The KCII listening area was well represented on championship Saturday of the 2022 Iowa Girls High School State Wrestling Championships at X-Stream Arena in Coralville.

Under the bright lights of the Saturday night session, Sigourney-Keota freshman Reanah Utterback finished her dominant climb to the top of the podium at 110lbs, with her fifth pin of the tournament, and third of the day, putting Jalynn Goodale of Osage on her back in the second period of the title match to claim gold. Utterback also had a quarterfinal fall against Evelyn Kramer of South Central Calhoun and a semifinal pin of Dubuque Senior’s Hannah Reel in the early session Saturday.

The Mid-Prairie Golden Hawks put two wrestlers on the podium. Golden Hawk senior Bronwyn Brenneman medaled for the second straight year, finishing fifth at 130lbs. After dropping a 4-1 decision in the quarterfinals against Macy Smith of Waverly-Shell Rock to start her Saturday, Brenneman rebounded to beat Elizabeth Thomas of Pella by 8-3 decision and pin Alexys Petersen of Bettendorf to guarantee herself a medal. After dropping a match to Ashlyn Miller of North Cedar she regrouped under the lights of the Saturday evening session to beat Kylie Doty of Colfax-Mingo 5-4 in the 5th place match.

Mid-Prairie freshman Gabi Robertson was seventh at 100lbs. Her Saturday started with a loss by fall in the quarterfinals to Gable Herman of Osage. She bounced back to beat Atalina Rosales of Spencer by fall to guarantee herself a spot on the podium. Robertson split her last two bouts of the day, falling to Ava Kennedy of Treynor by 7-4 decision before topping Lily Webster of Colfax-Mingo by 6-2 decision in the 7th place match. After the meet, the two Golden Hawks talked about how it felt to make the podium. Brenneman recounted her last match and finish. “To start the third period (in the 5th place match) when we cut her I was kind of thinking ‘what? This is crazy! We are going to give up the lead like that?’ Coach said I had a look on my face that said about the same thing. I was able to win it by scoring off a shot she took and getting a reversal. I’m so happy about this, I can’t even believe it. It’s an awesome feeling. I’m really proud. I put in a lot of work this season, last season, in the offseason. I’ve been thinking about it, planning, working. It’s been on my mind forever, basically since last year.”

Robertson recapped her last match and feelings about her finish. “My last match here, I just wanted to come out in seventh place. I did not want to finish eighth. I had hurt my shoulder the match before that, and I just didn’t want to give up that easily. This is so awesome. Just from only wrestling three months, I can’t believe I even made it this far!”

WACO junior Bralynn Wagler also made the podium at 220lbs with an eighth place finish. She opened Saturday with a pin of Sara Koeppen of Dubuque Senior and a pin over Mariel Feekes of Sheldon-South O’Brien. Her day ended dropping matches to Clara Carpenter of Boone by fall and the 7th place match to Reese Baxter of Perry.

Tune in to this week’s KCII PM Sports Page to hear interviews with all four place winners from the KCII listening area.