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3rd times’s the charm: Spratt claims first WaMaC title
Williamsburg finishes fourth, produces three finalists
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
VINTON — Williamsburg’s Keston Spratt finally got over the hump.
Advancing to the finals for the third-straight season, Spratt finally struck gold at the conference meet Friday night in Vinton to become conference champion at 125 pounds at the WaMaC girls wrestling meet.
After cruising to the final with two wins by fall, Spratt defeated an opponent she had never beaten before, Class 1A seventh-ranked Camden Erhardt of Vinton-Shellsburg.
Erhardt delivered the first takedown, but Spratt dominated after that.
“Going into the match and wrestling her before, I knew some of the things she was going to bring at me,” Spratt said. “She’s really strong and offensive so I was trying to use my moves against her and outlast her because I knew my conditioning was well.”
That conditioning paid off as Spratt was relentless the rest of the way.
In the second period, Spratt racked up 10 points on two takedowns and four nearfall points. The offense did not stop there. Spratt got one final takedown in the third that she turned into a pin for the title.
“I was just talking with my mom of the streak I’ve been on of second place, so to finally get first place is such an accomplishment knowing I’m on top of the WaMaC,” Spratt said.
Williamsburg had two more finalists — at 130 and 145 — in a field of 21 ranked wrestlers in 14 weights.
Cecelia Gryp, ranked eighth in 1A at 130 and now a two-time finalist, dispatched her first two opponents with wins by fall before facing 2A No. 5 Josie Logan of Marion in the final.
Gryp battled with Logan until the end, getting two nearfall points in the third, with Logan winning ultimately winning by an 8-3 decision.
Valerie Altenhofen picked up a big win in the 145 semifinals over 2A No. 12 Paisley Bro of South Tama.
Altenhofen recently defeated Bro in a dual meet, and Bro certainly put up a better fight this time around.
“It’s been my third time wrestling her,” Altenhofen said. “I pinned her in the first period last time, so I viewed it as a setback in the moment when she was coming after me.”
Bro led 6-3 after two periods with two takedowns.
In a physical match, a blood timeout was called twice and that is when Altenhofen regained her exposure.
“During blood time my mind was racing, and I had to reset myself,” Altenhofen said.
Altenhofen chose top position to start the third and was able to turn Bro over for the fall.
“It’s kind of my comfort position,” Altenhofen said of being on top. “She’s a good wrestler with strong legs, and it’s always awkward wrestling someone that much taller than me.”
The Raiders also had other notable performances on the mat.
Ryleigh Jones (105) and Lilly Ness (155) both ended the night with wins en route to their third place finishes. Kimora Owens (140) and Bristol VanZuiden (170) placed fourth.
With eight wrestlers, the Raiders finished fourth in the team race with 148.5 points, an improvement from their fifth place finish last season.
“I feel like our last few performances we’ve been kind of building and have been wrestling well,” Williamsburg coach Nathan Shank said. “That’s what we need to be doing this time of year, and overall we did good tonight.”
South Tama ran away with the team title 254 points.
Williamsburg now sets its site on Friday’s regionals at home.
“It’s amazing and a huge boost for us,” Shank said. “I would not want it anywhere else.”
Team Scores
1. South Tama 254, 2. Mount Vernon 177.5, 3. Vinton-Shellsburg 153, 4. Williamsburg 148.5, 5. Independence 134, 6. Marion 122, 7. Benton Community 96, 8. Solon 79, 9. West Delaware 64, 10. Center Point-Urbana 59, 11. Grinnell 53, 12. Clear Creek Amana 23.
Championship matches
100 pounds — Livia Smith (South Tama) pinned Alina Ajruloski (Independence), 1:35
105 — Kate Martin (Mount Vernon) pinned Wynter Morgan (Marion), 1:44
110 — Kiersten Swart (Mount Vernon) pinned Madison Arnold (Independence), 5:53
115 — Kaelynn Roster (Vinton-Shellsburg) dec. Cadence Pastor (Marion), 7-1 TB-1
120 — Morgan Krall (Independence) pinned Miyah Grabenbauer (South Tama), 3:16
125 — Keston Spratt (Williamsburg) pinned Camden Camden Erhardt (Vinton-Shellsburg), 4:20
130 — Josie Logan (Marion) dec. Cecelia Gryp (Williamsburg), 8-3
135 — Chloe Sanders (Vinton-Shellsburg) pinned Anna O`Rear (West Delaware), 5:28
140 — Maylee Rucker (South Tama) pinned Adeline Whisner (Mount Vernon), 1:40
145 — Lizzy Wolf (Benton Community) major dec. Valerie Altenhofen (Williamsburg), 15-1
155 — Layna DeMoss (Benton Community) pinned Kaylee Kintzel (Mount Vernon), 5:15
170 — Autumn Elsbury (South Tama) dec. Gracie Pinckney (Mount Vernon), 5-1
190 — Gracie Heim (West Delaware) dec. Maci Stoner (Mount Vernon), 10-4
235 — Kinley Jimenez (South Tama) pinned Lainee Waggener (Center Point-Urbana), 1:05
