February 19, 2020
Taking it to the mat
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Features
Photo provided by Wentzville School District The Holt High School girls wrestling team hoists its District championship trophy. Holt qualified seven grapplers for the Missouri State High School Athletic Association’ State Wrestling Championships held this weekend in Columbia.
St. Charles County will be well represented at the girls wrestling state championships as female participation drives new interest in the sport By Brett Auten Wresting in St. Charles County is a tradition that runs deep and wide. Walk into any of its high school gyms and take note of the placards and banners dedicated to the multiple team titles of varying degrees. Notice the framed pictures of individual state champions that are displayed in the lobby. So last year, when the Missouri State High School Athletic Association made girls wrestling an official sport, it’s no surprise that St. Charles County programs are already making an impact. Mizzou Arena will play host to the boys and girls state wrestling championships this weekend. Lebanon is the defending state
champion who, along with Holt, have qualified seven competitors for the state meet. Nigel Kinworthy is in his seventh season as a coach at St. Charles High. St. Charles is sending three seniors and three underclassmen to state. Kinworthy was a state champion wrestler himself in 2003 at St. Charles West. “The Gateway Athletic Conference has been a hotbed for years,” Kinworthy said. “A lot of the girls last year were siblings to wrestlers. It is in their blood. Some programs took (girls wrestling) and ran with it and some saw it as more of a burden and more to do. We didn’t care. Whoever wants to work hard, that’s the people we want.” Holt and St. Charles High School finished
in first and second place respectively in last week’s district tournament, the determining precursor to state. Francis Howell was in third. Andrew Hammond is in his second term heading up the Holt girls’ team. He, like others, sees this early success is just a sign of things to come. “Wrestling is such a big sport out here and the coaches around here really buy into it,” Hammond said. “So if you have girls who are interested and want to work, it does not take long before things start clicking.” Holt had four first-place finishers from district that included sophomore Reese Compton, freshman Maria Slaughter, sophomore See’MAT’ page 2
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