SEMO Conference girls wrestling: Poplar Bluff’s Freeman makes history, Jackson’s Milam dominates

DEXTER — Zöe Freeman stands unique.

The Poplar Bluff senior accomplished something that no other female wrestler has ever done before: win four SEMO Conference championships.

Freeman did just that with a first-period pin against Sikeston sophomore Dayten Owens in the 235-pound final on Saturday, Jan. 25, at Dexter High School.

“It's honestly just the start of something for girls in wrestling,” said Freeman, who remained undefeated on the year. “Girls wrestling has only been a thing for maybe like five or six years, and I don't want to graduate and see it die off. I want to see it grow and expand. And I want to see multiple girls become four-time conference champions. I want to see that. I'm hoping, with my success, it can influence other girls.”

Freeman turned a blast double-leg takedown into her fourth gold medal in a match that was over at the 1:23 mark. In fact, no opponent made it out of the first period against Freeman all tournament long, as she earned a 40-second pin in the quarterfinals before sticking Potosi’s Jazmine Ramsey in 59 seconds in the semifinals.

The Cornell College commit impressed more than sufficiently to win the Outstanding Wrestler award.

“When I first started wrestling, it was very rare in a match for you to see me shoot,” said Freeman, who began wrestling six years ago as a seventh grader. “I was such a defensive wrestler. I never would shoot. I would always defend the shot and hope to end up on top. But over the years, I have shot in almost all my matches. I get the first takedown most of the time and I think that’s where I’ve grown a lot.”

A three-time Missouri state place winner, Freeman has lofty goals this winter of not only becoming a four-time medalist, but Poplar Bluff’s first-ever state champion.

The decorated upperweight said that her mentality has been another huge area of growth, which fuels her confidence every single time she toes the line.

“When I first started wrestling, I put so much pressure on myself to that in my matches I was terrible,” Freeman said. “Now I can walk into a match feeling purposely confident, regardless of who I'm going to wrestle. I wrestled the girl ranked eighth in the nation at state last year, and I went into that match with a mindset that if I would have had the same mindset as my freshman year I would have lost. And I still did lose, but I had the best match I’ve ever wrestled because I changed my mentality going into my matches.”

Milam goes back-to-back

Kayleigh Milam could hardly have done better at the SEMO Conference tournament.

The Jackson junior sprinted through the competition at Dexter High School en route to becoming the program’s second-ever two-time conference champion alongside current Maryville University track star Gracie Metzger.

“It’s just really big for our program,” Milam said. “We just put a lot of work into it. Our wrestling room is really awesome. Everybody pushes each other and I have good partners.”

Milam wasted no time in her final and stuck Windsor’s Tessa Chadbourne in 11 seconds for the 110-pound title Saturday evening, making two of potentially three such conference championships for the decorated Lady Indian lightweight.

Milam’s physicality, quickness on her feet and strength in handfighting were on full display all tournament long, as she racked up 12 total takedowns in three matches that never even sniffed the second period.

“This tournament was focusing on having fun,” Milam said. “Still having a good mindset, even if I don't have the highest competition. Then yesterday and today, I just picked out little things that I wanted to work on that'll help me in my bigger matches, like heavy hands, applying my ties, moving my feet, working on my fakes.”

Finalists round-up

The other local wrestlers to win conference championships were Sikeston senior Ellie Douglass and Kennett freshman Abbie Johnson.

In a dog fight against Hillsboro’s Nico Brooks for the 110-pound title, Douglass earned a crucial penalty point in the second period before riding out the entire third frame to earn a gritty 1-0 victory.

Then, up at 190 pounds, Johnson picked up a takedown 46 seconds into the match before catching Dexter’s Autumn Bunton flat on her back for a swift first-period pin.

Cape Central’s Madison Smoot outwrestled her No. 4 seed by placing second at 145 pounds. Top-seeded Taylinn Conn-Harris of Dexter was upset by Ste. Genevieve’s Aniston Cremer in the 170-pound final after getting pinned at the 3:25 mark.

Other place winners:

115 lbs. - Lilu Williams (4th/Cape Central)

130 lbs. - Charlie Torres (3rd/Sikeston)

140 lbs. - Rivers Mason (3rd/Kelly)

145 lbs. - Diniah Pulliam (4th/Kennett)

155 lbs. - Shanell Wiliams (3rd/Sikeston)

190 lbs. - Michaiahes Mays (4th/Sikeston)

235 lbs. - Jazlynn Covington (3rd/Kennett)