The Bellevue East girls wrestling team competed in the Metro Conference Tournament held at Bellevue East High School on January 16-17, marking another milestone in the program’s developing season under head coach Bryan Irsik.
The Metro Conference Tournament brought together multiple schools from across the area, providing athletes with the opportunity to compete against conference rivals in a full-day bracket-style competition.
“The girls are very proud of their performances at the Metro Conference Tournament, but know that they left points off the board that could have led to a higher placement,” Irsik said. “This shows that they recognize they are heading in the right direction, but also have a humble approach in understanding that we are still looking to improve in the next few weeks”
As the matches concluded, athletes who placed were freshman Ashley Serrano-Ramirez, junior Lily Ross, sophomore Jameiah Johnson, Junior Violet Aulner, sophomore Aliyah Davis, junior Kaliyah Evans, sophomore Aubrey Gross, senior Makaela Davis, senior Farrin Thiemann. In addition, Davis received her 100th win during the tournament.
“I had two goals this year, which was placing 3rd or higher at Metro’s and reaching 100 wins,” Davis said. “And I’ve met both of those so far. As a team, I feel like we would have done better, but we still did really well and a lot of us placed.”
Beyond final placements, the tournament highlighted the team’s progress since the beginning of the season. Athletes showed improvement in teamwork under the leadership of the four newly appointed captains, including Evans and Davis.
“I would say this year is definitely way better than it was last year,” Evans said. “We feel a lot more connected through everybody. That’s slightly because I feel like our captains have definitely stepped it up this year in leadership and I think we’re doing really well together as a team, which also correlates back to just being family and together.”
The development of the girls wrestling program has also made progress. Numbers of wrestlers have increased, leading to peaked interest amongst middle schoolers.
“We still have 43 girls fully out and committed,” Irsik said. “Where in the past, we had about 20 to 30 girls. We have around 50 to 60 girls out in the middle schools. We’re starting to see more girls from middle schools come into the high school program, and we are also hearing about more kids talk about wrestling within the school community now.”
After Metro’s, the team won two duals against Omaha Bryan and Plattsmouth high schools. The team hopes to continue and advance as the season progresses.
“If I had to tell anyone if they were looking to join it, just join,” Irsik said. “It’s taking a risk and stepping out of your comfort zone, but at the end of the day, you don’t know what you love or what you don’t love unless you do something. If you sit back wishing the entire time, then you’re never going to experience life to its fullest.”