GBHS’s varsity wrestling team traveled to Hartman’s Arena in Park City over the weekend for the state championship. Senior Daizy Gomez and Cooper Lyles were competing for first place. However, only Gomez came back, awarded first place and was crowned as state champion and Lyles was awarded second place. 

Gomez said, “This season was a challenge for me. I felt like being “ranked” high made it to where I had a huge target on my back and I would get told often that people would practice and study me to try and beat me.”

Sophomore Kaylea McMullen said, “Daizy has progressed a lot by going into matches more confidently and she kept adjusting her takedowns to improve them. Her work really paid off because she ended up easily pinning a girl who had beaten her everytime they wrestled since high school began. Also most of her matches were done in the first period because she’d get the pin right away.”

McMullen explained, “The trip was fun. Wrestling went pretty well and then we got a lot of down time at the hotel and hung out. We would go a little early in the morning to support the boys.”

Having a good support system is one of the keys in many successes. If you were to do a challenge and you never had a person of support outside of wrestling that cheers you on and helps you succeed in that moment, you’d have no motivation to finish the challenge. Gomez’s motivation is her mom. She’s helped her succeed and achieve her goals to be one of the best wrestlers at Great Bend High School.

“My biggest supporter is my mom. I get told by many many people at tournaments that she’s the loudest in the gym and she’s constantly crying when I am wrestling. She’s helped me by buying everything I need for the sport, supporting my diet during the season and just constantly reassuring me,” Gomez explained.

Gomez said, “Some advice to athletes, don’t expect yourself to reach those goals or become a State Champ if you’re being lazy in practice or if you aren’t treating your body respectfully or not feeding your body with good fuel.”

“We celebrated by going to Wingstop and people showed up to the wrestling facility to welcome her back. We’re all going to have a ‘fat’ party soon, now that we all can eat whatever we want.” McMullen explains.

After graduation, Gomez plans to wrestle at the collegiate level at Friends University in Wichita, KS where she will later major in Business and Art.