Comets win at Pekin girls’ meet

PACKWOOD — Six Union area girls wrestling teams made up almost half the field at Pekin’s girls invite on Monday night, and one of those squads just happened to come out on top.

The Cardinal girls wrestling team won three brackets and scored 176 points en route to a first place finish. The Comets beat second-place Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont by 17 points.

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The Cardinal girls scooped up a win at 105 pounds, when Abigail Durflinger went 3-0 to earn a championship. Durflinger finished the bracket with three pins, including a pin over Sophie Hemann of Albia, in 3 minutes, 29 seconds.

Cardinal’s second championship came at 155 pounds. Ajaah Cox continued her strong start to the season with three pins, including a championship pinfall against Mount Vernon’s Kaylee Kintzel, in 1:17.

At 170 pounds, Skyllar Welch grabbed a couple of pins en route to a championship. In the final, Welch needed just 42 seconds to pin Olivia Kaster of Albia.

Cardinal also had four second-place finishes. Bryleigh Sparks took second at 125 pounds. Macy Grove was second at 130 pounds. Hayliegh Keasling took silver at 190 pounds and Shakayla Uehling was second at 235 pounds.

Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union took fourth on the night, scoring 107 points. The Wildcats had one win on the day, as Josie Nelson picked up a victory at 140 pounds.

Nelson had three pins on the day. She wound up facing Pekin’s Lila Miller in the 140-pound championship, pinning her in 1:39.

Highland finished fifth with 102 points, but the Huskies tied Cardinal in number of brackets taken home, winning three weight classes.

At 110 pounds, Angelina Rolling continued to dominate local competition, winning two matches en route to a title. In the championship, Roling defeated Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont’s Alyvia Johnson, beating her in 2:46.

At 120 pounds, Lilly Barre continued to roll, winning two matches by pinfall to take the championship. In the finals, Barre pinned Albia’s Avery Major in 1:11.

Highland also had a winner at 190 pounds. Chloe Sexton went 2-0 on the day, scooping up a pair of pinfalls to win the bracket. She pinned Keasling of Cardinal in 1:38 during the title bout.

Highland also had one runner-up on the day, in 100-pounder Abbie Grout.

The hosting Pekin squad finished in sixth place, scoring 85 points. Pekin had one winner on the day, as 135-pounder Hailey Pedrick took first place.

Pedrick finished the day with two pinfalls. In the championship, she pinned EBF’s Miley Kirkpatrick just before the final whistle, winning in 5:58.

Pekin also had a second place result from Lila Miller at 140 pounds.

Sigourney-Keota only had three wrestlers in attendance, but still managed to sneak into the Top-10 with a 10th-place score of 32 points. Many of those came from Reanah Utterback, who continued her early undefeated streak with three more pins.

Utterback won the 115-pound weight class when she pinned Albia’s Brianna Wolfer in 1:49. In total, she contributed 26 of the Cobras’ 32 points.

Fairfield finished the tournament in 12th place, scoring 20 points. The top Trojan on the day was 135-pounder Alejandra Carminhato, who finished fourth at 135 pounds. 120-pounder Vianney Gonzalez led the Trojans in total points, earning 11 of them en route to a fifth-place finish at 120 pounds.

TEAM SCORES

1. Cardinal 176

2. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont 159

3. Albia 155

4. Columbus/WMU 107

5. Highland 102

6. Pekin 85

7. Mount Vernon 69

8. North Mahaska 68

9. Keokuk 44

10. Sigourney-Keota 32

11. Moravia 23

12. Fairfield 20

13. Lone Tree 14