No. 7 FHSU women compete in Black and Gold Scrimmage, prepare for season

Story by CAYDEN SANDERS Photos by PHILIPP MAHN NGUYEN

The Fort Hays State women’s wrestling team competed in the annual Black and Gold Scrimmage on Saturday. The Tigers showcased the team through 12 intrasquad matches. FHSU Head Coach Alijah Jeffery said the team was less focused on the end results and more on how each athlete competed.  

“I thought they did an excellent job, especially early in those early matches. They’re coming out trying to score points,” he said. “So I was really impressed with our group of ladies, and we’ve got some young girls that are coming up too and are hungry and and we’re really excited for this year. I think we’re going to be a really good team.”

Jeffery pointed out two matches in particular that impressed him: Peyton Hellmann vs. Ashlynn Goodwin and Kennedy Farrar vs. Jaidyn Alvarado

“Peyton Hellman and Ashlyn Goodwin was an excellent match. Goodwin is a returning national qualifier for us [and] Peyton is a freshman that has a great work ethic and really wants a starting spot. It was a great match, start to finish,” Jeffery said. “At 103, (Farrar and Alvarado) both those wrestlers were scrapping. I think there was 19 points put on the board. So there were some fireworks early. And it was just nice to see those wrestlers just trying to go out there and just score points and wrestle hard for six minutes.” 

The Tigers are pre-season No. 7 in the National Wrestling Coaches Association preseason poll and four individual wrestlers are ranked as well. Nichole Moore is No. 6 in 138-lbs, Dylan Ritchey is No. 8 in 145-lbs, Isabella Renfro is No. 5 in 180-lbs, and Hailey Conley is No. 8 207-lbs.  

Jeffery said it is nice for some of the wrestlers to be noticed for the hard work they put in and their results from last year, but he also acknowledged that preseason rankings aren’t overly important. 

“We still have to go out there and we have to perform and just get better every single day. So it is nice for Fort Hays to get recognition,” Jeffery said. “Last year, it always felt like we were the underdog and we got overlooked until the very end. Whereas this year, maybe we are getting a little bit more noticed, and our athletes are getting noticed for the hard work they put in. But also we’ve got to put in the work and prove that we’re a top 10 national ranked team.”

Conley never thought she would be ranked in college, but she is pleased to be recognized for her efforts. She won her decision on Saturday 3-1. 

“I really never thought that I would ever be nationally ranked in college. When ranking came out I was really surprised to see how high up I am ranked as a sophomore,” Conley said. “It feels good to know that other people see the work and the progress I am making and it makes me excited to see how the season goes.”

Even being a newer program, the team as a whole has a lot of expectations. For Conley, that starts with improving on last season’s success. 

“As a team we want to be better than last year. As a new program it will take time to make some noise but we are already doing that,” she said. “We have a lot of new faces and a lot of young faces so we are all wanting to work hard and make our team known. We all put in the work and will peak at the right time in March.”

Fort Hays starts its season on November 2 at the Maverick Open hosted by No. 6 Colorado Mesa. Jeffery understands the importance of competing against the top schools that will be in attendance at the meet. 

“Colorado Mesa, that’s a school that we’ve been tracking down for a while. They kind of took it to us last year, and we’re really wanting to just go out there and prove that we’re as good a team,” Jeffery said. “There’s some other RMAC schools that are in the national rankings as well. They have talented wrestlers in that conference. They’re in our region, so it’s it’s really important for us to go out there and see those teams throughout the year.”

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