Coralville, IA- Day one is officially in the books for the third sanctioned year of Iowa Girls High School Wrestling State Tournament competition and the Southeast Conference left a mark in the second session with two wrestlers competing for a chance at a state title. Here’s a breakdown of all our local wrestlers.
100-Pound Weight Class
Wapello’s #2 Kenadee Helscher mowed through the competition, pinning #15 Jersey Hilgenberg of Riverside in 30 seconds and picking up a technical fall over #7 Jazz Christensen of SWAT to advance to the semifinals.
The Arrow will set her sights on #3 Lily Webster of Colfax-Mingo with the winner moving to wrestle for the championship.
105-Pound Weight Class
#9 Lexa Nelson of Pekin started her evening with a victory by fall over Audrina Bennett of Spirit Lake, which prompted a match against the #1 seed and undefeated Violet Diaz of Denver. Diaz would send Nelson to the consolation bracket with a win by fall.
Nelson would respond with a match that featured a flurry of points against #10 Valeria Torres of East Buchanan, resulting in a 15-13 decision win for the Panther. Nelson will tangle with #5 Mercedes Ponce of Perry tomorrow.
110-Pound Weight Class
Wapello’s #7 Clara Ball had a slow start to the tournament, losing by an 8-3 decision to #10 Braelyn Suckow of Sumner-Fredericksburg. Ball then went to work in the consolation bracket.
It started with a first round pin of #15 Brooke Stockdale of Okoboji then a technical fall against #8 Hailey Harvey of Riverside to advance to the third round of the consolation bracket.
Ball will take on #12 Kaelynn Roster of Vinton-Shellsburg.
115-Pound Weight Class
#16 Gabby Gingerich of Mid-Prairie was given the dubious honor of taking on #1 Reanah Utterback of Sigourney as she chases an undefeated season. Th result was a quick pin of the Golden Hawk.
Gingerich was given a free pass in her first consolation bracket with a medical forfeit of #9 Tess Richards of Solon. However, she would fall to #7 Cameryn Judisch of Sumner-Fredericksburg to end her tournament run.
She finished the season with a 27-15 record.
130-Pound Weight Class
Mid-Prairie’s #9 Ashlee Farrier picked up a win by fall against #8 Cameron Halbur of Rock Valley/Boyden-Hull, which set up a matchup against #1 Kaydence Boom of Wilton. Farrier packed a punch but was not enough as Boom escaped with the win by fall.
Farrier would then pin #10 Haylee Shelman of Saydel 4:31 into the match. She will compete against #5 Hayleigh Medberry of Central Elkader tomorrow in the third round of the consolation bracket.
135-Pound Weight Class
#13 Lila Miller had a tough tournament for Pekin, collecting an 0-2 record. Miller lost by technical fall against #4 Ameli Wadsworth of Decorah. She would then get pinned by #12 Sunshine Casey of Woodward-Granger to end her tournament run.
Miller finished the season with a 28-8 record.
140-Pound Weight Class
In a busy 140-pound weight class that featured three of our local wrestlers, only one still stands.
Mid-Prairie’s #15 Layken Lee lost to #2 Andelyn Cabalka of East Buchanan by fall in the opening round, then pinned by #10 Grace Keeler of Creston in the first round of the consolation bracket, ending her day.
Lee finished the season with a 23-21 record.
#9 Hailey Pedrick of Pekin fell to #8 Teagan Carritt of Logan-Magnolia-Woodbine to open up her tournament. In the consolation bracket, Pedrick downed #16 Josie Dean of Columbus Catholic by fall before being eliminated by #7 Lily Weinreich of Clarinda.
Pedrick closed out her junior campaign with a 38-7 record.
Keokuk’s#3 Jalyiah Gardner presented her case for the tournament ranking, defeating #14 Kaylie Havig of Osage by major decision before pinning #6 Olivia Bonnema of Solon to advance to the semifinals.
Gardner will be tasked with facing off against Cabalka with the winner wrestling for the gold.
145-Pound Weight Class
Mount Pleasant’s #6 Zenlynn Lee battled against #11 Adelynn Hudek of Mason-NW Webster but ended up falling to the consolation bracket. In her match against #14 Cheyenne Dike of East Union, Lee was eliminated due to injury in an unfortunate end to her tournament run.
Lee ended the season with a 23-7 record.
170-Pound Weight Class
#9 Samantha Lyons of Fairfield left her mark in this year’s tournament, collecting a quick pin of Precious Kredit of Sioux Center for an opening round win. Lyons would then pull off the ultimate upset and hand #1 Briar Blake of North Tama her second loss of the season by a 10-3 decision.
Lyons will compete against #4 Nancy Bowman of Logan-Magnolia-Woodbine in the semifinals.
190-Pound Weight Class
Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union’s #15 Jada Moats had a tough draw, taking on #2 Leah Stewart of Charles City, who picked up a win by fall. Moats lost to #7 Teagyn Hartz of West Branch in the consolation bracket by fall as well ending her tournament run.
Moats finished the season with a 17-22 record.
235-Pound Weight Class
Fairfield’s #10 Kendra Allison collected a 1-2 record with an opening round loss against #7 Olivia Seay of Wahlert Catholic by a 5-1 decision. Allison followed up the loss with a pin against #15 Laine Waggener of Center Point-Urbana.
Nevertheless, Allison would fall to #9 Emma Daniels of Carroll to end the season. She finished the season with a 24-20 record.
#14 Rylee Frye of Pekin went 0-2 in her tournament run, falling to #3 Emma Cook of Colfax-Mingo and #11 Ava Trende of New Hampton/Turkey Valley in the consolation bracket.
Frye ended the season with a 22-25 record.
Stay tuned to KILJ 105.5 FM and kilj.com for more updates and wrap-ups throughout the State Tournament.