Bottom two photos courtesy of Madison Kelly with Mid-Prairie Wrestling
A pair of Mid-Prairie wrestlers represented the Golden Hawks as place winners at the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Girls State Wrestling Championships Saturday at the XStream Arena in Coralville.
Golden Hawk sophomore Bronwyn Brenneman finished in fourth place at 126lbs. She opened the day with a match that she had to win to stay alive against Shayla Doran of Spencer which she took by sudden victory. Brenneman then followed that up with a fall over Baylie Beers of Humboldt that locked her into a spot on the podium. From there, she kept climbing, scoring a win over Anna Sondall of Boone by medical forfeit and a victory over Regan Griffith of North Fayette Valley by fall, moving her all the way to the third place match where she was beaten by Emma Grimm of Osage. After the tournament, Brenneman talked about the experience. “I was really hoping to get to eighth at least so I could be on the podium. All I had to do was win my next two matches and it looked doable. Then I won, and then I won again, and again and again and I was shocked, I couldn’t believe it really. All of my teammates were cheering me on. It makes me feel all bubbly, happy and awesome. I just kept going hard. I kept my head in it. My coaches always tell me to keep my position and wrestle smart.”
Golden Hawk senior Sarah Meader finished in fifth place at 152lbs. She started the day by dropping a quarterfinal bout to Bella Porcelli of Southeast Polk by major decision. From there she rebounded to beat Josie Jecklin of Western Dubuque by fall to secure a spot on the podium. She then put Saydey Scholbrock of Crestwood on her back. After falling to Aine Moffitt of Pleasant Valley by 5-3 decision, Meader wrestled for and won fifth place with a 5-4 decision against Haidyn Snyder of Waverly-Shell Rock on an escape in the final five seconds of the match. Meader talked about the tournament at the end of the day. “I knew that the podium was what I worked for all of these two years. I was just thinking about climbing, see how far up on the podium I can get. I had no idea what was happening in the last match. I knew I needed to get in there and wrestle hard. I didn’t know that escape at the end put me ahead. I was getting ready to take another shot when he blew the whistle. I looked down and checked my ankle band and the scoreboard to see that I won. The feeling on the podium is really hard to describe. This is the best.”
The Golden Hawks finished in 12th place in the team race of more than 300 participating schools, scoring 71.5 points.