GIRLS WRESTLING: SWAT leaves no questions unanswered in dominant POI win

Two Pride of Iowa Girls Wrestling Championships have been held and the SWAT (Southwest Area Team) Valkyries have won them both.

In convincing fashion at Corning, with the help of seven individual champions and many other strong finishes, SWAT cleaned house at this year’s meet Saturday, Dec. 16.

SWAT cruised with 217 points and Southern Tier (Central Decatur, Mount Ayr and Lamoni) was second (93). Martensdale-St. Marys placed third (91).

Champions for the Valkyries were Jazz Christensen (100), Destiny Fry (105), Cadence Kinzie (125), Bailey Lillard (135), Lilliana Tafoya (140), Mia South (145) and Grace Britten (170).

“It is an honor. Our girls work hard and have been working hard all season. To come away with this and sweep it like that was the icing on the cake,” SWAT head coach Tiffany South said. “It was really fun.”

Christensen pinned her way through the tournament, save for a medical forfeit she won in the third round. In the last round, her fall came in 4:17 over Southern Tier’s Shiann Byrd.

Fry collected third-period pins in the first and third rounds and defeated Martensdale-St. Marys’ Myla Nehring by 13-9 decision in the second round.

Kinzie pinned all three of her opponents in the first period and Lillard stuck both of hers also in the first. South won with two second-period pins.

Britten beat her teammate Cleidy Perez-Rivas by fall in 3:22 in the second round after getting a first-round bye. She made quick work of Southern Tier’s Bianca Swartz, pinning her in just 26 seconds.

With the seven champs, South said she thought at least four picked up their first tournament wins of their high school careers.

“Those seven [who won] went out and put forth a lot of effort. They had zero fear, and that’s the big thing,” South said. “They went out, did the moves and trusted their training. That is the key to a lot of success in wrestling, having that confidence and trusting your abilities to do what it takes to win.”

Taking home individual runners-up finishes were Raya Parker (130), Stella Beattie (155), Perez-Rivas (170), Ellen Gerlock (190) and Haley Armstrong (235).

Third-place finishes were earned by Quincy Sorensen (115) and Megan Gerlock (190).

Liliana Johnson (145) and Rylie Vandevanter (235) were each fourth. Mckenzie Hall (235) placed sixth.

South said she was very proud of the entire team. They were all placed in one bracket per weight instead of two, as was originally anticipated. As a result, there were many weights where SWAT had two girls on the medal stand.

“That just goes to show we work really hard and our non-varsity girls can compete out there. Every member of our team matters, no matter where they’re at. That’s the benefit of filling all of our weight brackets,” South said. “Without those kids on the back side we wouldn’t have those champions either, because they’re all pushing each other to make them better. You can’t be your best by yourself, you have to have good teammates.”

The Valkyries had two more dates scheduled this week before hitting the Winter Break part of the schedule. They were to wrestle in a tournament Monday at Kuemper Catholic High School in Carroll and a quad hosted by CAM High School on Tuesday with Lewis Central, Oakland Riverside and Urbandale participating.

“We’re getting down to where we really need to start fine tuning things,” South said.