GIRLS WRESTLING: SWAT takes bronze at Ridge View

The SWAT girls wrestling team capped off a busy week of three competition dates with a trip to Holstein Saturday, Nov. 23 at the Ridge View Invitational.

This year, SWAT includes wrestlers from Nodaway Valley and Cumberland-Anita-Massena (CAM).

SWAT finished third of 20 scoring teams in the tournament, racking up 149 points. Lewis Central won the event with 203.5 points while Logan-Magnolia was the runner-up, scoring 178.5 points. Three other teams scored more than 100 points. SWAT had nine wrestlers in action at the event.

SWAT was led by three wrestlers with runner-up finishes and four others that placed third. SWAT got runner-up finishes from Stella Beattie of CAM at 170, Nadia South of CAM at 110 and Jazz Christensen of NV at 105. Collecting third place finishes were Destiny Fry of NV at 115, Bailey Lillard of CAM at 155, Ellen Gerlock of CAM at 190 and Megan Gerlock of CAM at 235.

Addi Glade and Karissa Groves, both from NV, also were in action at the meet at the 125 and 130-pound weight classes. Neither won a match, however they fought hard and gained a lot of experience. Glade has six matches in and Groves seven so far through the first week.

Christensen won two of three matches, both by pin to improve to 3-4. She used a pair of first-period pins to reach the finals at 105. In the finals, Christensen lost a 16-3 major decision to Casse McKeen from Spirit Lake.

At 110, South improved to 6-2 after winning two of three matches to finish second at the weight class. She used a second-period pin in the quarterfinals and a third-period pin in the semifinals to reach the finals. South was pinned by Brooklyn Nelson from Fort Dodge in the championship bout.

Beattie improved to 4-3 at 170 with pins in the first period of her quarterfinal and semifinal rounds. In the finals, Beattie was pinned by Nancy Bowman from Logan-Magnolia to finish second.

Lillard saw her first action of the season and went 4-1 in five matches at 155. After losing in the first round, she won four straight matches by pin, including against Mariana Vazquez from Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley in the third place match in 54 seconds.

Fry improved to 7-4 after going 5-1 at the meet at 115. She lost in the quarterfinals and then won four straight in the consolation round, including a 12-11 decision over Charlotte Heistand in the 3rd place match. Fry had two pins, two decisions and a medical forfeit for her wins.

Ellen Gerlock improved to 7-1 at 190 after losing her first match of the season. She fell in the semifinals and worked back to place third, pinning Madison Wright from Lewis Central in 1:47 after getting to the third place match with a pin in the consolation semifinals.

Megan Gerlock improved to 4-3 and was 3-1 at the meet at 235. She won her quarterfinal match by pin in 2:16, but lost in the semifinals. She would get a pin in the consolation semifinals and then pin Valerie Cook from Sheldon/South O’Brien in 2:57 to place third.