By Ken Hansard
The Derby girls’ wrestlers shared a wealth of success during the 2024-2025 season. They won the AVCTL – Division I. They won every dual that they competed in this season, posting a perfect 7-0 record. They finished 11th in 6A State overall at the KSHSAA State Championships. Derby junior wrestler and team captain Brooke Downs, who wrestled in the 135-pound weight class, was a large reason for the Panthers’ success.
Downs was forced to battle through a neck injury at one point during the season, but she was able to overcome this challenge largely through her commitment to her goal of focusing on detail, “I really wanted to return to the basics and not the flashy moves. I wanted to maintain focus on my own strengths and weaknesses, rather than on my opponents and their records and rankings.”
Before the season, Brooke identified several aspects of the sport that she felt she needed to improve, notably her core stability and reaction time. “For core stability, I did more sport-specific workouts, and I ate better. I worked on reaction time using several strategies – one was using an alarm and timer. I would have someone set a time, so that I wasn’t aware of the time, and then I would see how quickly I could react to the alarm.”
All these measures were crucial in helping Downs to complete her most successful season of high school wrestling. She ended her season on the mat at the state championships, losing in the blood rounds. She finished the season with a record of 37-7, a mark that helped her earn First-Team All-AVCTL and Second-Team All-State recognition.
Brooke runs cross country for the Panthers in the fall. She wrestles in the off-season when she can, and when she is not competing, she is on the mat as an official. This year she was selected to officiate at the USAW Kansas Kids’ State Championship Tournament. She will become the first high school female to officiate the event. She is also a standout in the classroom, sporting a 3.7 G.P.A.
Downs still has her senior year of school to complete, so she has not yet chosen a college, but she has already picked and started on a career path. She is currently attending Butler Community College through Derby’s cooperative college credit program. Brooke is working towards her associate’s degree in nursing. After she finishes her nursing degree, she plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in athletic training. Her ultimate goal is to earn her Doctorate in Physical Therapy.
