Team bonding: Hannibal wrestling coming together with tournament success

"It's definitely a good team bonding experience for us," said Hannibal junior Tristen Essig. "Especially when you are on a bus ride down there. We share a couple of laughs and we sleep most of the way. I feel this year we are tighter than we've ever been and we are working very hard on pushing each other."

The extra push and hard work has paid off for Hannibal.

The Pirates have won three weekend tournaments so far this season, taking first at Fort Zumwalt North on Dec. 3, Fort Zumwalt East on Dec. 17 and Capital City on Jan. 7.

"I certainly do (think it helps), especially with the tournament we just had last weekend," Essig said. "We saw some good teams there like Liberty North, for example. There's a lot of good wrestlers there. They definitely gave us a good look of what we are going to see down the road in February when we go to state."

The most recent tournament on Jan. 7 helped prepare Hannibal for what's to come.

"It was good," said Hannibal junior Cody Culp. "We had a couple of kids that we will see at state, so it just got my hopes high. It helped us a lot with our opponents. It's going to get better with the season as it goes on."

Finishing with perfect 5-0 records at the Capital City Tournament included Austin Brown (106), Reign Creech (113), Korbin Howe (120), Essig (126), Chad Culp (132), Cody Culp (138) and Koen Ramage (150).

Hannibal has also seen improvement from its wrestlers in bigger weight classes -- Lucas Hudson (175), Noah Young (190) and Ryan Ross (285).

Hannibal has swept its way through the North Central Missouri Conference, finishing 5-0 against conference rivals.

On Wednesday, the Pirates defeated Mexico 57-12 to secure the NCMC boys wrestling crown.

Although the Hannibal girls team is small, it has also been thriving this season.

Erica Williams (100), Riah Wigfall (120), Malika Sturm (130) and Sydney Zimmerman (170) have all found success this season.

Zimmerman came away with a second place finish at the Capital City girls wrestling tournament last weekend after going 4-1 in her matches.

"I think I've grown a lot from last year and it's gone a lot better than last year," Zimmerman said. "We still have really hard girls to face, but we've gotten better."

Wigfall placed third and Sturm placed fifth at the Capital City Tournament, while Williams had a hard-fought loss against a returning state second-place finisher.

Just like with the boys team, the girls have been bonding at the tournaments and during the long bus trips.

"We bond a lot because being in a bus for two or three hours helps us bond," Zimmerman said. "It helps us grow closer as a team."