Girls take the mat at BGM

BROOKLYN — A handful of area girls wrestling teams opened up the first ever sanctioned season in the state of Iowa at BGM High School on Saturday, as a historic 2022-23 campaign begun.

Mid-Prairie notched a historic win at the tournament, scoring 118 team points. That was two points better than Des Moines Public Schools, which finished second, with 116.

Mid-Prairie’s victory was boosted by a 100-pound championship by Gabi Robertson. After pinning her first opponent, Robertson won a thrilling title match over Lily Webster of Colfax-Mingo, beating her 4-2 on a sudden victory tiebreaker.

Mia Garvey brought home a championship for the Golden Hawks at 170 pounds. She pinned two opponents en route to the championship, where she knocked off Kayte Yaw of Des Moines Public Schools on a 4-2 decision.

The Golden Hawks also had two second-place finishes. Ashlee Farrier took second at 130 pounds, and Ellie Brenneman was second at 140.

Highland had one championship on the way to an eighth-place team total. Angelina Roling brought home the only championship for the Huskies, going 2-0 to win the 120-pound bracket.

Roling scored two pins on the day. The second was a fall against Madilyn Eichelberger, who Roling defeated in 4 minutes and 35 seconds.

Highland had a pair of runners-up as well. Mackenzie McFarland was second at 110 pounds, and Lilly Barre took second at 125.

WACO had two second-place finishers on its way to a ninth-place result. The Warriors had two in title matches, but Rylee Rice, at 115 pounds, and Bralyyn Wagler at 235 pounds, fell in the title match.

Mt. Pleasant put together an 11th-place team finish, and a lot of that was due to a title at 110 pounds.

Ella McNamee brought home the gold for the Panthers. After dominating her first two matches of the day, she nipped McFarland of Highland 8-6 via sudden victory in the 110-pound title match.

Mt. Pleasant had one second-place finish in the junior varsity division. Natalie Parrott took second at JV 120 pounds.

Pekin placed 15th as a team. The Panthers didn’t have any Top-2 finishers, but did have one in the Top-5. The best Pekin wrestler on the day was Hailey Pedrick, who finished fifth place in the 135-pound bracket.

TEAM SCORES

1. Mid-Prairie 118

2. Des Moines Public Schools 116

3. Colfax-Mingo 111

4. BGM 100

5. Valley 96

6. Iowa Valley 81

7. North Mahaska 79

8. Highland 75

9. WACO 61

10. North Tama 49

11. Mt. Pleasant 46.5

12. Chariton 41

13. English Valleys 37

13. Louisa-Muscatine 37

15. Pekin 28

16. Grinnell 25

17. Baxter 16

18. Belle Plaine 11

19. Albia 0