Sistad takes fifth at state tournament

CORALVILLE — Friday saw the finale of the inaugural Iowa girls wrestling season at the state wrestling tournament in Coralville.

With a first-day attendance of more than 5,000 fans, the event proved the support behind the new sport.

The Highway 34 team, comprised of wrestlers from Lenox, East Union and Creston, were represented by heavyweight regional champion and former AAU state champion Savannah Sistad.

The SWAT Valkyries, comprised of wrestlers from Nodaway Valley, Southwest Valley, Atlantic, Griswold and CAM) qualified six wrestlers to the state tournament - Jazz Christensen (100), Adyson Lundquist (110), Evy Marlin (130), Grace Britten (170), Ellen Gerlock (190) and Haley Armstrong (235). Marlin did not compete due to injury.

Four of the six local competitors found their way to the podium, in the top 25% of wrestlers in their weight class.

Sistad

Each weight featured 32 wrestlers from eight regional tournaments. Sistad came into Thursday ranked second in the 235-pound bracket.

Her first match Thursday saw her facing Molly Bramble (#31) of Louisa-Muscatine. Sistad made quick work of Bramble, taking her down before circling to find the pin in 1:24.

In Sistad’s second match, she wrestled Bralyyn Wagler (#15) of WACO. Though this match went further, the two girls circling on their feet, Sistad got her on the ground in the second. She won with a second-period pin to advance to the quarterfinals.

She continued to wrestle higher-ranked girls, facing Hannah Illg-Keith (#10) of Sioux Central in the quarterfinals, but it didn’t stop her from finding a first-period pin to advance to Friday’s semi-finals.

After her perfect performance on Thursday, Sistad said she was excited for Friday. “I knew that I already had a podium spot guaranteed by now so I wasn’t crazy worried,” she said. “My main goals were to be on the podium, don’t get pinned, don’t get injured.”

While she didn’t maintain her perfect record, she achieved her three goals as no one was able to pin Sistad.

In the semi-finals, she faced Madison Hinrichs (#3) of Waverly-Shell Rock. Sistad made the first move, scoring two on the takedown, but a call for locked hands awarded one for Hinrichs. An escape tied the score at 2-2, and the bout went into overtime.

Hinrichs earned the sudden death victory with a takedown — sending Sistad to the consolation bracket.

“Really, I could have won that if I didn’t lock my hands, but that’s a regret we’ll work on later down the road,” Sistad said. “We had a lot of fun, but she beat me in overtime with a score.”

Sistad’s positivity radiates. “I’ve never seen her without a smile,” one coach commented.

In order to have a shot at third, Sistad would need to win her next match against Emma Cook (#12) of Colfax-Mingo. Cook stunned Sistad, scoring on three takedowns and forcing stalling points. Sistad only scored on an escape, the bout ending in an 8-1 decision.

This sent Sistad to the battle for fifth place against Jocelyn Buffum (#5) of Missouri Valley. The two are no strangers, having faced off for the state title at 220 last year.

“I’ve wrestled Buffum a handful of times,” Sistad said. “Going into the match, I knew she only had one big move. As long as I didn’t do anything stupid on my feet, I knew I could win.”

Sistad was correct. With a vocal crowd including all of her Highway 34 teammates cheering her on, Sistad would pin Buffum in the final period to claim fifth place at the first sanctioned state tournament.

“It felt really nice, especially with a crowd. I’m not used to such a big crowd cheering for me; it was awesome,” Sistad said. “It’s been a whole new experience having a team. It’s like having a mini family.”

While waiting for their chance to stand on the podium, previous adversaries talked and laughed like old friends. Sistad said it’s been nice to watch their little community grow.

“It’s a tight-knit community because it started with very little of us and we’ve slowly built our way out,” she explained. “You’d see the same people over and over again, so you kind of became close — you became friends. There’s never any bad blood.”

Lundquist

The Valkyries were led by Lundquist, who won five of her six matches — only falling to the undefeated Jasmine Luedtke of Ottumwa who would end up taking the 110-pound title.

Like Sistad, Lundquist, ranked third, had a perfect first day, pinning all three of her opponents.

She defeated Johnelle Gliem (#30) of Baxter in a 44 second pin. In the second round, she pinned Cierra Elderbaum (#19) of Lewis Central in 1:05. Her final match of the day was a 1:39 pin over Josseline Hageman (#11) of South Winneshiek to advance to the semi-finals.

On Friday, Lundquist said she came into the day confident. “I thought that yesterday I wrestled really well. I took everything that was given to me and I used it perfectly,” she said. “I thought that all my preparation coming into this tournament was showing me that it was paying off and I was ready for this. Those girls had to qualify for this and I was beating up on them. I was really confident.”

Her first match saw her facing Luedtke. Knowing the caliber of wrestler she is, Lundquist said she was nervous.

Lundquist fought, extending the match to the third period before falling with a minute left.

“I knew it would be tough,” she said. “She’s just a solid wrestler all around.” Lundquist said she wanted to at least do as well as she did last year when she placed third. In order to tie that place, she would need to win out.

Her next bout brought her confidence back as she defeated Trista Guinn (#8) of Graettinger-Terril/Ruthuen-Ayrshire in a 42 second pin.

“It brought my confidence back up to where it was yesterday where I’m like these girls are good and I’m whooping on them,” she said.

The win sent her to the third place bout where she would face number-one ranked Jalynn Goodale of Osage — a familiar opponent.

“We’ve had really tough matches against each other, and today I felt really prepared for her,” she said. “With everything I’ve worked on this year, I thought there’s no way she can get me with what she’s been getting me with in the past.”

For the first time in the tournament, Lundquist had to wrestle the full six minutes. In a 10-7 decision, Lundquist would take the win and third place.

Lundquist said having a sanctioned tournament feels more put together than it has in the past. “It feels more official,” she explained. “With it being sanctioned, I got so many more matches this year. I think I was up to 33 before state. That’s way more than I ever could have imagined I’d have in my high school career against girls. The growth is crazy.”

SWAT

Valkyrie Britten had a perfect three-for-three day Thursday to go to the semi-finals, but she was unable to find a victory on Friday. Despite the change in pace, Britten earned sixth place at 170.

Heavy-weight Armstrong pinned her first two opponents Thursday, but was pinned by Buffum in her third bout. On Friday, she began the day with a pin, but two follow-up losses landed her at eighth place on the podium.

Gerlock took out her first opponent, Elvia Topete Anzua of MOC-Floyd Valley in a late third-round pin, but fell in a 2:20 pin to Isabelle Kipp of South Winneshiek in the second round. A third round pin by Kaylee De Jong of Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley saw her out of the competition.

Christensen also competed for the Valkyries, but two early losses found her out of the running.

With 55 points, the Valkyries tied for 16th place out of 151 teams represented. Sistad’s 19 points landed Highway 34 at 55th place. Waverly-Shell Rock earned the team title with 123 points.