestling in the state tournament that was being put on by McPherson High School at the time.
“People recognize me as the girl that wrestles,” Rodriguez said at the time. “They asked me if it is awkward wrestling with the boys and I don’t think so at all.”
Remember, that was just four years ago. The KSHSAA would sanction the sport in 2020 and is now hosting a two-day state tournament event in two classifications. Statewide, KSHSAA reported there were 1,500 girls compared to 900 in 2021. The sport has exploded, and the issue of girls wrestling boys has basically taken care of itself.
Averie Burns, a state runner-up, and eventual state champion Hagen Wright, practiced together Saturday before her big finals match.
Wellington had 14 girls (compared to 18 boys) to start the season.
The Crusaders ended up getting four to state with two just missing out in the consolation semifinals.
Wellington placed seventh – which was a disappointment since it came into the tournament ranked by the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association at No. 2. Averie Burns finished state runner-up at 235, Kaitlyn Hain capped a three-year career as a third-place winner at 138.
Nexy Young and Anna Cullens also qualified at 101 and 115.
An example of how far this sport has exploded in popularity, there is controversy. Cullens, a defending state champion at 109, did not make weight at 101, missing out at wrestling by a mere .3 pounds. That turned out to be a significant talking point throughout the tournament. Hard-core wrestling fans are talking about the girls as much as the boys.
Patriot League champs
But what will make the Wellington girls wrestling program even more special, is what is happening in the middle school ranks.
Wellington has dominated the Patriot League in the middle school ranks for two years straight. Wellington won this year’s tournament last week with 175 points. Haysville West placed second at 133. Winfield finished third at 101 while Clearwater had 53 and Haysville 48.
The Knights had six first-place finishers and four girls placing second.
The individual results in the Patriot League are as follows:
75 — Brooke Schwartz, first
80 — Annie Burden, first
99 — Caroline Mott, second
106 — Aubri Rohrer, first
116 — Alara Wilson, third
126 — Bri Walker, first
136 — Taylor Payne, second
142 — Maya Cornejo, second
151 — Mikayla Ybarra, first
165 — Pyoer Weber, third
180 — Natalie Burnett, second
195 — Maddy LeValley tied, first
220 — Emma Holman, third.
Wellington’s head coach consoles Kaitlyn Hain after her emotional end to her high school career and third-place victory.
What’s next?
Now Wellington looks to the future, Wellington head wrestling coach Mitch McComb says he could potentially get 20 girls out next winter in the high school ranks.
“There are potentially 11 eighth-grade girls coming up,” McComb said. “We will lose two (Burns and Hain). So with the nine potential returners, we most certainly could get up to 20.”
McComb said also the girls coming in will fill the gaps in nicely, giving the Crusaders a full team for the 14 weight divisions.
The program has also reached the level where losing seniors will hurt. Hain finished with 96 wins and 15 losses and went 4-1 in the state tournament with three pins on the way to a third-place finish. Her only loss came in the championship semifinals when she got pinned in a 2-2 match. Her senior year she went 35-2 losing only to the 4-1A runner-up, and to the state champion of Class 6-5A.
Kaitlyn Hain in her dominating third-place match.
“She won’t be replaced,” McComb said. “Especially for her mental and physical toughness and for her leadership.”
Hain also made history by becoming the first high school girl to sign collegiately earlier this school year. She is going to Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa, Iowa next fall.
Averie Burns meeting her opponent Scott City’s MacKayla Miller in the Parade of Champions.
For Burns, she finished as this year’s lone state finalist losing to Mackayla Miller of Scott City at 2:42. She was ahead going into the second period before her pin.
Young was eliminated early, after getting pinned in the first round with 15 seconds left. She then was eliminated from the tournament after being on the short end of a controversial officiating decision.
Then there is Cullens, who spent the year at No. 1 at 101, after winning a state championship and state runner-up the two previous years. Cullens could have a special year in 2022 and will be a highly ranked wrestler her senior year.
There is little doubt, high school girls’ wrestling is in its infancy. But it has been fully embraced at the Wellington school district.
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Individual results for the Wellington Class 4A girls wrestling tournament:
101 – Cullens did not place.
115 – Young was pinned by Ellen Doty (Silver Lake) 5:45; decision by Rylee Shepherd (Eureka) 7-4.
138 – Hain pinned Lucy Henderson (Meriden-Jefferson West) 1:18; pinned Makaylee Ruk (Fort Scott) 130, was pinned by Tally Wilkum (Hoisington) 1:43, pinned Zoe Brown (Plainville) 4:51; pinned Brooklyn Lima (Columbus) 1:21 in third place match.
235 – Burns pinned Jalyn McLean, Oakley, :52; pinned Tayler Erickson, Osage City, :19; pinned Whitley Cox-Halliburton, LaCygne-Prairie View 2:35, was pinned by Mackayla Miller of Scott City, 2:42 in the state championship.
