Marlin, Kruse medal at state wrestling

CORALVILLE — The Panthers made history last weekend at the IGHSAU girls state wrestling tournament, sending four and landing two on the podium.

Creston coach Maggie Arnold said she’s pleased with how the tournament went. “It was a huge step forward for the girls wrestling program,” she said.

Marlin

Senior Evy Marlin made her second appearance at state and capped off her career with a fourth-place finish at 135.

Marlin came in the nine seed and went  3-2 at the tournament. On the way to fourth place, she upset the No. 8 and No. 4. One of her two losses was to No. 1 seed  and state champion Colbie Tenborg of Saydel.

Though the first match was against eight-seed Kylar Downey of Clarinda, Marlin made quick work of the upset, winning in a 1:04 pin.

From there, she faced Tenborg in the quarterfinals where she was knocked to the consolation bracket after being pinned in the second quarter.

“Three of the girls came up against number one seeds in the tournament,” Arnold said. “Even though we got beat, I thought we really looked like we belonged on the same mat with them.”

On the back side of the bracket, Marlin won with a 17-2 tech fall over 10-seed Annaliese Arciniega of Osage.

After that win, Marlin was guaranteed a podium spot, but she was looking for a shot at the third-place match.

The next bout was against No. 4 Amelia Wadsworth of Decorah. Wadsworth earned the first points with a takedown, but Marlin needed only three seconds to escape. In the second period, Marlin earned a takedown and a three-point nearfall to earn the lead. Marlin earned the 13-10 decision to advance.

Marlin needed only one  more win to earn a spot in the third-place match.

She did this with a 1:30 pin over No. 14 Reece Logan of Spirit Lake.

“I just thought that she showed a lot of maturity being able to come back on that backside after the quarterfinal loss,” Arnold said. “She’s just a great wrestler.”

The third-place bout took place between the 12 seed and nine seed. Sunshine Casey of Woodward-Granger continued to outperform her low seed, defeating Marlin in a 17-6 major decision.

Marlin finished her career with 98 wins, a program record for career wins.

Kruse

Creston freshman Karlie Kruse finished her first year of high school wrestling with a fifth-place finish at 125.

Kruse came in as the five seed and opened up against No. 12 Grace Patterson of Central Dewitt.

The match went the full six minutes, but Kruse got the win in a 6-0 decision to advance.

“Before my first match, I was very nervous because of the first-match jitters,” Kruse said. “After I won that, I was more confident moving forward.”

In the quarterfinals, she wrestled No. 13 Amelia Walk of St. Ansgar in a second-period pin.

“After my second-match win, it was very relieving that I was making it to the second day,” Kruse said. “I knew no matter what, I would place.”

Only four freshmen qualified for state in Class 1A.

“The thing about freshmen is they just don’t know any better,” Arnold said. “She just went out and she wrestled hard those first two matches, and she was on fire.”

Day two, Kruse opened with a semifinals bout against No. 1 Molly Allen who would go on to win her fourth-straight title.

Allen won the match in a first-period pin, sending Kruse to the consolation bracket.

In the consolation semifinals, No. 4 Aileen Aragon of West Liberty came back after down 4-0 to win in a 12-4 major decision.

“That consolation semifinals match she was great for two and a half periods; she just made some mistakes,” Arnold said. “She puts in a ton of work outside of the season. Next year she’s going to be a force.”

In the fifth-place match,  Kruse was able to overcome mental mistakes to win in a 9-3 decision and match her five seed.

Area Medalists

East Union and Nodaway Valley each had athletes medal after qualifying for the seventh-place match.

SWAT’s Jazz Christensen earned seventh at 100 after a comeback pin in the final match. Christensen was down 7-0 against Molly Konechne of Central Lyon-George Little Rock before a reversal and nearfall narrowed the lead to 7-5. In the final period, Christensen chose the top position and was able to work her to the mat, earning the pin in 5:12.

Christensen came in as the seven-seed.

East Union’s Cheyenne Dike qualified for her first state meet at 145, coming in seeded 14th out of 16. She grossly outperformed her ranking as she ended up placing eighth.

Dike lost her first bout in a first-period pin to the three-seed Tayla Stiefel of East Buchanan, but went on to win the next two to guarantee a podium spot.

She was defeated by Addison Hochstetler of North Tama County to earn a spot in the seventh-place match.

Dike was pinned in the final match, giving her eighth-place in her first state appearance.

Dike is East Union’s first female wrestler to place at state wrestling.

Qualifiers

The Panthers had two other qualifiers, while East Union and Nodaway Valley each had one more.

Creston junior Grace Keeler and sophomore Alainah Galanakis each competed in the first state meet, but were knocked out in the first day.

“Both Alainah and Grace got kind of some tough draws on their side of the bracket, so they had to just deal with what they were dealt,” Arnold said. “I thought they wrestled very hard, they were engaged and they looked good.”

Keeler, the 10 seed at 140, fell to Clarinda’s Lily Weinreich (No. 7) in the first round.

On the back side, she defeated No. 15 Layken Lee of Mid-Prairie in a second-period pin.

With No. 8 Teagan Carritt of Logan-Magnolia knocking off the one-seed in the quarterfinals, Keeler faced No. 1 Chloe Sanders of Vinton-Shellsburg in the consolation bracket.

Sanders won the bout in a 17-2 technical fall to knock Keeler out of the tournament.

Galanakis came in seeded ninth at 120. She lost her first round to Keston Spratt of Williamsburg before beating No. 16 Grace Sharr of Woodward-Granger.

Her last match was a loss to seven-seed Georgia Smith of Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont in a first-period pin.

“Everyone who came won at least a match so that was a big deal,” Arnold said. “Grace and Alainah are hungry to come back next year so that will be a driving force in motivating them.”

East Union junior Quynn Foster qualified for her second state meet at 100 pounds. She came into the meet seeded 12th.

In the first round, Foster wrestled No. 5 Ainsley Hemann of Osage who went on to win the title. Foster fell in a first-period pin. In the second round, she faced four-seed Cassie McKeen of Spirit Lake where she was defeated in a 4:45 pin to knock her out of the tournament.

Seeded 14th at 120 pounds, SWAT’s Destiny Fry of Nodaway Valley was 1-2 at state, ending the season 32-12.

Fry was pinned in the first round by the weight class’ eventual runner up. In the consolation side, Fry secured a big upset, toppling Oakland Riverside’s Veronica Schechinger in 1:17 by fall. In the second round of consolations, Fry fell by pin to 12th-seeded Malyn Davis of Algona in 2:42.

All photos available in the online album.