By: Iowa Central Information
History will be made this Saturday when the Iowa Central Women's Wrestling squad takes to the mat in the first meet of their inaugural season.
Head coach Zak Hensley has high expectations for his squad, which includes a full roster of 22 women from throughout the region, state and country.
"We are very excited to get started," said Hensley. "Just from the work these ladies put in, our expectations are high because of how hard they work in the practice room. We will find out on Saturday in Wichita where they are and take it from there."
Hensley is looking to build a successful first-year program with the leadership of several experienced wrestlers including Kansas State Champion Miranda Bell, Three-Time Kansas State Finalist Kailyn Younger, Three-Time New Mexico State Champion Princess Altsisi and Briana Araujo Batista, a national All-American from Louisiana.
"We have great leadership; almost all of our wrestlers are state place winners," said Hensley. "They are experienced and diverse – some grew up wrestling and some started in high school; some are long time and others are relatively new to the sport."
The Tritons' first matchup, the Falcon Invite, takes place November 5. From there, they face a busy month of duals and tournaments leading up to their only home meet, a double header men's and women's dual with preseason No. 2 ranked Iowa Western on November 30.
Working one week at a time, Hensley is confident his squad will find their way to the top, becoming a competitive junior college program.
"Our expectation is to just be competitive in our junior college matches," he said. "We have built a culture here already and our ultimate goal would be to win nationals; to get those rings at the end of the year and I really think we have the squad to do it."
Hensley is proud of the effort his first squad has put into paving the way for Iowa Central Wrestling.
"This is team number one," he said "They came to lay the foundation for the future, for team 10…for team 100. They are blazing a trail for young women, for little girls and for the sport of women's wrestling."