‘Iron sharpening iron’ leads Valkyries to win POI girls title

They’re a brand new team in a newly-sanctioned sport, however the SWAT Valkyries girls wrestling team made a large statement in their early history by winning their conference invitational tournament Saturday, Dec. 17.

The Valkyries wrestled several other schools in a meet hosted by Southeast Warren. The team came away with three champions and outlasted second-place Highway 34 (Creston/East Union/Lenox) 133.5 to 115.

“I feel each of my assistant coaches brings something different to the table, and we’ve been able to have our more experienced girls split up and work with our girls who have no experience. We’ve been able to catch them up quicker than most,” SWAT head coach Tiffany South said. “The bonding that our team has done, having five schools coming together and uniting so well, that encourages that learning that environment.”

The Valkyries went to the conference tournament shorthanded due to injuries and illness, however all eight of the girls the team entered placed in the top 5 in their division.

“We had a pretty intense couple of practices this week where we went over some of the things we’ve been really been missing on the mat,” South said. “We saw each of our girls utilize something we had reviewed in their matches Saturday. That’s a really cool experience as a coach.”

SWAT senior Ady Lundquist of Southwest Valley was champion at 120 pounds. She won by tech fall over Allison Baker of Ballard, then pinned both Elizabeth Handy of Panorama and Layla Ewing of Moravia.

SWAT junior Grace Britten of Nodaway Valley pinned her way through to take the 170-pound division. Her wins came against Janell Salinas of Clarke, Aubrie Mohr of Highway 34 and Zariel Samuels of Clarke, all in the first period.

Haley Armstrong of Atlantic swept the 235-pound division. She opened by pinning Lily Arndt of Colfax-Mingo, then Isabella Canada of AHSTW and Emma Cook of Colfax Mingo.

“Ady was solid, wrestled hard, tech-falled one of her girls and pinned the other ones, just putting together a really good performance. Grace goes out confident and looks really good as she’s wrestling. She’s very consistent, and that consistency shows she’s solid in her technique. Haley beat two girls who were state place winners last year. One of the girls is ranked third or fourth in the state. She was out all week with a concussion but went out and performed like no other. It was really impressive,” South said.

At 105 pounds, SWAT sophomore Jazz Christensen from Nodaway Valley took second. She finished 1-2 on the day, winning Ahlyvia Epps of Baxter and Clarke’s Maisy Davis, but lost to Lily Webster of Colfax Mingo in a second-period pin.

At 155 pounds, SWAT’s Paige Baier of Griswold was also a runner-up. She pinned her way into the finals, where she was pinned by Southeast Warren/Melcher-Dallas’ Sydney Metz.

Other SWAT participants included Lilliana Tafoya of CAM taking third at 145 pounds, Mia South of CAM taking fourth at 140 pounds and Quincy Sorensen of Atlantic finishing fifth at 115 pounds.

This meet closed the 2022 portion of the girls wrestling schedule for SWAT. South said she’s eager to see the progress the team makes through the Christmas Break and into 2023.

“I think what my girls have done has exceeded any expectation I could have set for them. It makes me really proud of how well they’ve meshed together, supported each other and have worked hard in the room to improve each other,” South said. “Iron sharpens iron, and our warriors are in there sharpening each other. It’s definitely evident in all of the meets we’ve been participating in.”