When the dust cleared at this weekend’s Iowa Girls State Wrestling Meet hosted by the Iowa Wrestling Officials and Coaches Association, the Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks had a lot to be proud of. There were no class divisions in the team race, with all 30 scoring teams going against one another. The Golden Hawks finished in 10th place with 64 total points. Waverly-Shell Rock won the state team title with 156.5 points.

Individually, the Hawks were led by Rylee Vercande at 120lbs, who entered the tournament ranked No. 7 in the state. She found her way to the podium with a third place finish, racking up a 6-1 overall record at the tournament, with five of those wins coming by fall. Vercande claimed wins over teammate Mia Garvey by fall, Glory Hansel of North Scott by fall, Mariah Webster of Colfax-Mingo by fall, Lexi Hoppe of Cresco by fall, Yareli Morales of Sioux City East by 6-2 decision and Ashlynn Miller of North Cedar by fall.

Sarah Meader at 152lbs also found the podium for the Hawks, placing sixth at the meet. Meader finished with a 5-3 overall record after the meet, rebounding after a setback by fall in her first match to rattle off five wins in a row through the consolation portion of the bracket to make her to way to the podium. Meader scored wins over Julia Norton of Dubuque Wahlert by fall, Sydney Clevenger of Waukee by fall, Melanie Bye of Osage by fall, Allison Baxter of AHSTW by fall and Virigina Cacho of Muscatine by disqualification.

Other Golden Hawks in the action included Mia Garvey at 120lbs who went 3-2 at the meet with wins over Nicolasa Hernandez of Colfax-Mingo by fall, Tremeice Carter of Iowa City West by fall and Magaly Kivi of West Liberty by fall. Madison Kelly posted a pair of wins at 145 at the tournament beating Dana Swedensky of Lewis Central by 2-0 decision and Emma Barker of Iowa City West and Caitlyn Busch scored a win at 138lbs, beating Amelia Birker of Vinton-Shellsburg by fall.