One area wrestler won it all and the other came close to reaching the podium on Saturday.
Centralia freshman Jayci Shelton capped a dominant Wonder Woman tournament over the past two days by winning the 155-pound championship. Mexico sophomore Abby Bowen finished her tournament 4-2, winning by pinfall once on Day 2 before being eliminated in the 135-pound blood rounds to just miss a medal.
Shelton went into the championship match undefeated and ranked seventh nationally and left un undefeated 19-0 after pinning Nixa's Calyese Dupree in the first period. Despite being ranked 13th nationally and being undefeated herself, Dupree was the fifth victim that was pinned by Shelton in the first period.
“She was good at the double legs so I just tried to keep my hands down most of the match,” Shelton said. “She always collar-ties with her right arm, so I just went in with my left underhook like I normally do. That’s how I got my takedowns.”
Shelton is the second nationally ranked Lady Panther in as many years to win the tournament championship that this year brought 580 girls from seven states, including 30 nationally ranked wrestlers. She follows Ava Ward's 115-pound Wonder Woman title from 2022.
“It’s all them,” Centralia girls wrestling head coach Tyler Forsee said. “It’s not necessarily our program. It’s all those girls and what they’ve done for many years. It’s not something that just started a few months ago when the season started. (Jayci) has had a lot of good coaches on the way up and has done the Purler wrestling, been in our youth program, traveled all over, wrestled all over and has had a lot of success. Why wouldn’t she be confident in what she could do?”
Bowen struggled at the 2022 Wonder Woman by finishing 0-2 and lost her opening match Friday to tournament runner-up Savanna Franklin, of Belton, but took her "never-die" attidude into four straight pinfall victories, Mexico girls wrestling head coach Tony Senor said. Among Bowen's victories was against district opponent St. Charles West's Danielle Lovell and Liberty North's Alexis Rusley on Saturday before being eliminated by Oklahoma state champion and nationally ranked Shelby Kemp, of Moore, who finished fourth in the tournament.
“She loves to scrap, and she loves to battle,” Senor said. “She has a lot of mental toughness. After that loss, she regrouped, and she knew what she had to do to get to this point. This year, we’re seeing a lot of growth and a lot of improvement.”
Look for full Wonder Woman stories in the Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2023, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
