SWAT wrestlers open Nov. 20 at Anita

Most of the SWAT girls wrestling team’s roster is made up of girls with experience in the sport, so head coach Tyler South remains confident that there’s a lot of potential for the program this season.

The Valkyries — comprised of girls from Nodaway Valley and Cumberland-Anita-Massena — hit the practice room at Massena for the first time Monday, Nov. 3, in anticipation for their first meet Nov. 20, which is a quadrangular at Anita.

“We’ve gotten a week in now. It’s been going pretty good. We have 11 girls out right now. They all have some experience, at least,” South said. “We have two freshmen out that wrestled all through junior high who will wrestle in the lower weights, then we have a lot of returners too.”

Knowing the experience he has in the room, South and the other coaches have focused on making sure the team is in prime shape, first and foremost. Once a foundation of conditioning is set, they’ll be able to transition to honing in on strategy and fundamentals through drills and wrestling each other in practice.

“When they’re live wrestling, we can stop them every once and awhile, get all the other girls and show them how they ended up here and go through what they did wrong, what they did right and help correct and fine-tune things,” South said. “That will help them finish moves [correctly].”

Leading the Valkyries will be senior Lilly Barber from CAM, who South expects to wrestle at about 155 pounds; juniors Destiny Fry from Nodaway Valley (115), who has the state tournament on her mind again; Megan Gerlock (190/heavyweight) from CAM; Bailey Lillard (145) from CAM, who wants to be back at state and on the podium and Stella Beattie (170) from CAM, who has put in a lot of offseason work and is “on fire” this year.

Addi Glade of Nodaway Valley is a “hardworking kid” with a lot of goals in mind. Other wrestlers from Nodaway Valley are Addie Erlandson (140) and Jelina Gutierrez.

No matter what, South is pleased with the effort given by the girls so far and is eager to see how things shake out as the season takes shape.

“I’m excited for the season,” South said. “This junior class has been phenomenal. I wish we had sophomores and freshmen like these girls are. They’re pretty good leaders and are self-disciplined. They’re all around good kids.”