C-M’s Cook scores podium finish at girls state wrestling tourney

CORALVILLE — Colfax-Mingo sophomore Emma Cook was angry but determined to bounce back from an early-round loss at the Iowa Girls High School State Wrestling Championships on Thursday.

After winning her first match, ninth-ranked and 12th-seeded Cook lost in the second round and moved to the backside of the 235-pound bracket.

“I think it made me angry. I was just mad I lost,” Cook said. “And I was determined to not go home without a medal today.”

Cook indeed left Xtream Arena on Friday with her first state medal after posting five straight victories in front of sell-out crowds in the first-ever sanctioned girls’ state wrestling tournament.

She led a group of four Tigerhawks in the field. Sophomore Lily Webster, a medalist last season, was 3-2 at 100 pounds and junior Shy Steck and sophomore Devan Chadwick both finished 1-2 at 130 and 115, respectively.

“The level of wrestling from last year to this year has increased,” Colfax-Mingo head girls wrestling coach Erin Hume said. “For all of them to win at least one match is huge because they all come back next year. But it’s huge for the team and the ones who didn’t make the trip this year, too. It adds motivation. They can work hard and get to state with their teammates next year.”

Baxter freshman Johnelle Gliem also competed in the 110-pound bracket. Seeded 30th, Gliem (10-13) was pinned in the first period by both third-seeded Adyson Lundquist (35-2) of S.W.A.T. Valkyrie and 14th-seeded Emma Hall (21-8) of North Central Trailblazers.

Cook (38-7) opened her tournament at 235 with a win by fall in the second period over 21st-seeded Trinity Young (15-12) of Linn-Mar. The loss came against fifth-ranked and fifth-seeded Jocelyn Buffum of Missouri Valley in the second round.

Cook’s run to a state medal started with a first-period pin over 27th-seeded Elizabeth Kalinay (25-19) of West Marshall in an elimination match. It continued with a third-period pin over 13th-seeded Skyla Jevre (19-13) of Decorah.

That set up a rematch against Boone’s Clara Carpenter, who defeated Cook at last year’s state tournament and in the semifinals at this year’s regionals.

The two rivals were scoreless after one period, but three stalling calls on the eighth-seeded Carpenter (26-9) put Cook in front 2-0 in the third period. She eventually won by pin in the final minute of the match.

“I wanted that rematch bad,” Cook said. “Today we had a plan. We haven’t gotten those stall calls this year really. It worked today though.”

The key to Cook’s success against Carpenter, and in some of her other matches, was staying patient, according to Hume.

“Typical heavyweight matches aren’t going to be 10-0. We might win some 1-0 or 2-0 matches,” Hume said. “We wanted her to take what comes to her and not to force things. She’s done that since the loss. She’s waited for things to come to her and put pressure on her opponents. She’s stayed calm and I’m proud of her.”

Cook also avenged an early-season loss against S.W.A.T Valkyrie’s Hailey Armstrong.

Sixth-ranked and fourth-seeded Armstrong (28-5) pinned Cook in about 30 seconds in their previous match this season, but the C-M sophomore rebounded to win by fall in the first period on Friday.

Armstrong led 2-0 in the match, but an escape and takedown by Cook pushed her in front 3-2 before she won by fall with 20 seconds to go in the opening frame.

“When you lose, you learn and you are able to watch how you lost and make sure it doesn’t happen next time,” Hume said, “Emma’s wrestled that Boone girl numerous times and she’ll have to wrestle her a lot more in the future. She may get Emma next time, but today, when it mattered, she was patient.”

After pushing aside the fourth seed, Cook then took care of fourth-ranked and second-seeded Savannah Sistad of Creston, 8-1. Sistad (13-3) was last year’s 220-pound champion but fell behind 2-0 after one and Cook scored a pair of takedowns and got two more stalling points the rest of the way.

In the third-place match, Cook fell behind early as third-ranked and third-seeded Isabella Canada of AHSTW registered a quick takedown and led 2-1 after the first two periods. After a pair of blood timeouts, Canada (21-4) extended her lead to 3-1 with an escape and went on to win by that margin.

“She’s doing everything we thought she was capable of doing all year. And even capable of last year,” Hume said about Cook. “We thought she would do this last year. She didn’t, but that motivated her to come in a lot over the summer. She always goes out and competes.”

Sistad ended up fifth, Buffum placed sixth and Armstrong was eighth in the heavyweight division.

“It feels really good (to medal),” Cook said. “I just stayed focused, believed in myself and wrestled how I know how to. There was no point in stopping. I just had to keep going. I tried to do what we practiced all season.”

Webster’s tournament featured three wins by pin, but two losses by decision against a pair of ranked wrestlers kept her from earning her second state medal.

Tenth-ranked and 11th-seeded Webster (34-10) opened with a first-period pin against 22nd-seeded Riley Gauch (20-11) of Carlisle.

Her second match came against fifth-ranked and sixth-seeded Myah Rausch (42-6) of Cedar Rapids Prairie. There wasn’t much action in the first two periods, but Rausch scored the 1-0 victory on an escape in the third frame.

Webster chose neutral to start the second but was unable to score from her feet.

“I do better in neutral. I like the tie-ups to set up my shots and sometimes I get stuck on the bottom,” Webster said of her decision to not start the second period in the down position. “(In hindsight), I might have done it differently. I might have chosen bottom.”

Hume said he does sometimes second-guess decisions that end in losses.

“You can second guess everything as a coach when a kid loses — 1-0 is a tough way to lose,” Hume said. “I didn’t question it, but would I do it differently next time? Sure. Maybe. It’s all hindsight now. We have to live with our decision.”

Webster rebounded with back-to-back pins against 21st-seeded Lilliana Cortes (18-19) of Postville and 19th-seeded Emily Fritz (24-13) of Anamosa. She led Cortes 4-2 in the third and had a 10-2 advantage against Fritz in the second.

“It felt really good and I’m relieved. It pushed me to do the next one, too,” Webster said after the back-to-back wins.

Like Cook, Webster also saw a familiar face in her win-or-go-home elimination match. Needing one more victory to secure her second state medal, Webster fell 10-4 to sixth-ranked and seventh-seeded Gabi Robertson (35-8) of Mid-Prairie. Webster rallied from an early hole to get within 5-3, but Robertson scored the next five to secure the win.

Rausch wound up fifth and Robertson placed eighth in the 100-pound division.

“Lily is probably feeling a lot of emotions that aren’t good right now,” Hume said. “She did place last year. She does have high expectations. Her effort was there though. She lost some tough matches. She will use this as motivation. All of our hearts hurt for her. She’ll bounce back though.”

Steck came into the tournament seeded 24th at 130 and Chadwick was 30th out of 32 at 115. Both wrestlers started with a loss, avoided elimination with a win and got knocked out with a loss in their third bout.

Chadwick (29-20) fell 11-2 to third-ranked and third-seeded Caitlin Reiter (30-4) of Pleasant Valley in her opening match.

In her second bout against 14th-seeded Kyla Egli (25-6) of Manson-Northwest Webster, Chadwick found herself down 6-1 and 10-2 after two periods. Trailing 10-4, the Tigerhawk sophomore rallied to win by fall with 37 seconds left in the match.

“I had nothing to lose. That’s what my coaches always tell me,” Chadwick said. “I just wanted to keep taking shots and at some point, she was going to make a mistake and she was going to be more tired than I was. You have to jump on the mistake and go for it when it happens.”

Chadwick’s first state tournament ended in her third match after fourth-seed Reese Berns (38-10) of Central Elkader Community scored a first-period pin.

Chadwick was playing basketball at this time last year but found a way to win a match at the state wrestling tournament.

“That’s something we talk to all of them about. You are given six minutes to win a match so use them if you need them,” Hume said. “Because she’s new and inexperienced, she finds herself in holes and has to use her conditioning and mental fortitude to come back.”

Steck (26-18) faced state-ranked wrestlers in two of her three matches.

She opened with sixth-ranked and eighth-seeded Claire Brown of Iowa City High. Brown (24-7) led 3-1 after one frame and 4-3 after two.

Steck’s deficit went to 6-3, but she rallied with a takedown and a reversal to tie it at 8-all before losing 10-8 in SV-1 overtime.

“I was sad and bummed about losing that overtime match against one of the better seeds,” Steck said. “That was a big moment for me. I stayed in it and had my chance. I’m just glad I was able to come back from that and get a win.”

Steck did win her next match against 25th-seeded Macy Brown (19-17) of Fort Dodge. She trailed 2-0 early but got it to 2-all after one following an escape and a locked hands violation on Brown.

Steck jumped in front 3-2 with an escape in the second and ended the match by fall in the first minute.

“I had a 50-50 chance to win, and I wanted to stay in a positive mindset,” Steck said. “I tried to goof around a bit before the match to make myself laugh because if I could get myself into a more positive mindset, it would be more beneficial to me.”

Ninth-ranked and 10th-seeded Ashley Bjork of Decorah eliminated Steck in her third match. Bjork (33-8) recorded a pin in the first period.

“With Shy, we talk to her about staying in a positive frame of mind,” Hume said. “We want her to compete even if she’s not feeling the best. She’s a captain. We need her to lead by example and show the others how to do this, and she’s done a good job with that all year.”

Notes: Waverly-Shell Rock (123) won the team title for the fifth straight season, while East Buchanan (113) and Decorah (108) were second and third, respectively. Council Bluffs Lewis Central (102) and Osage (73) completed the top five. Colfax-Mingo (40) placed 28th and Newton (21) was 55th. ... The tournament, which started with 440 girls, had a sell-out on day one.