Hwy 34 takes silver at POI tournament

LIBERTY CENTER — The Highway 34 girls wrestling team showed their strength Saturday at the Pride of Iowa Tournament at Southeast Warren High School.

The team, made up of athletes from Afton, East Union and Lenox, took second (115 points), placing behind the SWAT Valkyries (133.5).

The Hwy 34 wrestlers were lead by Quynn Foster, Mila Kuhns and Zoey Vandevender who each took home the gold in their weight class.

Foster (7-6) finished with 24 team points at 110 pounds after she pinned Jeslyn Ortega of Panorama in 38 seconds in the semi-finals and took down Gretchen Wearmouth of Martensdale-St.Mary’s in 1:02 to win the finals.

Also at 110, Jaycee Fitzgerald (7-8) took home bronze and 14 team points. While she was unable to best Wearmouth, she found pins against Clara Colby and Ortega, both of Panorama, in 20 seconds and 1:32, respectively.

Grace Keeler, 130 pounds, took down Lillie Jones of Colfax-Mingo in 1:00 to advance, but she fell in the finals to Noel Boettger of Ballard. Keeler (6-7) took the second-place title and 18 team points.

Kuhns (8-6) had a perfect performance at 135, scoring 22 team points and pinning each of her opponents in the first period. She started with a quick pin against Kaycee Lynch of Panorama in only 24 seconds. That was followed with her longest match of the tournament, finding the pin against Alexis Greenland of Southern Tier with only five seconds remaining in the first period. In the finals, she faced Liberty Boettger of Ballard, pinning her in 1:01.

After a disqualification took out her competitor in the finals, Vandevender (10-6) left with the gold at 140 and 26 team points. She had an impressive performance to get there, pinning her first two opponents in the first period. She won by fall against Regan Boblet of Panorama in 33 seconds and pinned Ballard’s Caliegh Rhiner in 1:53 to advance to the finals.

Aubrie Mohr (9-9) rounded out the Hwy 34 team with a fifth-place performance at 170, including a pin over Janell Salinas of Clarke, Osceola/Murray in 50 seconds.

The Valkyries were lead by Ady Lundquist, Grace Britten and Haley Armstrong with first-place finishes. Paige Baier and Jazz Christensen finished second for SWAT and Lilliana Tafoya placed third.

Team results:

1 - SWAT 133.5

2 - Hwy 34 115

3 - Colfax-Mingo 96

4 - Clarke/Murray 85

5 - Ballard 83

6 - Panorama 82

Tied 7 - Baxter 65

Tied 7 - Southern Tier 65

9 - Martensdale-St. Marys 61

10 - SE Warren/Melcher-Dallas 51

11 - Interstate-35 44

12 - Moravia 31

13 - AHSTW 18