​Del Real, Moehle aim high for state wrestling tournament

by Michael Smith


The Grain Valley girls wrestling team is in its first season without the face of the program.

Sevreign Aumua was the first-ever wrestler in the Grain Valley wrestling program and she made the case to be the one of the most successful athletes to ever graduate from the high school.

She was a four-time state medalist, a three-time state champion and during her freshman season, she was only female on the team and helped recruit other girls to join the team in her four years with the Eagles.

She passed the torch to junior Jayden Moehle and senior Adalia Del Real, who have taken over as leaders of the girls team. The duo qualified for the Class 2 Missouri State High School Girls Wrestling Championships after both placed in the top four of their respective weight classes in the Class 2 District 4 Tournament on Feb. 15.

The girls state tournament will begin Friday and will conclude on Saturday.

Del Real, who wrestles in the 155-pound weight class, will be making her second trip to the state tournament.

At districts, she finished in third place. She was pinned by North Kansas City senior Paige Strauch in the semifinals, but she rebounded to pin Truman sophomore Trinity Harrison in the bubble match to qualify for state and she won her third-place match 7-3 against Oak Park’s Bailee Wardlow.

While Del Real was happy to qualify for state, she said she knows there is still work to be done.

“I feel like I could have done better,” Deal Real said. “There is always room for improvement. I wrestled better than I normally did at districts. I set up my shots and worked with what I got.”

Del Real finished 1-2 in the state tournament last season and hopes to improve on that mark this time around as she will have one last shot to crack the top six and win a state medal.

“I am just going to go out there and have fun and give it all I got,” Del Real said. “I need to work on my mindset. I need to make it my match and set up what I know. Anything can happen.”

Grain Valley head coach Donald Horner said Del Real is not only a good wrestler but is someone who has helped recruit other girls to join the team, which helped lead to 13 girls being a part of the program.

“She’s such a greater leader and a good person,” said of Deal Real. “She’s someone who is leaving a solid legacy for other girls. A lot of the girls are on the team because of Delly.”

Moehle (235) also has been a major part of the team along with Del Real. Moehle has two state medals. She finished fourth as a freshman and was a runner up last season as a sophomore at the state tournament.

She is a wrestler who appears to be at her best when the postseason starts. That showed at the girls district tournament as she took second place. Moehle pinned her first two opponents in the first period to set up a finals match with Liberty junior Alexis Stinson. The Grain Valley junior lost by fall in that one.

“I feel like I wrestled good all the way up until the finals,” Moehle said. “I feel pretty confident in myself. My sweeps were working well for me.”

Horner said a big strength of Moehle’s is her advanced level footwork in neutral, which is not a skill a lot of heavyweights have.

“She does the right things, and she works hard,” Horner said of Moehle. “She is so smooth on her feet. She does things that other heavyweights can’t do. She’s a good athlete.”

A year after finishing as a runner up, the goal for Moehle is clear.

​“I am going for No. 1,” she said. “I am at the top of the bracket, and I am heading straight to the finals in my mind.”

​Grain Valley senior Adalia Del Real, top, qualified for the Class 2 girls state wrestling tournament after finishing third in the 155-pound weight class in the Class 2 District 4 girls tournament on Feb. 15. Photo credit: Michael Smith

Grain Valley junior Jayden Moehle, left, will aim for her first state championship this weekend at the Class 2 girls state tournament. She will compete in the 235-pound weight class. Photo credit: Michael Smith