Plenty of tears were shed and hugs were given on Saturday.

Girls Wrestling Districts Photo Gallery

The Mexico girls wrestling team had plenty to be happy about at the Class 1 District 2 meet at St. Charles West, mainly that three of its athletes qualified to compete in the Class 1 state tournament beginning on Feb. 21. Alexus Johns at 235 pounds for the second time, 135-pounder Abby Bowen for the first time and 115-pounder Katie Bowen for the third time to make up a record number of Lady Bulldogs to wrestle at state.

Prior to districts’ second day this season, Mexico had never sent multiple girls to the same state tournament, had a heavyweight district champion that Johns earned, had a three-time state qualifier that Katie Bowen can call herself, and had sisters quality for the state tournament as is the case with the Bowens. Head coach Tony Senor has been heading the program since its start four years ago and was pleased with where it is now.

“We’re going to prepare like we always do,” Senor said. “Every tournament, in my mind, is the same. For any match and any tournament, we prepare the same way with the same mindset. That’s why we’re able to perform at those high levels.”

Senor said each girl feels prepared and not too nervous regardless of the tournament’s difficulty. They just need to focus on meeting their goals, like Johns did by pinning three opponents to go a step further than last season’s district runner-up finish. At the start of the season, Senor said he had the girls list their goals for the season and Johns’ had district champion at the top.

Johns said she wouldn’t be doing this well so in her second year of school and second year ever wrestling without her teammates, coaches and family. It was clear where the Johns cheering section was in St. Charles West’s gym.

“My mom and dad are my biggest fans,” Johns said. “I can hear them over everybody. They just push me through everything.”

Because of her support system instilling confidence in Johns, she feels like she can have a lot of confidence in herself and feel comfortable. That has helped her earn the top ranking in her weight class and surpass 40 wins this season — along with Abby Bowen. 

The most trouble she had over the two days was the second day’s semifinal match against Holt’s Isabella Winingear, who qualified to state later in the day. Johns pinned her in the third period, officially clinching her state spot despite the strength she faced. Johns even had a mark left on her temple from the match but left a mark on Winingear’s record by capitalizing on a mistake.

“I always think, ‘Nobody wants this more than I do,’” Johns said. “I don’t care who it is. They can be the best girl in the world or can be a Division I wrestler, I’d still go out there and give it my all.”

Senor said Katie Bowen is definitely somebody else who relentlessly pursues their goals and the moment became too emotional once Bowen clinched her state spot. Bowen had qualified for both the 2021 and 2022 state tournament, but injuries left her out for almost two years, causing her to have a late start to this season.

After being pinned by eventual district champion Audrionnah Donahue, from Boonville, Bowen faced Fatima’s Heidi Struemph for the second time of the weekend before defeating Southern Boone’s Nova Porter 4-1 for third place. Bowen had defeated Struemph 6-2 on Friday but went into an overtime period tied at 1 in the rematch. Bowen pounced after a few moments to win by a 3-1 sudden victory and then pounced into the waiting arms of Senor.

“She is a gamer, and she will battle to the very end,” Senor said. “It doesn’t matter who she’s wrestling. That’s being tough-minded and just realizing, ‘I only get one more shot at this, and I’m going to give it everything I’ve got.’ I just saw Katie keep going, going and going.”

Not too long after, Abby Bowen bounced back from a 3-0 loss to district champion Sam Iage, of Blair Oaks, to pin St. Charles West’s Danielle Lovell, causing Senor to hug another Bowen. She then defeated Fulton’s Rilee Swaim 4-1 to earn third place. 

“It was a lot of hard work Katie put in — a lot of commitment to not giving up and grit,” Senor said. “Those two sisters, they drill together every single day. To me, they helped each other today at districts.”

Katie Bowen said she was “stupid excited” since she was “jumping up and down while crying all at once” once she saw her sister join her in the state program starting in one more week. She, Abby and Johns can attest they were each crying. 

“I think it is amazing because when I was a freshman and sophomore, I was the lone rider going to state,” Katie Bowen said. “Not only do I have multiple girls, but I have my sister and a really, really close friend. Literally right after Abby punched her ticket to state and Alexus was about to wrestle her finals match, we were all in the locker room in tears that we all qualified.”

Despite how much time she has spent injured, Bowen’s mindset hasn’t faltered, and she said she was at ease even though it was win or go home against Struemph in the rematch and even though extra time was needed. Bowen said her stomach was even more at ease because she said she ate spicy food before the first match, which made her feel more nauseated then.

“The second time, it was just, ‘Go out, hold her and just beat her again,’” Katie Bowen said about her thinking. ‘“You’re fine.’”

Abby Bowen said she did feel some nerves after she officially qualified and was wrestling Swaim again after losing to her earlier this season at the North Central Missouri Conference meet. Even though she defeated Lovell at the Wonder Woman tournament, Bowen said there was a slight scare with her having to quickly change an illegal hold to legal with the positioning of her arms, but she was able to fix it and win soon after. There was more concern beyond that against 40-match winner Swaim.

“The first time I did wrestle her, I was cutting so I was weaker,” Abby Bowen said. “This time, since I wasn’t cutting hard and was actually energized, I felt that definitely helped.”

Senor said the second-year wrestler Abby Bowen definitely earned her spot after missing state by one match last season and battled through six matches in two days, impressing even in defeat because Iage was the top seed that only defeated Bowen 3-0.

“If Abby can wrestle like that from here on out, she could bring home a medal,” Senor said. “I’m very impressed with Abby’s performance.”

Senor liked how many of his first-year wrestlers stacked up in their first attempts at districts and is proud of the career left behind by senior Karisa Hayden. The second-year wrestler finished with more than 50 wins as a Lady Bulldog and was 2-2 at 190 in districts, losing to two conference opponents that included district runner-up Carly Foster, from Fulton.

“In my estimation, Karisa had one of the tougher draws of the tournament,” Senor said. “Fulton bumped their 170-pounder to 190 as we did too (with Karisa). That girl’s really good. Karisa is one of toughest girls I’ve ever coached and one of the hardest-working girls I’ve ever coached.”

The Mexico state qualifiers will be busy come Feb. 21 at the start of the Class 1 girls meet and are excited about what can come from that, even if it is unbelievable how far they have come.

“I still haven’t processed everything yet,” Abby Bowen said. “It just felt like another tournament and nothing special, so it’s weird.”