The Liberty girls’ wrestling team had a successful season, winning the MVC (Mississippi Valley Conference) tournament, along with many other tournaments and duals. The team ranked fifth and had seven girls ranked in the top twelve in the state. Liberty qualified eight girls for the state tournament: Taylor Cavanh, 12, Eva Karam, 10, Kate Eggleston, 9, Kaity Raue, 12, Acasia Lukalaba, 10, Evelyn Eggleston, 12, Callum Wu, 12, and Peyten Van Dyke, 11. Six of those eight girls placed top eight at state, securing a medal and a spot on the podium. Liberty as a team got fifth in Class 2A.
Derek Coorough (he/him), Liberty girls’ wrestling head coach, prepared the girls all season long for the state tournament.
“Qualifying eight girls to the state tournament was a great feeling,” Coorough said. “I had been preaching to the team all year that the girls deserved to be at the state tournament and that they should be dreaming about and visualising themselves on the medal stand at state.”
In securing the fifth-place finish, Liberty scored 82.5 points, putting them above many other respectable teams in the state. Hours of preparation in the wrestling room led to the team’s finish at state.
“We continue to drill and work on the very basic positions. Basics wins championships in nearly every sport, including wrestling,” Coorough said. “We make sure that the girls are mentally prepared by visualizing themselves standing on the podium and wrestling in the arena.”
Many of the wrestlers on the team started wrestling their freshman year or later. Evelyn Eggleston (she/her), 12, was one of the girls who started wrestling her freshman year. Since then, Evelyn Eggleston has been going to club practices and camps off-season to improve.
“It meant so much to qualify, especially since it’s my senior and final year of wrestling and because I didn’t qualify last year,” Evelyn Eggleston said. “And the fact I placed top three [at state] made me so happy and really showed all the work I put into the sport over the years.”
Callum Wu (she/her), 12, started wrestling her sophomore year. She has put in lots of hours training, making up for the fact that she didn’t start wrestling until a lot later on than other girls.
“One thing that hit me a couple of weeks before the end of season was really that I didn’t have anything to fear,” Wu said. “I couldn’t lose, in the way that, no matter what happened out on the mat, as long as I left it all out there, I could only be proud of myself and the effort I gave. All Heart.”
The team will be losing a lot of seniors next year, as five of the weights will need to be filled with new wrestlers. Not only is it difficult to find new people to fill those spots, but it’s also emotional for the team.
“A difficult part of the season is always the end,” Coorough said. “Having the team wrestle the final home dual, which is senior night, the JV girls wrestling their last matches of the season, and then varsity wrestling at regionals and then state is the final pin in the season that is bittersweet. I love coaching this sport and watching the seniors leave is such a tough feeling.”
Kate Eggleston (she/her), 9, is Liberty’s first-ever freshman state place winner. She was able to wrestle on the same team as her sister, while also getting the same place at state.
“At the end of my final match, a lot was going through my mind, like the realization that I had just accomplished something very hard,” Kate Eggleston said. “Once the moment had started to sink in, I also had this wave of sadness because my freshman season had come to an end, as well as my sister’s’.”
Going to the state tournament can be stressful for many of the athletes. Going to a big tournament where it all matters the most is tough on young athletes. Although Kate Eggleston didn’t let the nerves stop her.
“Definitely, the hardest part of getting to this point is the self-doubt and my mindset,” Kate Eggleston said. “Leading up to state, I definitely had plenty of self-doubt in myself because I thought I had to have everything perfect for me to do well. But now I know that is definitely not true; if I just wrestle my hardest, I can achieve great goals.”
Many wrestling coaches share that wrestling provides skills that you can use throughout the rest of your life. The experiences at state and the “wrestling grind” you go through helps you do hard things in life.
“Wrestling changed my life a lot,” Evelyn Eggleston said. “It showed me that I can achieve something if I really put my mind to it and it motivates me for my future in other parts of my life, knowing I have already done so many hard things and that I can definitely do more.”
One of the biggest goals for the girls’ team this year was teamwork. They often talked about it before practice, and their coaches gave them speeches regarding it. Many of the wrestlers believe that at the state tournament, teamwork was very important throughout the team.
“We really came together as a family,” Wu said. “All our teammates that showed up to support us was a really visual way of seeing that. I think I cried for five minutes on Peyten after my last match, and Acasia came back on day two to be my warm-up partner even though she didn’t have to. The coaches in my corner made sure we were feeling good pre-match, and everyone worked together well.”
Overall, the team has grown immensely in their skills, becoming more successful and gaining more recognition compared to previous years.
“There have been several factors to our success,” Coorough said. “One: we have several athletes that have fallen in love with the sport and wanted to learn everything they could. That passion for wanting to be better put them in a position that made it hard not to succeed. Two: we had several athletes that encouraged new teammates and taught others how to wrestle, and that is how we will continue to grow this sport.”
