Bright future for girls wrestling

IOWA CITY — It’s one of the fastest growing sports in the state of Iowa, and the weekend’s state tournament just put it in hyper-drive.

The sport of girls wrestling will be sanctioned in 2022-23, an announcement that was made by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union just before the finals of the girls’ state meet on Saturday night.

This year’s state tournament, the last unsanctioned meet of its kind, saw 695 wrestlers hit the mat, including a large handful from the Union coverage area.

One of those wrestlers walked away from Iowa City’s XTream Arena with a state championship. Sigourney-Keota’s Reanah Utterback, the only SK athlete in attendance, dominated the 110-pound bracket to finish at the top of her weight class.

Utterback, a freshman, cruised to the 110 title. She faced five opponents and pinned them all. Four of those five pins came in the first period.

The only time Utterback didn’t finish off the match in the first one-and-a-half minutes of action, was the 110-pound championship. Utterback pinned Osage’s Jalynn Goodale in 3:12 to earn the title.

Utterback was one of five placewinners from the Union area. Two of those placewinners were from Mid-Prairie, which picked up a fifth and seventh place finish.

Mid-Prairie’s Bronwyn Brenneman took fifth at 130 pounds. She had a busy weekend, wrestling eight matches over the two days, and went 6-2 to finish in fifth.

Brenneman earned four wins by pinfall during her weekend. She finished the meet with a nail-biting 5-4 decision over Kylie Doty of Colfax-Mingo for fifth.

Teammate Gabi Robertson took seventh in the 100-pound weight class. She wrestled six times, going 4-2.

Robertson finished the day with two pins and two decisions. The second decision was a 6-2 victory of Lily Webster of Colfax-Mingo in the seventh-place match.

Mt. Pleasant’s Abby Blint placed seventh in the 115-pound weight class. She went 4-2 on the night with all four wins being pins.

Blint’s final pin of the day came in the seventh place match against Maddie Plotz of Mount Vernon. Blint pinned Plotz in 2:10.

Blint’s teammate, Ella McNamee, didn’t place for Mt. Pleasant but she did go 3-2 on the mats. McNamee had one pin on the day, won one match by decision and one by major decision.

WACO’s Braylyn Wagler took eighth place in the 220-pound braget. Wagler bounced back from an opening-round loss to pick up two wins on the day, finishing at 2-3. Wagler had an eight-second pin over Dubuque Senior’s Sara Koeppen, and a pin against Sheldon/South O’Brien’s Mariel Feekes, in 1:54.

Washington had three wrestlers compete but didn’t earn a placewinner. The Demons’ top wrestler was Teegan Sulentich, who went 3-2 at 170 pounds. Sulentich finished the day with two major decisions and a fall.

Washington’s Jillian Langstraat went 0-2 in 105-pound matches but did advance via a bye in the first consolation round. Jenna Bose went 0-2 at 155.

Highland had six wrestlers compete but had no placewinners. The top athlete for the Huskies was Angeline Rolling, who went 3-2 in the 110-pound bracket. She had three falls on the day, including one over WACO’s Lydia Hesseltine in the first round.