By Becky Walz,
For the second year in a row the Decorah girls’ wrestling team won the Region 8 tournament and will send nine wrestlers to the state wrestling meet in Coralville later this week. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Becky Walz)
Fans were out in full-force Friday for the girls’ regional wrestling qualifying meets, and the Mason City Fieldhouse was no exception as individuals continued to flow in to the stands all day to watch girls compete in Regions 7 and 8.
Competing in Region 8, the Decorah girls’ wrestling team seemed to dominate the mats much as they have done since the sport became sanctioned with the Vikings winning the team title with 254 points. Mason City was the next best with 205 points while Williamsburg rounded out the top three with 194 points. South Winn also competed in Region 8 and tallied 59 points throughout the day, finishing 14th in the 25-team field.
The top four in each weight class from each region punched tickets to the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, with a total of 32 girls advancing to state. The state meet will be held at the Xtream Arena in Coralville Thursday and Friday, Feb. 1-2, starting each day at 10 a.m.
Nine to Coralville
A total of nine athletes will represent Decorah on the mats in Coralville after finishing in the top four of their respective weight divisions. Of those, two were crowned the regional champions, including top-ranked Naomi Simon at 170 pounds and No. 5 Kamryn Steines at 190 pounds.
N. Simon is looking to be a four-time state champion as she caps off her senior campaign on the big stage. Friday, the Viking picked up four first-period falls to earn the regional gold. Her day began with a first-round bye before she threw Jordynn Fink of Center Point-Urbana in 1:17 in round two — her longest match of the day. It took N. Simon just 44 seconds to pin Osage’s Addison Schenker in the quarterfinal. Moving on to the semifinal, she took down Kailan McEwen of BCLUW-SH in 1:11 and put Kynnedy Gunderson of Iowa Falls-Alden on her back in 1:01 to win the finals.
A pair of opening round byes gave Steines some extra time to prepare for her quarterfinal match against Elyza Williamson of Osage who fell in 1:43 to the Viking. Rose Niewoehner of Crestwood put up a fight in the semifinal before caving to the pin in 3:19 to Steines. In the championship bout, the Viking turned Waukon’s Kloe Hemmersbach for the win in 1:59.
Punching their ticket to state after finishing runner-up were Chloe Sheffield (100), Ellie Adams (115), Ana Simon (145), Lauren Luzum (155) and Madysen Lippe. McKenzie Tollefson (135) and Amelia Wadsworth (140) took home bronze and will be competing at state as well.
Two for Warriors
South Winn did some of its best wrestling of the season Friday, seeing two wrestlers advance to the state tournament.
“I am exceedingly proud of our eight wrestlers that put in over three months of hard work and supported one another to the very end. This is a humbling and difficult sport, and I hope we learned many valuable lessons and grew as a result. Obviously, Friday saw the end of most of the seasons, but we had a lot of bright spots along the way,” said SW Coach Ethan Adams.
Kaydn Meyer not only punched her ticket to state at 125 pounds but won her 100th career match in Mason City. Starting the day with a bye, the senior, ranked eighth, threw Decorah’s Stella Grinna in 3:03 in round two and pinned her way by Ava Garcia of Williamsburg in the quarterfinal in 3:21. It took Meyer 1:55 to turn Leila Wedgewood of BCLUW-SH to face Jaymie Anderson of Eagle Grove in the final. The SW grappler gave up the first takedown and stormed back, scoring 15 unanswered points for a 15-2 major decision to put an exclamation point on her day.
Battling through a current wrist injury, sophomore Maddy Jansen put on a gutsy display of wrestling throughout the day, finishing second. Her first match came with a fall over Nadelyn Stanbrough of North Butler-Clarksville in 53 seconds, then came a pin in 2:40 in the quarterfinals over Karise Benson of Dubuque Senior. Facing No. 7 McKenzie Tollefson in the semifinal, Jansen defeated a nemesis who had bested her twice before by a 3-2 decision and locked in her second trip to state.
Region 8 Qualifer team scores
1. Decorah 254; 2. Mason City 205; 3. Williamsburg 194; 4. Osage 190; 5. Dubuque Hempstead 144; 6. Crestwood 143; 7. Dubuque Senior 138; 8. Waukon 125; 9. BCLUW-SH 109; 10. North Central Trailblazers 87; 11. Saint Ansgar 79; 12. AP-GC 64; 13. North Fayette Valley 61; 14. South Winn 59; 15. Okoboji/HMS 51; 16. North Butler-Clarksville 46; 17. Ogden 40; 17. Urbandale 40; 19. Iowa Falls-Alden 35; 20. Ballard 33; 20. Eagle Grove 33; 23. Nashua-Plainfield 24; 23. Center Point-Urbana 17; 24. Belle Plain 0; 25. West Bend-Mallard 0
Individual results
100 – Chloe Sheffield, Decorah, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – bye; Quarters – WBF in 1:19 over Alyssa Murphy (Dubuque Hempstead; Semis – won 13-1 maj. dec over Alexis Kolbet (Osage); Final – LBF in 2:43 to Mia Kurth (Waukon)
105 – Isabelle Goltz, SW, DNP
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – LBF in 1:53 to Anya Rivera (Williamsburg); Cons. rd. 2 – bye; Cons. 3 – bye; Cons. rd. 4 – LBF in 1:52 to Amelia Faubus (Ballard)
110 – Cassie Wilkins, Decorah, DNP
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – LBF in 1:10 to Brielle Starkweather (NFV); Cons. rd. 2 – bye; Cons. rd. 3 – WBF in 0:44 over Carlie Hinderaker (Ogden); Cons. rd. 4 – LBF in 3:14 to Madeline Cornish (Mason City)
115 – Ellie Adams, Decorah, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – WBF in 0:28 over Rebecca Balter (BCLUW-SH); Quarters – won 5-0 dec. over Averi Peterson (Mason City); Semis – won 1-0 dec. over Sofiya Pollard (Urbandale); Final – LBF in 2:43 to Madison Kirby (Williamsburg)
115 – Sophia Dvorak, SW, DNP
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – LBF in 2:38 to Sofiya Pollard (Urbandale); Cons. rd. 2 – bye; Cons. rd. 3 – LBF in 2:59 to Alivia Glenn (Ballard)
125 – Kaydn Meyer, SW, 1st place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – WBF in 3:03 over Stella Grinna (Decorah); Quarters – WBF in 3:21 over Ava Garcia (Williamsburg); Semis – WBF in 1:55 over Leila Wedgewood (BCLUW-SH); Final – won 15-2 maj. dec. over Jaymie Anderson (Eagle Grove)
125 – Stella Grinna, Decorah, DNP
Rd. 1 – won 11-2 maj. dec. over Jayla Patten (Nashua-Plainfield); Rd. 2 – LBF in 3:03 to Kaydn Meyer (SW); Cons. rd. 2 – WBF in 3:43 over Kyliee Babcock (AP-GC); Cons. rd. 3 – LBF in 3:45 to Evelyn Faubus (Ballard)
130 – Kaitlyn Bjork, Decorah, 6th place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – WBF in 2:23 over Abby Wagner (SW); Quarters – lost 9-2 dec. to Ayla Osterkamp (Dubuque Hempstead); Cons. rd. 4 – WBF in 1:44 over Liberty Boettger (Ballard); Cons. rd. 5 – WBF in 1:37 over Brooklyn Burke (Crestwood); Cons. semi – LBF in 1:44 to Riann Holt (Williamsburg); 5th place – LBF in 5:22 to Raegan Crawford (BCLUW-SH)
130 – Abby Wagner, SW, DNP
Rd. 1 – WBF in 0:33 over Brooklyn Gehling (Iowa Falls-Alden); Rd. 2 – LBF in 2:23 to Kaitlyn Bjork (Decorah); Cons. rd. 2 – lost 2-1 dec. to Ceanna Capper (North Butler-Clarksville)
135 – Maddy Jansen, SW, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – WBF in 0:53 over Nadelyn Stanbrough (North Butler-Clarksville); Quarters – WBF in 2:40 over Karise Benson (Dubuque Senior); Semis – won 3-2 dec. over McKenzie Tollefson (Decorah); Final – lost by medical forfeit to Annaliese Arciniega (Osage)
135 – McKenzie Tollefson, Decorah, 3rd place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – WBF in 0:35 over Cecilia Blake (Waukon); Quarters – WBF in 1:39 over Cameron Thiele (Crestwood); Semis – lost 3-2 dec. to Maddy Jansen (SW); Cons. semi – WBF in 1:07 over Cecelia Gryp (Williamsburg); 3rd place – WBF in 2:22 over Karise Benson (Dubuque Senior)
140 – Amelia Wadsworth, Decorah, 3rd place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – WBF in 5:22 over Kaylie Havig (Osage); Quarters – LBF in 4:16 to Valeria Altenhofen (Williamsburg); Cons. rd. 4 – WBF in 2:30 over Irelan Brown (Center Point-Urbana); Cons. rd. 5 – WBF in 1:38 over Lauryn Silvery (Iowa Falls-Alden); Cons. semi – WBF in 2:58 over Annabel Blanchard (Dubuque Hempstead); 3rd place – WBF in 0:49 over Gracie Kuhn (NFV)
140 – McKenna Looby, SW, DNP
Rd. 1 – LBF in 1:05 to Rae-lynn Meitner (Saint Ansgar); Cons. rd. 1 – bye; Cons. rd. 2 – LBF in 2:39 to Mia Hilleman (Ballard)
145 – Ana Smion, Decorah, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – bye; Quarters – won by inj. time over Alexis Oakland (NFV); Semis – WBF in 2:48 over Aubrey Chapman (Osage); Final – lost 7-4 dec. to Phoenix Gryp (Williamsburg)
155 – Lauren Luzum, Decorah, 2nd place
Rd. 1- bye; Rd. 2 – bye; Quarters – WBF in 1:22 over Hadley Buenzow (North Central Trailblazers); Semis – WBF in 1:46 over Paige Howieson (Dubuque Hempstead); Final – lost 5-2 dec. to Kyleigh James (Mason City)
170 – Naomi Simon, Decorah, 1st place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – WBF in 1:17 over Jordynn Fink (Center Point-Urbana); Quarters – WBF in 0:44 over Addison Schenker (Osage); Semis – WBF in 1:11 over Kailan McEwen (BCLUW-SH); Final – WBF in 1:01 over Kynnedy Gunderson (Iowa Falls-Alden)
190 – Kamryn Steins, Decorah, 1st place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – bye; Quarters – WBF in 1:43 over Elyza Williamson (OsagE); Semis – WBF in 3:19 over Rose Niewoehner (Crestwood); Final – WBF in 1:59 over Kloe Hemmersbach (Waukon)
235 – Madysen Lippe, Decorah, 2nd place
Rd. 1 – bye; Rd. 2 – bye; Quarters – WBF in 0:26 over Erica Foreman (Center Point-Urbana); Semis – WBF in 0:51 over Eden Lamborn (Nashua-Plainfield); Final – LBF in 4:29 to Katelyn Brokus (Duqubue Hempstead)
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