After competing on the first day amongst a field close to 600 wrestlers from several states, Mexico and Centralia will be sending girls to the second day of the Wonder Woman tournament at Battle High School in Columbia starting tomorrow. Alexus Johns at 235 pounds and Abby Bowen at 135 pounds each earned spots in the fifth-round of wrestlebacks at 9 a.m. tomorrow and Jayci Shelton is still alive in the 155-pound championship bracket and wrestles in the semifinals starting at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.
Johns won by pinfall before pinning Eureka's Addison Neumann to dish out revenge for Neumann eliminating her in last year's Wonder Woman. She ended her day by losing in a 4-0 decision to Kansas state runner-up and undefeated 21-0 Hailey Conley out of Olathe, Kansas.
Bowen was pinned in her first match by undefeated Benton wrestler Savanna Franklin (22-0) following a bye and then pinned her next three opponents. She recorded two second-period pinfalls before pinning St. Charles West's Danielle Lovell (17-8) in the third period to advance to the second day.
Shelton remained undefeated after pinning three opponents. After a bye, the freshman took care of each of her opponents in the first period, including Washington's Maggie Ortmann (21-1) for her first loss.
Mexico's other wresler Karisa Hayden at 170 lost both of her matches but managed to last the full six minutes each time by losing decisions of 3-0 and 6-0 to Liberty's Samiah Watson and Lindbergh's Ellie Poulette (19-1).
Jayci's older sister, Madi Shelton, won via pinfall at 125 but lost twice to be eliminated. Shelton was pinned by returning Wonder Woman runner-up Angelina Vargas, of Park Hill, and was pinned by Cassville's Kennedy Truman (15-8).
Centralia's other five wrestlers made their Wonder Woman debuts and combined for one victory. Haleigh long at 110, Jaylyn Woods at 115, Alexandra Baer at 120 Jamila Juma at 130 each went 0-1. Lyla Mattison had one victory at 170 after defeating Smith-Cotton's Brooklyn Hoecker via a 7-4 decision.
"Our girls fought hard," Centralia head coach Tyler Forsee said. "This is a very tough tournament. This is the toughest tournament we'll see all year other than state. There's just a lot of tough kids."
Look for full Wonder Woman stories in the Jan. 3, 2023, edition of the Mexico Ledger.
