Lockport’s wrestling team traveled to their annual out-of-state tournament. Both the girls and boys team competed in the Dan Gable Donnybrook Tournament from December 5 to December 7. With injuries affecting their team performance and morale, the girls team still managed to finish the girls session of the tournament with three placers.

Junior Lucy Madrigal was a staple to the team’s success last year but is out for a knee injury this season. Sophomore Veronica Skibicki and Junior Sophie Kelner both placed ninth in their brackets. Skibicki, competing in the 110 lb bracket, pinned her way through a 43 man bracket stacked with state champs and nationally recognized wrestlers to secure her ninth place finish.

Kelner, competing in the 190 lb bracket, suffered a tough loss the first day but managed to wrestle her way all the way back to ninth place in the next session.

Sophomore Rebekah Ramirez was unstoppable in the 235 lb bracket and ended the weekend on the podium in sixth place.

Junior Claudia Heeney did not attend the tournament with the team but still made them proud by wrestling in the prestigious Ironman Tournament in Ohio for the first ever Women of Ironman. 

The girls team has been on a streak this year, with Senior Averi Collela leading the team. Averi is a third year wrestler in the 105 lb. bracket and has dozens of wins under her belt. She is hopeful for both herself and the team this season.

Kelner, who placed ninth at Donnybrook, recently won her bracket during thanksgiving break at the Niles West Girls Invite. While talking about some past losses and how that affected her, Kelner said “It’s just a part of the sport, you have to get good at picking yourself back up and using a loss as motivation to work harder”.

The team is optimistic for this season and keeping up their historical achievement of placing second overall during last February’s state tournament in Bloomington.