Four Raiders head to State

WILLIAMSBURG — The Williamsburg girls’ wrestling team crowned two champions and advanced four to the State meet at the Class 1A regional hosted by Williamsburg Friday night.

As a bonus, the Raiders took home the team title with their 10 wrestlers scoring a total of 174.5 points.

“We came in knowing we weren’t going to be seeded probably where we thought we should be because of the competition we wrestled throughout the season,” Williamsburg coach Drew Hinschberger said.

“We had some losses from tough competition, but we knew we were battle-tested coming into today.”

Last year the top four finishers advanced to the state meet because all girls wrestled in the same class. With two classes this year, only the top two at each of the 14 weights advance.

The Raiders’ first champion was Cecelia Gryp at 135-pounds.

Gryp got to see her older sister (Phoenix) qualify and medal last year at State for the Raiders, and now will follow her in her footsteps as a first-time qualifier.

“It feels good,” Gryp said on qualifying for State. “Now people can really understand I can do it too. The support from my team really helped me push through tonight.”

Gryp took a 30-12 season record into regionals and was the three-seed in the 135-pound bracket.

Gryp advanced to the first-place match unblemished, with a win by fall and a 5-3 decision over West Liberty’s Jacquelin Molina.

In the final, Gryp scored a first-period takedown and held on a for a 5-1 decision over Pekin’s Lila Miller.

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The Raiders’ other champion came at 155 from four-seeded Lilly Ness.

Ness pinned all three of her opponents, her quickest fall coming in the finals against Sigourney-Keota’s Karley Greiner.

Ness, a sophomore, is also a first-time qualifier.

“It feels amazing, and I am so happy, said Ness after qualifying. ”I’m so excited to get to compete (at State) with three of my closest friends.“

Keston Spratt, 120-pounder, pinned her way to the first-place match only taking up 70 seconds in the three matches.

Spratt was pinned by West Liberty’s Silvia Garcia-Vasquez but also advanced to State for the second time as a runner-up.

Spratt’s emotions afterward were pure joy.

In the wrestlebacks for second, Hayden Wade (115) had a chance to make it to State in one of the final bouts of the night.

Wade fell to one of the pound-for-pound best wrestlers in the State in Sigourney-Keota’s Reanah Utterback in the semifinals and had to work her way through two consolation matches.

After trailing 3-0 in the wrestleback, Wade got a late escape in the second period. To start the third period, Wade got a takedown to take the lead.

Wade won 6-3 over Davenport Assumption’s Amya Bass to advance to State with a runner-up finish. She’s a first-time qualifier.

Valerie Altenhofen earned a third-place finish at 140 as well for the Raiders.

“Today’s one of the most favorite days of the season and least favorites,” Hinschberger said. “You get to ride the highs with the excitement, and you feel the heartbreak for those who didn’t reach their goal.”

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Now the four qualifiers will compete at the State meet Feb. 6-7 at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

The first 1A session on Thursday will begin at 4:30 p.m.

“We’re going to attack it the same way we’ve been the rest of the season,” Hinschberger said of mindset heading into State.

Team Scores

1. Williamsburg 174.5, 2. Wilton 153, 3. West Liberty 131.5, 4. Pekin 130, 5. Cardinal 104.5, 6. Davenport Assumption 88, 7. Sigourney-Keota 84, 8. Fairfield 81, 9. North Tama 68, 10. Mount Pleasant 58, 11. Wapello 56, 12. Columbus/WMU 54, 13. Van Buren County 47, 14. Washington 39, 15. WACO 37, 16. Keokuk 35, 17. Highland 20, 18. Lone Tree 16, 19. Mediapolis 6

Williamsburg Regional State Qualifiers

100 — First: Kenadee Helscher (Wapello); Second: Audrey Cummings (Wilton)

105 — First: Karlena Buford (Dav. Assumption); Second: Lexa Nelson (Pekin)

110 — First: Clara Ball (Wapello); Second: Valentina West (Dav. Assumption)

115 — First: Reanah Utterback (Sigoruney-Keota); Second: Hayden Wade (Williamsburg)

120 — First: Silvia Garcia-Vasquez (West Liberty); Second: Keston Spratt (Williamsburg)

125 — First: Aileen Aragon (West Liberty); Second: Kia Montgomery (Sigourney-Keota)

130 — First: Kaydence Boorn (Wilton); Second: Kiley Collins (West Liberty)

135 — First: Cecelia Gryp (Williamsburg); Second: Lila Miller (Pekin)

140 — First: Jalyiah Gardner (Keokuk); Second: Hailey Pedrick (Pekin)

145 — First: Zenlynn Lee (Mount Pleasant); Second: Addison Hochstetler (North Tama)

155 — First: Lilly Ness (Williamsburg); Second: Karley Greiner (Sigourney-Keota)

170 — First: Briar Blake (North Tama); Second: Samantha Lyons (Fairfield)

190 — First: Bricsia Garcia-Vasquez (West Liberty); Second: Jada Moats (Columbus/WMU)

235 — First: Kendra Allison (Fairfield); Second: Rylee Frye (Pekin)