Coralville, IA- Day one of the Girls’ Wrestling State Tournament in Coralville is in the books and here’s how our local wrestlers performed.
In the 100-pound weight class, the #26 seed Kenadee Helscher of Wapello lost her opening round match against #7 Olivia Hernandez of Bettendorf. Helscher was eliminated in her next match Taelynn Gravel of Midland by fall.
Fort Madison’s #11 Hailey Kemper was upset in her opening round match against the #22 seed Sophia Calpito of Charles City by fall. She would pick up a 7-2 decision win in the consolation bracket against #27 Addison Shulte of West Delaware; however, her run through the tournament came to an end against #5 Kara Vedepo of Solon by a 10-3 decision.
In the 110-pound weight class, Angelina Roling of Highland entered the tournament with the #12 seed but fell to #21 Audra Cross of Wilton by fall. Roling would pick up a win against #28 Audrina Bennett by fall before being eliminated by major decision to #11 Nora Brooks of Ankeny.
#30 Rylee Rice of WACO finished 0-2 at the tournament and was eliminated. She finished the season with a 25-12 record.
#10 Mara Smith of Fort Madison defeated #23 Leila Wedgwood BCLUW-SH by fall in the opening round of the 125-pound weight class. The #7 seed Destiny Brown of Ridge View narrowly took down Smith by an 8-6 decision. In the consolation bracket, Smith went on a tear, taking down #24 Camden Erhardt by fall and #18 Pieper Lester by major decision. Smith will continue her to 3rd place and wrestle #6 Lilly Stough of Waverly-Shell Rock to begin day two.
In the 135-pound weight class, #21 Ellie Brenneman of Mid-Prairie pulled off two upsets as she defeated #12 Morgan Strief and #5 Bella Mulder by fall. Brenneman was knocked off by #4 Bella Miller in the quarterfinals by fall. She will take on #8 Kaydence Boom of Wilton in the consolation bracket.
Pekin’s #25 Hailey Pedrick lost the first-round matchup by a 9-3 decision to Kaydence Boom. She was then eliminated by #9 Annaliese Arciniega of Osage by fall to end her tournament.
#19 Josie Nelson of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union wrestled #14 Riley Weiler in the opening round of the 140-pound weight class and loss by fall. Nelson then picked up a win against #30 Myla Kurk of Grinnell by fall. Unfortunately, she was eliminated by #13 Amelia Wadsworth by fall in the second round of the consolation bracket.
Two Southeast Conference members were wrestling in the 145-pound weight class with #24 Shariah Hart of Burlington and #22 Jayliah Gardner. Hart fell in a hard-fought match to #9 Lauren Rodgers by a 14-10 decision. Hart would take down #25 Emerson Bartlett by fall but would be defeated by #7 Lucy Kohnen by fall to end her tournament run.
Gardner won her opening round match against #11 Taya Hollingsworth in upset fashion by major decision. #6 Anastasia Simon would send her to the consolation bracket with a win by fall. Gardner would then pick up two wins in the consolation bracket with one win by fall against #21 Peyton Van Dyke and the other by a 5-0 decision against #14 Lucy Konechne. She will look to run down 3rd place on day two with her first match against #15 Layna Demoss.
In the 155-pound weight class, #32 Lecet Quiroz of Columbus/Winfield-Mt. Union had the dubious distinction of taking on the #1 seed Skylar Slade, who is looking to finish with a perfect season. She would fall to Slade and be eliminated by #16 Elsie Lewis by fall.
#8 Tatum Wolford was also chasing down an undefeated season and was succeeding with wins over #25 Kelsey Knief and #9 Destiny Kolheim in a close match, which ended in a 3-2 decision. This would put Wolford’s and Slade’s perfect seasons on the line and in an epic match Slade would pin Wolford at the 5:23 mark. She will face off against #20 Madilyn Rowson in the consolation bracket.
#15 Samantha Lyons of Fairfield and #30 Ellie Callahan of Mid-Prairie wrestled in the 170-pound weight class. Lyons won her match by a 9-2 against #18 Kynnedy Gunderson but she would be sent to the consolation bracket by #2 Autumn Elsbury by fall. Lyons would then narrowly defeat #17 Molly Carlson by a 7-5 decision before defeating #10 Reagan Haynes by fall to advance to day two. She will compete against #3 Grace Britten for a chance at 3rd place.
Callahan finished the day with a 1-2 record as her 7-5 decision win against #14 Daynia Werner was the highlight of her tournament.
Burlington’s #18 Kiara Rodriguez fell to #15 Savannah Sistad of Highway 34 in the first-round of the 235-pound weight class. She would pick up a win by technical fall over #31 Sage Dzeladini before being eliminated #16 Makenna Fetters by fall in the consolation bracket.
Day two will begin on Friday, February 2nd, at 10 am for the morning session. The finals are scheduled to start at 6 pm.