The inaugural Lady Eagles Invitational led to a great weekend of girls wrestling at the Apollo Field House on Saturday Jan. 7, with Apollo themselves finishing in the top three.
E-gals Head Coach Courtney Johns said that they did face some challenges that caused a delayed start, but was able to get everything sorted to let the girls compete.
“Things started off slow with a lot of technical issues due to running the event online, but after things got going it went pretty smoothly,” Johns said. “With the amount of teams that we had I believe it went well. We had 20 teams with some that traveled from as far as four hours away.”
There were 28 teams that competed, including local teams such as Daviess County and Owensboro, as well as teams from out of state. Apollo placed third in the contest, with four of their five placed and all of them winning at least one match.
“All our girls did a great job,” Johns said. “Erin Fualkner and Mayte Lopez had first place finishes pinning all of their opponents, both defeated girls who were ranked in state and Lopez pinning the No. 2 ranked girl in her weight class. But Lilyan List who finished second wrestled her best tournament of the year. I was proud of her for how she performed, and I am hoping it helps with her confidence.”
Johns was happy the girls were able to get valuable mat experience that they would normally only see at the state level, while simultaneously hoping that the tournament grew the sport of girls wrestling.
“I am hoping that the tournament was able to bring more awareness to women’s wrestling in the area,” Johns said. “I was happy to see that other local teams like Owensboro and Daviess County attended, but also Henderson and Evansville.”
Last year there were just a little over 200 females wrestling in the Commonwealth. There’s been a rapid incline and Johns hopes that the Lady Eagles Invitational can only continue to do so for years to come.
“This year it is well over 400 so it has doubled in a year,” Johns said. “But I am hoping we are able to make this tournament an annual event. Girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports in America. I would love to see more females take interest in this sport. This is the one sport that teaches so many different life lessons, but benefits athletes who play other sports.”
