In the second year of sanctioned girls’ wrestling in the state of Iowa, both Wilton and Durant are sending two girls to Coralville.
Beavers Audra Coss and Kaydence Boorn, and Wildcats Lainey Shelangoski and Ava Streeter will battle it out with the best at Xtream Arena this Thursday and Friday for the right to be called a state champion.
They qualified through the Super Regional which was held last Friday in Cedar Rapids at the Alliant Energy Power House. The top four wrestlers in each weight division earned their spot in this week’s event.
No stopping Shelangoski
Lainey Shelangoski is on a mission and is not letting anybody stand in her way — not even another undefeated wrestler.
Durant’s super senior claimed the regional 105-pound bracket title with three more wins, one of which put the first blemish on Solon’s McKenna Rogers’ win-loss record.
It was a tense final that initially looked to be going the Spartan’s way. Rogers, who entered the match as the top seed with a 17-0 record, recorded a takedown in the first period and a reversal in the second period to lead 4-0.
With 32-seconds left in the second period, Shelagoski flipped the match around. She escaped, recorded a takedown with seven seconds remaining and earned a two-point near fall.
Now with a lead, and starting the third-period in neutral, Shelangoski went on the offensive. She got a takedown at the 1:11 mark and kept Rogers to the mat the rest of the way.
She was still made to sweat a little bit in her semifinal match as she needed a third minute before pinning Tessa Kauffman of Muscatine. In the quarterfinals, only 42 seconds was necessary to pin Abigail Kennis of Bettendorf.
In Coralville, Shelangoski enters the 105-pound tournament as the No. 3 seed. In the round of 32, she will take on the No. 30 seed Abby Doyle of Waverly-Shell Rock who owns a 17-10 record.
After that, she will take on the winner of the No. 14 and No. 19 seed matchup — either Serenity Turner of Pella (36-5) or Lakin Evans of Saint Ansgar (31-18).
In the other half of the bracket is the top seed Layla Phillips, a senior from Mason City. On Shelangoski’s half is the only other undefeated 105-pounder — the No. 2 seed in senior Kacy Miller of Western Iowa at 31-0.
Boorn is state bound
Wilton junior Kaycence Boorn advanced to state out of the 135-pound weight class. Boorn, who has a 28-7 record this season, was seeded second and placed 3rd while improving to 28-7.
She had a bye in each of the first two rounds of the championship bracket and redeemed those free passes for a trip to the quarterfinals.
There, Boorn pinned Ciara Gomez-Bryant from Cedar Rapids Prairie in 4:16 to advance to the semifinals. Boorn led 3-0 in the second period to advance by pin.
In the semifinals, Boorn fell to 3rd seeded Bella Miller from Dubuque Wahlert by fall in 0:58. Boorn then won the consolation semifinal match by fall over 5th seeded Nellie Stagg from West Liberty to get to the 3rd place match.
In that match, Boorn would pin Gomez-Bryant in 5:28 to claim third place. Boorn led 3-2 at the time of the pin.
Now, she sets her sights on the podium in Coralville. She is seeded eighth and squares off Thursday morning against the No. 25 seed Hailey Pedrick from Pekin.
A victory would mean a date with No. 9 seed Annaliese Arciniega from Osage or No. 24 seed Brooklyn Lange from Missouri Valley.
Amazing Ava
Durant sophomore Ava Streeter ran the gamut of emotions on Friday. But the lasting one left her with a smile.
After falling in overtime during her third-place match, she received the great news — she would be qualifying for the state tournament via an automatic win in her fourth-place match via a no contest.
She was slated to face Grace Hallam of Cedar Rapids Kennedy in that final state-qualifying match at 125. But those two already faced off earlier on Friday. In the consolation semifinals, Streeter pinned Hallam in the second-period.
It was an extremely successful tournament for the Wildcat sophomore who opened up her tournament with two wins. She pinned McKenzie West of Mediapolis in 34 seconds and won an 11-3 major decision over Benton Community’s Amanda Schnor.
Now with a 30-16 record on the season, she is ready to make her state tournament debut.
Unfortunately, she will receive her toughest test to date right out of the gate. Streeter is the No. 32 seed, which means she will face the top seed in the opening round. To advance, Streeter will have to give Oakland Riverside’s Molly Allen her first loss in 28 matches this season.
If she pulls the massive upset, she will face the winner of the No. 16 and No. 17 seed matchup — Zoey Vandevender (Highway 34) and Edie Collins (Charles City). If she falls, she will face the loser of the 16/17 battle.
Coss clinches final spot
Wilton sophomore Audra Coss advanced to the state tournament out of the 110-pound weight class.
Coss was seeded fourth and placed 4th while improving to 32-13.
Coss had a bye in the first round to advance. In the second round, Coss pinned 13th-seeded Jasmine Bassett from Union in 1:16 to advance to the quarterfinals.
There, Coss won a major decision of 14-2 over 5th-seeded Alissa Sanchez from West Liberty to reach the semifinals. Coss led 5-0 after the first period with a takedown and 3-point near fall score. She added a pair of 3-point near falls in the second period to take an 11-1 lead. In the final period, she scored her fourth 3-point near fall to help claim the match, 14-2.
In the semifinals, Coss would fall to the top-seed, Kate Seery from Linn-Mar by fall in 3:29.
Working back through the consolation round, Coss won a 3-2 decision over second-seeded Morgan Krall from Independence to reach the third-place match.
There, Coss would fall by pin to Sanchez from West Liberty in 5:57 and was thrown to the fourth-place match.
In that match, Krall had fought back to get to the match, but since Coss had defeated Krall in the consolation semifinals, she held criteria over her and advanced as the fourth-place winner of the bracket.
In the state bracket, Coss is seeded 23rd and will take on the 10th seed from Carroll in Julia Kanne. With a win, she could match-up against No. 7 seed Lila Walding of Sergeant Bluff-Luton or No. 26 seed Allison Hoefling of Hinton.
Other side of the coin
While there was happiness for four wrestlers, the same could not be said for others.
On the Durant side, while Streeter was elated to be on the right side of a no contest, the same could not be said for her teammate Jocelynn Richardson.
Richardson finished in fifth place at 130 after losing out on a tiebreaker to North Scott’s Harmony Hansel, who had pinned her in the championship quarterfinals hours earlier.
It was a sad finish to an otherwise outstanding year for the Wildcat freshman. She recorded a 32-6 record this season and won four matches at the regional tournament.
Each of her wins ended in a pin, including one in the fifth-place match in 65 seconds against Western Dubuque’s Khloee Schmidt and one on the consolation fifth round against Iowa City Liberty’s Kaitlyn Raue.
Fellow freshman Jenna Lowder also ended her season with an impressive 19-8 record. She recorded a win in her opening match on Friday against Olive Miller of Iowa City Liberty, but fell in her next two matches.
Juniors Mia Berry (16-9) and Natalie McKinley (8-20) also had their seasons come to an end last week. Neither wrestler was able to secure a win in their final event of the season.
For Wilton, they had two others nearly qualify for the state meet as Natalie Hartman and Audrey Cummings each placed fifth at 105 and 100. Cummings finished the season 37-5 while Hartman finished 25-17.
Cummings scored 15 team points and won three matches at the event. She was seeded No. 3 out of 16 in the weight class.
Cummings had a bye in the first round to advance. She would then pin Jaedyn Lemon from Clinton in 2:59 in the second round to reach the quarterfinals at the 100-pound class. In the match, Cummings led 2-0 after getting a takedown, 26 seconds into the match. That would be the score in the second period when the fall occurred.
In the quarterfinals, Cummings pinned 6th-seeded Wynter Morgan from Marion in 3:15 to advance to the semifinals. Morgan had 30 wins by the end of the tournament day and Cummings led 4-0 at the time of the pin after a first-period takedown and 2-point near fall score.
In the semifinals, Cummings got pinned by the second seed, Violet Diaz from Denver in 3:18. Diaz would go on and win the weight class, upsetting top-seed Hailey Kemper from Fort Madison in the finals.
Cummings tried to work back through the consolation round. She would fall by a tight 3-2 decision in the consolation semifinals to 5th seeded Elizabeth Burns from Cedar Rapids Prairie.
She scored two escape points in the match, and had a minute to try for a takedown left in the third but just couldn't get past the 3-2 score. That sent her to a match to try to get in the 4th place match.
There, she beat Morgan from Marion again, this time by a 4-0 decision to get to the fourth-place match. However, since Burns lost to 4th seeded Taelyn Gravel from Midland, she held criteria over Cummings and thus was awarded fourth place, making Cummings 5th.
Hartman was seeded 7th at 105 with 16 wrestlers in the class. Hartman had a bye in the first round to advance. She pinned 10th-seeded Zoey Rooks from DeWitt in 2:00 to advance to the quarterfinals.
Hartman led 2-0 with a takedown before the fall. In the quarterfinals, Hartman pinned second-seeded Alivia Garcia from West Liberty in 1:29 to advance to the semifinals after leading 4-0 in the match.
In the semifinals, Hartman was pinned by third-seeded Valeria Torres from East Buchanan at 3:22. Torres led 4-1 before the fall.
Hartman fought back in the consolation round. She pinned 15th-seeded Ruby Arana from Marshalltown in 1:39 in the consolation semifinals.
In the third-place match, Hartman would get pinned by fifth-seeded Akemah McClendon from Clinton in 3:02, throwing her to the fourth-place match. There, Hartman's season ended as she was pinned by sixth-seeded Sarah Greiner from Independence in 5:41, making Hartman 5th.
Six wrestlers competed but did not place at the meet. They were Kaylyn Lopez at 115, Dale Paulson at 120, Jessica Clark at 125, Kaelyn Holladay at 130, Yashielis Crespo-Lopez at 140, and Zena Schubich at 170.
Holladay scored six team points and won two matches at the meet. Holladay pinned Zoey Carter from Marion in 1:00 and Olivia Haan from Pleasant Valley in 1:19 in the consolation round. Holladay ended the year with a record of 13-21.
Zena Schubich scored four team points and won one match at the meet. Schubich pinned Angelique Bonilla in 2:13 in the consolation round. She ends the year with a record of 4-14.
Wrestlers that saw their season end without picking up a win were Kaylyn Lopez finishing 8-20, Dale Paulson ending the year 4-17, Jessica Clark ending the year 11-24, and Crespo-Lopez ending the year 3-18.