Five Lady Eagles Punch Their Ticket To State

After dominating districts, five Lady Eagles have clinched their ride to Columbia.

Abigail Erfurth (34-6) punched her ticket as a back-to-back district champion. Chloe Carson (36-11) was another sophomore who swept her competition for a title.

Sullivan has three seniors who will cap off their high school careers in the Mizzou Arena. Dorie Richardson (39-2) and Ruby Daily (28-10) are district runners-up, while Katie Summers (19-24) took third on the podium.

Freshman Autumn Hardesty (8-27) went unranked but left everything on the mat.

These six Lady Eagles grinded out a fourth-place finish for 115.5 points. Thirty-one teams competed in the Class 1 District 1 Tournament from Feb. 14-15. The hosting St. Clair Bulldogs came out on top.

Sullivan’s head coach, Carl Lawrence, could not have been happier with what his team has pulled off this year. “I just can’t really express how proud I am of the fact that we placed fourth as a team with six girls,” he exclaimed. “It’s hard to win team prizes with a small team like that. But the fact that they were able to be in the top four with six girls and five state qualifiers, I’m more than thrilled today.”

Lawrence was glad to see Summers keep her season alive after being “on the jeopardy side of the bracket.” He explained, “Once you get to that blood round—that last round to see if you’re going to be a state qualifier or not—the tensions are the highest they are in the entire tournament... When you’re on that side, it’s everything you got if you want to go to the state tournament. So, you know, I always try to tell them, ‘Stay calm, there’s no need to get overexcited. Let’s just try and focus on what we got to do and leave it out there on the mat.’” 

Summers (190) first took down Lexis Manning (Owensville) in 1:43 but then fell to Kaitlynn Van de Wiele (St. Clair) at 4:00. Summers rebounded in her following two bouts to clinch a state berth. The senior won an 8-2 decision over Michaiahes Mays (Sikeston) and a 9-3 ruling over Abbie Johnson (Kennett), punching her ticket to Columbia.

Erfurth (235) led the Lady Eagles with 28 points. She went undefeated, pinning Izzy Bruyette (Dexter) in 0:37, Jazmine Ramsey (Potosi) in 4:35 and Dayten Owens (Sikeston) in 2:36.

Carson (155) was unstoppable on the mats for 26 points. She first wrapped up Shanell Williams (Sikeston) in 1:58, then beat Anna Fischer (Ste. Genevieve) in a 15-14 decision and later took down Addisyn Gasaway (Central Park Hills) in a 5:30 fall.

Richardson (140) racked up 19.5 points and dominated her opening two rounds. She shut out Macy Naes (St. Clair) in a 15-0 technical fall and overcame Dani Gullet (Festus) in a 3-2 decision. The senior then lost her first-place match to the 41-1 Keely Fallert (Ste. Genevieve), falling in 5:33.

Daily (170) recorded 22 points in her final district tournament. She kicked off the meet by trapping Summer Mahurin (Windsor-Imperial) in 1:50 and Bailee Dare (Owensville) in 5:00. The senior lost first place to Alivia Webb (St. Clair) in a 3:13 fall.

Hardesty (125) scored four in St. Clair, with her sole victory being a 1:24 pin over Xuelai Zhang (Notre Dame). She lost her other two fights, falling at 0:42 to Ava Williams (Potosi) and 0:59 to Carley Gervacio (Central Park Hills).

The Lady Eagles aim to wrap up their seasons on a high note at the Class 1 Tournament, held from Feb. 26 to 27. Coach Lawrence is excited to see what his wrestlers will bring to the Mizzou Arena. He shared, “I feel like we’re peaking at the right time; everybody’s doing well. It’s just fine-tuning some of those small things, making adjustments for opponents that we might see later on, and just keeping them in it and confident... You don’t want them feeling burnt out coming back to the room [for] one more week. It’s a very long season, so when that happens… [it’s] just keeping them positive, keeping them up and realizing that we’re not done yet.”