It was an historic day for the Aberdeen Central girls’ wrestling team during the annual Lee Wolf Wrestling Tournament at Golden Eagles Arena on Friday.
The squad not only had a pair of individual champions, it won the team championship, its fourth overall title this season, and its first Lee Wolf crown.
“This is the first time we’ve won our own tournament and it definitely feels sweet,” said Central coach Jake Flakus.
While the Golden Eagles had four members make the finals, Flakus said winning a team championship requires contributions from everyone.
“You can focus on the few girls that do really well, or focus on the girls that kind of let things get away from them, or you can focus on the girls that had an OK day,” Flakus said. “You can just pick and choose where you want to focus, but at the end of the day, it’s a team effort that won it.”
Madison Little and Allison Neitzel won championships for Central, while Liza Krueger of Groton and Sophie Knittel of Ipswich also claimed individual titles.
Little went out and dominated her foe at 110 pounds, despite being a bit intimated at the start.
“I went out kind of nervous,” Little said, “because she had a big leg tattoo and she looked older.”
Instead, it was the Central freshman that set the tone.
“I just went out there and I was trying to defend what she had, because she was kind of strong,” Little said. “And I took a shot, hoping it would work, and then it worked.”
Flakus said Little wrestled her typical style in the title match.
“She’s a fierce competitor,” Flakus said. “She goes for big points and wants to dominate people.”
Neitzel won her title at 145 pounds in a unique format. She was involved in a round-robin bracket. That meant she had to be prepared to wrestle at odd times, because those matches were fit in randomly throughout the tourney.
“It was definitely more on the go,” Neitzel said. “Sometimes I was going after 155 and sometimes I was going after 190. I just looked up, saw my name, and I was going.”
And when Neitzel stepped on the mat, the senior got things done.
“I just got to where I needed to be,” she said, “got on top, ran the wing, ran the half.”
Neitzel was pleased with winning a Lee Wolf championship.
“Last year I placed third and boy that was a struggle to get up there,” Neitzel said, “so winning it, I’ve really come a long ways I think since from when I started wrestling to where I’ve gotten now.”
Flakus talked about Neitzel winning a title in her round-robin bracket.
“You can’t control who’s in your bracket or what your bracket looks like,” Flakus said, “but she did what she had to and wrestled hard and it showed.”
Another highlight on the day was Central’s Lin Paw Jone winning her 100th career match during the Golden Eagles’ final home appearance of the season.
“I’m glad that she got it in front of the home crowd,” Flakus said, “and it means a lot that her teammates were there cheering her on.”
Krueger racked up a 15-0 win at 105 pounds. The junior got in the first shot on her opponent, but had to work on getting the takedown.
“When they clamp onto you like that, and try and sit there and get their hips really heavy, it’s hard to get them elevated,” Krueger said, “but if you keep pushing and trying to create different angles and you’re trying to finish it, she’ll go down.”
Krueger survived a test in her semifinal match against Kadee Frankfurth of Clark-Willow Lake, pulling off a one-point win.
“That girl I wrestled in the semis I’ve wrestled quite a few times already,” Krueger said. “It’s hard to beat the same girl over and over and over again. She’s definitely improved.”
Krueger won a state championship last season and said task of repeating is an entirely different challenge.
“Winning your first state title is hard, but it’s defending it and continuing to come back and keep getting better, because there’s younger girls coming in,” Krueger said. “Those younger girls are better than the older girls now, because you have clubs that you can go to, and they are getting better at a younger age.”
Knittel was involved in a physical battle with her opponent in the final at 130 pounds before eventually pulling off a 5-4 victory.
“I just had to attack off of her stuff and then she attacked off of mine,” Knittel said. “It was back and forth a lot.”
It’s been an interesting season as Knittel recently changed weight classes, moving down from 135 to 130. She said facing lighter opponents make easier for her, since she always weighed 133 when she competed at 135.
“I feel like it’s easier to move them around,” Knittel said, “because I’m more their weight, instead of wrestling girls two pounds to four pounds heavier than me.”
Knittel has also benefitted from practice, where she has a member of the boys’ team to push her when needed.
“We have new girls this year,” Knittel said. “I recruited some girls, so I’ve been wrestling with them, teaching them some things, and then when I need to get pushed at practice I wrestle Chance Miller.”
Lemmon’s Quinn Butler was chosen as the Lee Wolf Outstanding Wrestler after remaining unbeaten on the way to winning the 140-pound championship.
Central will now prepare for a big finish to its season. The Golden Eagles will take momentum from the Lee Wolf as they head into conference, region and state next month.
“This is definitely going to build all of us as a team and individually as well. … We’ve made really big strides as a team,” Neitzel said. “I’m really proud of how far we’ve come.”
To see complete results of the tournament, click on the following link:
To see complete Aberdeen Central results, click on the following link:
