Pekin sending four wrestlers to state

The Pekin girls’ wrestling squad will be sending four wrestlers to the state meet at the Xtream Arena in Coralville this Thursday and Friday, February 6 and 7. The Panthers finished fourth as a team at the Class 1A Region 8 qualifying meet in Williamsburg last Friday, Jan. 31 with 124 points. Host Williamsburg won with 174.5, Wilton finished second with 153, and West Liberty was third with 131.5. Other area schools competing were Cardinal with a fifth-place finish, Sigourney-Keota in seventh, Fairfield in eighth, and WACO finishing 15th.

Lexa Nelson qualified for state with a second-place finish at 105. Nelson had a win in the third-place match over Wilton’s Natalie Hartman by fall in 1:28, and in the second-place match over Alyia Abbott of Fairfield by fall in 4:28.

Lila Miller will be competing at state after finishing second at 135 last Friday. Miller won the second-place match by fall in 1:02 over Assumption, Davenport’s Brooklyn Mau. Mill lost the first-place match to Williamsburg’s Cecelia Gryp by a 5-1 decision.

Hailey Pedrick qualified for state with a second-place finish at 140. Pedrick won the second-place match over Valerie Altenhofen of Williamsburg (NC) and fell in the first-place match to Jalyiah Gardner of Keokuk by an 11-3 major decision.

Rylee Frye will be competing in the state meet after finishing second at 235. Frye won with a 5-0 decision over Brynn Pogmore of Columbus/WMU in the third-place match, and won by fall in 0:31 over Mount Pleasant’s Olivia Gordy in the second-place match.

Bree Earnest finished fourth at 115 to earn a spot on the podium.