One of the things Salina Central’s Lydia Dong is most excited about for her senior season as a wrestler is being able to work with her coaches one last time. She has developed a repour and relationship with them throughout her high school career and even longer.

“I am most excited to wrestle for my amazing coaches one last time, including Coach Black and Coach Brundgardt (who have coached me for 6 years), Coach Lueders, and Coach Brake,” Dong said.

Since girls wrestling is still in its infant stages at the high school level in Kansas, Dong hopes that she can make an impact, even just a small one, this season.

“My individual goal is to be comfortable on the mat, to place at state, and end my high school career with a lasting impact on the Salina Central Girls Wrestling program,” Dong said.

Last season, Dong went 25-7, while being chosen first team all-league and taking second place at the 6A-5A Tournament. For this season to be even better, Dong started something new in wrestling over the offseason.

“In the off season I wrestled quite a bit and even started my freestyle journey,” Dong said. “I wrestled for the SAW Regional Training Center and with them I began competing freestyle. During my off season one of my biggest goals was to build my strength.”