SIOUX CITY — In only the second year of girls wrestling being sanctioned as an Iowa high school sport, the Highway 34 wrestlers are sending four to the state tournament.
Last season, only Savannah Sistad represented the team comprised of wrestlers from Creston, East Union and Lenox. This year, the senior will be joined at the tournament by Quynn Foster, Zoey Vandevender and Evy Marlin.
With the newness of the sport, the girls are not separate by divisions or classes – they are put into different regions and only the top four in each region in each weight class advances to the state tournament.
Last year the girls were in Region 3 in Des Moines with large schools like Des Moines Public, Indianola and Ankeny.
This season, the team was moved to Region 1 out of Sioux City with fewer big schools. This worked out in Highway 34′s favor as they were able to avoid many of the big state-ranked wrestlers.
At the Tyson Arena Friday, five Highway 34 wrestlers placed and one was named regional champion.
Advancing
Marlin (33-3) was undefeated on the day, pinning three on her path to the 130 finals. She came in ranked first with Nicole Bond of Red Oak in the second spot.
In the first three bouts, Marlin pinned her opponent in the first period. This set up the match she knew was coming against Bond.
“I knew my last match against Nicole would be the biggest challenge,” Marlin said. “We’ve wrestled before. The first time we wrestled, she beat me. The second time, I stuck her. I knew this would be the full six minutes.”
The match did go the full three periods, but Marlin stayed in control — winning in a 9-1 decision to take the title and punch her ticket to state.
“Honestly my number one goal was to place first and that’s what I did,” Marlin said. “I trusted what I do in practice, trusted my conditioning, trusted my technique.”
Vandevender (31-6) had an eventful path to the podium as her front tooth was knocked out during the 125 lbs quarterfinal match. The referee asked Vandevender if she was done with the match, but she put gauze in her mouth and finished the bout, falling Ava Lang of Hinton in the third period.
Coming into the day, Vandevender was ranked second behind two-time state champion Molly Allen (27-0) of Riverside, Oakland.
“My goal today was to make it to the finals and see what happened from there,” Vandevender said. “This year, we’ve had some coaching adjustments and that’s helped a lot. Coach [Cody] Downing and all the boys coaches helped us at practice. They helped build my mindset and I’m more prepared.”
In the semifinals, Vandevender pinned Teresa Rodriguez of MOC-Floyd Valley in the second period. “I ran my top stuff a lot better in that match,” Vandevender commented.
With a second tooth loose and her ticket to the state tournament punched, Vandevender medically forfeited the finals, taking second as Allen clinched the title.
Going into the state tournament, Vandevender said her goals are to shoot within the first 30 seconds and not go 0-2.
Sistad (28-5) will be back at the state tournament this year after taking fifth last year. She had hoped to place first at regionals, but was forced to battle back after being pinned by Kaylee De Jong of Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley.
Her opponent in the third-place bout was a familiar one — Haley Armstrong of S.W.A.T. The two are ranked eighth and ninth in the state for the 235 weight class, and both placed at state last season.
“I was not wanting to lose again. I’m always frustrated when I lose,” Sistad said of preparing to face Armstrong. “I had to sit there and listen to people telling me it actually didn’t matter. Most people don’t even remember what happens at regionals, they just worry about what happens at state.”
After just over four minutes of wrestling, Sistad pinned Armstrong to place third and clinch another trip to state.
Foster (27-8) pinned her quarterfinals opponent in the second period, but was defeated in the semifinals by Emma Miller of Treynor, who came into the bracket ranked second.
In the consolation semifinals, she faced Destiny Fry of S.W.A.T., pinning her in 1:29 to advance to the third-place match against Sophia Hazen of ATU.
In regionals, the loser of the third place bout faces the winner of the fifth place match to earn the fourth spot at state. However, if the prior wrestler has already beat the latter wrestler, there is no wrestle back for fourth.
As Foster went into the third-place match, she had already clinched her spot at state because the two wrestling for fifth were wrestlers she had already defeated.
The bout between Hazen and Foster went the full six minutes, but it was Hazen who came out on top in a 9-2 decision. Foster took fourth at 105, advancing her to the state tournament.
“I really did want to place first,” Foster said. “Not everything went my way, but I continued to battle back and I ended up placing for state. I’m glad because I really wanted it last year. I’m glad I conquered it.”
Placing
Grace Keeler (31-9) won her first bout with a pin, but was sent to the consolation bracket after falling to Isabelle Harris of GTRA in a third-period pin.
She fought back through the consolation bracket, making it to the bout she needed to win to wrestle for third where she faced Eunice Reyna-Yoc of MOC-Floyd Valley.
Reyna-Yoc earned the first takedown, but Keeler got a reversal and a near fall, unable to find the pin before the first period ended. Keeler had a 5-2 lead heading into the second period.
Keeler started on top in the second, but Reyna-Yoc was able to get the reversal and pin Keeler. Because Reyna-Yoc and Harris would wrestle for third, even if Keeler won the fifth-place bout, she wouldn’t be able to wrestle back for fourth.
In the fifth-place match, Keeler was bested by Kyra Wolterman of Kuemper Catholic in a third-period pin. Keeler took sixth-place at 135.
Area girls
Two Nodaway Valley wrestlers and two Southwest Valley wrestlers will advance to the state tournament after their performances Friday.
Grace Britten and Jazz Christensen, both Nodaway Valley S.W.A.T. wrestlers and Maddie McCoy of Southwest Valley all placed second in their brackets after falling in the finals.
Christensen (34-6) pinned her 110 quarterfinals and semifinals opponents before facing top-ranked Brooklyn DeRocher (34-6) of Le Mars in the finals. DeRocher found the pin in the second period, Christensen taking second and advance to state for the second year in a row.
McCoy (27-3) pinned three opponents in less than a minute each on her path to the 110 finals Friday.
In the finals, she went against top-ranked Grace Hoffman (14-6) of Kuemper Catholic. Hoffman took control early and was able to get a second-period pin on McCoy. Both girls will be going to state for the second year.
Britten (36-2) came into regionals as the top seed after placing sixth at state a year ago. On her way to the finals, she had two pins in less than a minute.
Kalen Westerfield (26-13) of Lewis Central upset the two-seed Addaly Miller (22-5) of MOC Floyd-Valley in the semifinals to face Britten in the finals.
Britten had the first points of the match, taking Westerfield down in the first period. In the second, Britten chose neutral, but Westerfield found the takedown and a pin to get her second upset and a regional title. Britten will advance to state in pursuit of another podium finish.
Kenzie Maeder (15-14) of Southwest Valley took third at 145 to advance to the state tournament. Maeder pinned her first two opponents before facing top-ranked Mahri Manz of Lewis Central, the silver medalist at state a year ago.
Manz won the semifinals bout. In the consolation bracket, Maeder won an overtime bout to wrestle for third where she won with a first-period pin.
This will be Maeder’s first trip to the state tournament.
The state competition begins Thursday at the Xtreme Arena in Coralville.