Collinsville girls’ wrestlers win at Jacksonville invite
By Mark Jurgena
It was a successful Winter Break for the Collinsville High School girls’ wrestling team, winning the Jacksonville Invitational and competing well at the Wonder Women event in Columbia, Mo.
“Jacksonville was a hard-fought tournament,” said CHS girls’ coach Adam Gillespie. “It was good for us and it was a tough turn around going into the Wonder Women in Columbia but it was one of those tournaments to get momentum into the Wonder Women. It really set a lot of our girls in the right mental space to encourage them.”
Jacksonville
Collinsville put up 137 team points to nose out Triad at 132.5 and Belleville West, which scored 127.5 to take the championship at the Jacksonville Girls Invitational on Dec. 27.
“It was a team effort,” Gillespie said about the win. “We’ve got a lot of girls that are first-year wrestlers that are stepping into the lineup and pick up wins consistently. I think Jacksonville really helped build those girls’ confidence on the mat.”
Two Kahoks brought home first place finishes at the tourney.
Leann Cory won the 145 pound class with four straight pins.
She beat Taylor Sutton of East Peoria at the 1:48 mark, Adaliah Roth of Triad in 12 seconds, McKenzie Miller of Gibson City-Melvin Sibley at the 59 second mark and Kyla Ford of Carbondale at the 1:28 mark of the championship bout.
Not only did she win by pinfall she did not give up a single point outscoring her opponents 19-0 prior to pinning them.
“Earlier in the year, when she was wrestling at 155, she was experiencing some of those hard losses which kind of motivated her to get down to 145 where she’s finding a lot more success where she’s now ranked at number three in the state of Illinois.”
Londyn Long pinned her way to the championship at 125.
She knocked off Izy Paranto of El Paso-Gridley in 21 seconds, Kendyll Otten of Belleville West in 16 seconds, Maryn Tarver of Hillsboro in 40 seconds and Aryanna Jones of Alton at the 5:10 mark of the championship match.
In Collinsville’s previous tourney at Ft. Zumwalt East, Long had a tough tourney going 2-2. She had the lead in both matches she dropped but responded at Jacksonville.
“That really helped her out,” said Gillespie about the FZE result. “With Londyn, she’s such a good wrestler at what she does, that at the turn of the year since we’ve hit 2026, in practice, we’ve really got to start pushing her because it’s hard to find her a good practice partner that is around her weight.
“She comes across girls that wrestle in certain ways that she struggles with so it’s good for her to see that competition now so that way we know what to work on in the practice room.”
Kahok Addyson Bailey took second place at 140 losing to top-seeded Rickasia Ivy of Urbana at the 2:00 mark.
Bailey is ranked in the top ten in the state at 140.
She beat Daniya Musgrave of Mt. Vernon by a 9-6 decision then Alyssa Hardt of Belleville West thanks to a 13-3 major decision. Her semifinal win occurred over Elsie Dozier of Chatham (Glenwood) via pinfall at the 4:59 mark.
Emma Ford finished in fifth place at 120 while Ivana Torres did the same at 110.
After dropping her opening bout she won four in a row.
Ford pinned Lilly Cook of Urbana, Alexandria Keigley of Mahomet-Seymour at 1:41 and Olivia Jarrett of Chatham (Glenwood) at 3:05.
Finally, she beat Daisy Smith of Triad by a 12-8 decision.
Torres dropped her first bout before pinning Lilyana Snipes of Mahomet-Seymour at the 1:03 mark, Pakaporn Dunham of Mascoutah at 47 seconds and Marissa Brown of Oneida (ROWVA) at 3:08.
Jayla Harris brought home seventh at 130 pounds after winning three matches.
She pinned Emmi Schaefer of Mascoutah at 1:51, Annabell Southern of El Paso-Gridley at 2:55 and Dayza Phillips of Alton at 3:22.
Jazelle Young also took seventh for the Kahoks at 115.
She pinned Briley Sefton at 3:15, beat Kara Knipp of Mascoutah by a 6-1 decision and Charity Miguel of GCMS at 1:47.
Wonder Women
At the annual event at Battle High School in Columbia, Mo., the Collinsville girls took on some of the best in the Midwest at the 96-team tourney.
“It was a really big tournament for a lot of our girls,” said Gillepsie. “A bunch of our girls expected to go two-and-out, but a bunch of our girls went in and got some big wins on a big stage, which was huge for them and their confidence.”
Cory had a big tournament, winning her first five matches to reach the title bout before dropping the title bout to Emily Beckley of Broken Arrow, Oklahoma at the 1:27 mark. Beckley took second place in the summer at the USA Junior Nationals.
Before that, Cory pinned her first five competitors.
She beat Greenli Hicks of Lawton, Missouri in 23 seconds, Karina Melgaza-King of Chicago (Kelly) at 1:06, Madison Minson of Hampshire in 2:17, Athena Anderson of Jefferson City, Missouri (Capital City) in 42 seconds and Kamryn Bourbon of Nixa, Missouri in 4:36.
“The great thing about LeAnn is that win or lose, she always steps off that match grateful to be there and happy to be wrestling,” said Gillespie. “She missed out on all of last year due to a shoulder injury.”
It was huge for them to see LeAnn in the finals team culture-wise,” Gillespie said. “It shows them that this Collinsville Kahok wrestling team we’ve got is a big deal.”
Long won four of her matches at 125 pounds.
She beat Addilyn Masters of Shawnee Mission, Kansas (South) by a 12-7 decision, Jennifer Lopez-Alvarado of North Kansas City, Missouri by a 16-4 major decision.
Dannica Hassler of Hallsville, Missouri was pinned by Long at the 2:55 mark and scored a Major Decision over Maryn Wallace of St. Charles, Missouri 16-5.
She fell in matches to wrestlers from St. Charles (Francis Howell) and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma.
Bailey won two and dropped two at the event.
She pinned Kendra Baker of Park Hills, Missouri (Central) at 1:32 and Madalyn Riegert of Festus, Missouri at the 1:21 mark.
Bailey fell to wrestlers from Marshfield, Missouri and to a fellow Illinois wrestler from Canton.
Claire Dudley beat Gracie Shaw of Washington, Missouri at the 1:34 mark. She dropped matches to competitors from Lincoln, Nebraska (East) and Wentzville, Missouri (North Point).
Tashieya Taylor won three matches at 145, including pinning Kaylee Holt of Battle in 26 seconds, Grace Dust of Festus in 2:29 and Riley Roblyer of Broken Arrow at the 2:17 mark.
CHS Schedule
Collinsville is at the SWC Tourney in Edwardsville on Jan. 9, then they travel to the Fred Ross Invitational at Wildwood, Missouri (Lafayette) the following day. On Jan. 12, they are at Highland.
