The Westside girls wrestling team is heading to A-3 District at Lincoln Southeast with hopes to qualify every wrestler for the State Championships in a few weeks.

Head coach Bob Mulligan explained the attitude for the wrestlers going into the District tournament. 

“Our mindset is that we are going to qualify the whole team and hopefully compete for that district championship as a team,” Mulligan said. “We got a favorable district with a lot of match ups that we think will go our way and we’re gonna make a lot of noise at districts.”

Sophomore Piper Zatechka described her thoughts on individual goals and as a team.

“Personally, I want to go there and do the best I can and improve with every match,” Zatechka said. “I am confident that I will punch a ticket to state so my current goal for districts is to be a district champion. The team’s expectation is to qualify all five of us which is very possible, there’s definitely nerves for all of us but it’s mostly excitement and confidence going in as a team.”

Mulligan also shared his opinion on the statement the girls will try to make this Saturday at Districts.

“We like the quality over quantity, we’d rather have 4-5 really really good wrestlers rather than have a full team that’s maybe not as talented.” Mulligan said. “The girls have done an amazing job embracing being a small team and it makes them feel like family. It’s amazing the numbers we’ve been able to put up with the number of girls that we have.”

Zatechka spoke about the team coming together in the last couple of weeks to support each other in the final stretch of the season.

“This team is so special to all of us, what we’ve accomplished this year is incredible,” Zatechka said.”We all push each other and support each other at the same time. We are all proud of each other’s accomplishments and are super excited to watch others perform well at Districts on Saturday.”

The girls team will head to Lincoln Southeast on Saturday Feb. 3 to compete at the A-3 District tournament, with plans to have everyone punch their ticket to the State Championships.