Centralia’s Ava Ward is putting together a season of wonder so far, and last week’s Wonder Woman Tournament was the latest example.

Wonder Woman Tournament

The sophomore dominated a field rife with high-quality girls wrestlers, including state champions and medalists, with six pinfall victories in the tournament held Thursday and Friday at Battle High School in Columbia. Ward pinned her first five opponents in the first period and culminated her two days with her 115-pound championship match win against reigning 115-pound Wonder Woman and state champion Angelina Vargas, of Park Hill, becoming the first Wonder Woman champion in school history and first medalist at the event since McKenna Baer’s eighth place at 121 pounds in 2019.

Ward is ranked first in the state, first nationally at 112 pounds and is recognized internationally after winning several junior national tournaments and earning a Cadet bronze medal at the world championships. Vargas has accomplished much herself, garnering a No. 4 national ranking at 112 pounds, and Ward’s semifinal opponent, Tulsa Union’s Channelle Alburg, finished second at 120 pounds in Oklahoma’s state championships last year.

“I definitely thought I would have to pick up my drilling and things I was doing prior to the week more,” Ward said. “I was trying to prepare myself for better girls that would be coming here. It’s not just Missouri girls but girls from Florida, Oklahoma and other states. I knew I would have to zone in on everything I was doing and make sure I wasn’t getting distracted.”

After the time came for the first-place round, the mats shrank from three to one — after already going from the maximum six — and the majority of the gym was shrouded in darkness. One overhead light illuminated the mat for the matches that would award championship belts, staging an atmosphere worthy of a heavyweight boxing match.

Head coach Tyler Forsee said Ward is relentless when on the mat but is also “cool, calm and collected” when the lights are brightest and the pressure is the strongest.

“Her mentality — I wish I could bottle it up and feed it to everybody else,” Forsee said. “It’s a big stage, and you get some people tighten up and she’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so cool.’ She put a lot of hard work into it, and she’s done a really good job in the (wrestling) room — a hard-working kid.”

Forsee said Ward was clearly ready from the tournament’s outset, pinning Smithville’s Zoe Yim, St. Charles’ Liliana Vargas, Timberland’s Aubrey Kaupas and Ft. Zumwalt North’s Kayla Hobday on Day 1 all under two minutes — the longest was 1:40 against Hobday in the round of 16. A state runner-up and state champion didn’t fare too much better on Day 2.

Vargas was able to last until the second period, trailing 4-0 at that point. She was able to wriggle out of moves Ward had used to put away her previous opponents, but Vargas couldn’t hold on much longer. Hovering around the out-of-bounds line, Ward pinned Vargas at the 3:10 mark.

“I just knew I could keep her down when on top,” Ward said. “She kept giving up the wrist and she wasn’t really posting very much so I knew I could turn her.”

Forsee said Ward even surpassed his expectations with the level of her tournament performance and is happy with the four other girls Centralia took to the event. In fact, the Lady Panthers could have two wrestling on Day 2 with how close senior Besan Juma was at 235 pounds.

After advancing via two byes and losing by pin once and winning one time via pinfall, Juma was locked in a battle with district opponent Mexico’s Alexus Johns in the fourth round of wrestlebacks in the final match on Day 1. Juma took an 8-4 lead into the second period before Johns executed a reversal and then pinfall to win the match.

“That was a fun match,” Forsee said. “She’s getting better and better each and every match. I’m excited to see how she ends up.”

Sophomore Madie Shelton at 120 pounds went into wrestlebacks after being pinned by Brookfield’s Addison Pope and then received a bye and pinned Waynesville’s Kamden Raines to move to the third round of wrestlebacks. She was pinned by Tori Palmer, of Odessa, to eliminate her from the tournament.

Freshman Sophia Williams at 125 was pinned by Ft. Zumwalt North’s Shea Nortrup after receiving a bye but then pinned St. Charles’ Muryn Wallace to advance to the third round of wrestlebacks. She was pinned by Holt’s Eleanor Manning to end her tournament.

Sophomore Abigail Barte at 135 received a bye that was sandwiched between two pinfall losses to winning-record owners Harrisonville’s Anjell Chiasson and Waynesville’s Gabriela Hoag, who has placed at multiple tournaments this season.

“We’re young just in terms in experience,” Forsee said. “(Senior) Gretchen Marriott, who probably has the most experience, wasn’t able to wrestle as she hurt her shoulder earlier in the week. Our girls came in and competed, got good experience down here, and that’s just what it is. We got some good mat time, but there are good girls down here. You hear those people getting announced for the finals — nationally-ranked this and that, state champions, state medalists — it’s a big deal and big tournament.”

After winning three tournaments so far this season, Ward has lofty goals for this season, but she realizes those will only be met if she remains focused and basically treats each new competition as if she is 0-0.

“The only way I think that I’ll be able to keep it going is if I don’t let myself think all the success that I’m having right now will stay there forever,” Ward said. “I have to keep working to stay above everybody else and just to make sure I am staying true to myself and not getting distracted by other things — keep going into every tournament open-minded and not, ‘Oh, since I won this tournament, I’m definitely going to win this tournament.’”