After freshman Hannah Twomey placed sixth at the girls’ NCS wrestling finals last weekend, the boys’ team hopes to follow her lead by qualifying as many wrestlers for NCS as possible.
Twomey, who is currently the only girl on the Redwood wrestling team, missed qualifying for the girls’ state competition by two places at NCS, which took place at Pittsburg High School last Saturday. The boys’ team will compete in MCAL championships at Marin Catholic tomorrow and qualify on an individual basis for NCS.
Coach Alan Morris said that though the boys’ team lacks competitors in upper weight divisions, he still thinks they have a shot to win the MCAL tournament tomorrow.
The team finished their league season with a 4-4 record, beating Tam on Feb. 8. The two teams compete every year for the “King of the Mountain” plaque, which goes to the winner of the dual meet.
“We were expecting to win, [although] Tam was a little tougher than we expected,” Morris said.
Senior Dylan Morris, co-captain, said that the team is aiming to send the majority of the team to MCAL finals. Any wrestlers who place in the top three in their MCAL finals weight classes are guaranteed to advance to NCS.
Alan Morris said that Jack Twomey and Will Amos often work out at 6:30 a.m. in addition to regular afternoon practice. They and Will Simmonds all placed second in their respective MCAL weight divisions last year.
“They want to get back to the finals and win,” Alan Morris said. “Dylan will win and Nathan [Morris] has a good shot to win also.”
Dylan Morris, who is ranked third in the state in his weight class, said he is aiming to win NCS. Though he will be wrestling at Stanford next year, he said that at this point in the season he is focusing on his high school career.
Hannah Twomey said that she didn’t expect to do well at NCS.
“I understood that I was a freshman going in and I probably wouldn’t do great, but I ended up surprising myself,” she said.
She said that she was happy with the results and that she hopes to qualify for the state tournament next year.
Twomey said she decided to start wrestling because her brother, Jack Twomey, had been on the team for a couple of years.
“I was totally exposed to it because I was going to a lot of tournaments,” Twomey said. “I decided to try it and I kept with it.”
Twomey said that she has no problem being the only girl on the team.
“All of my friends think it would be awkward, but it’s not,” she said.
