CORALVILLE – Fort Madison’s Mara Smith guaranteed herself at least an 8th-place medal at the IGHSAU girl’s state wrestling meet Thursday.
Smith will wrestle Friday morning, trying to get to the third-place match Friday night at 130 lbs.
Two Bloodhound sophomores – Kat DiPrima and Briena Fenton – each went 1-2 on the day Thursday and were eliminated in consolation wrestling.
Smith reserved herself a space on the podium Friday night after pinning Mason City’s Kallie Gibbons (6th-seed) in the third period. Smith had the match under control 14-2 after getting takedowns in the first and second period with the second period move becoming a nearfall. She pushed a top advantage to start the third into another 4-point nearfall and the pin.
Smith started the day seeded 4th after winning the state qualifier in Iowa City last week. The junior came into her third state tournament with her highest seeding ever and faced South Tama sophomore Brooklyn Mitchell (34-10) in the top half of the 16-girl bracket at 130. Mitchell earned a 13th seed in the bracket.
Smith got into a little trouble in early action losing her footing with Mitchell and suffering a quick 3-point takedown and near fall for a 5-0 deficit in the first 30 seconds. But the Hound was able to work to her stomach and then get a base and void the hold for an escape.
She would then get a lift and a takedown near the edge of the circle for three points, cutting the lead to 5-4 after 1.
After a start on the bottom at period 2, she worked a quick escape and the two stayed on their feet for the rest of the period. Mitchell got a stalling caution early in the 3rd period and Smith was able to take advantage with another toss for 3-points at 1:36. She would work a 4-point nearfall with :24 left in the match. Mitchell would score a reversal, but Smith was able to keep control for the final 11 seconds to get a 12-7 decision.
The win moved her into the quarterfinals against 5th-seeded Arabella Varvel of Southeast Polk. Varvel would get takedowns in the first and second period before scoring a fall with 15 seconds left in the second. Smith was close to pulling Varvel in for a cradle on several occasions, but couldn’t muster the leverage.
“I don’t know if I ate something wrong or what, but it felt like my body was shutting down,” Smith said of her first match.
“I had to find my way out of it, but I didn’t want to give myself an excuse to give up so I battled out of it.”
In the second match she said she wasn’t as mentally strong as she usually is despite having several opportunities for advantages early on. Both chances resulted in takedowns for Varvel.
“You have to tell yourself you’re not in pain and you don’t have to puke. You have to push through six minutes and you can feel as sick as you want after,” she said.
In her last match of the session with Gibbons, Smith said she just wanted to wrestle her match and keep everything else out of her mind.
If seeds play out on the consolation side, Smith would end up with a match against Kylee Shoop of West Delware for 3rd place. Shoop is ranked 3rd in the state and seeded 3rd. Smith was seeded 4th and was ranked 6th in the final IAWrestle rankings. The Hound junior will have to win her next two matches Friday morning to get to the 3rd place match Friday night.
Head Coach Kyle Doherty said the girls are still getting a feel for what wrestling at state is all about.
“I’m sure her body’s worn out and banged up. This is kinda why the state tournament is so good. Everyone else is banged up as well and you gotta be gritty. It’s unfortunate to lose in the quarters, but she got a nice win there at the end to be in the placing,” Doherty said.
“It's so hard. She expects to stay on the right side and be in the finals and has worked hard to back that up. It’s unfortunate to find yourself on the other side, but if she keeps wrestling well, she has a good shot at coming out of here with a third-place medal.”
DiPrima, who also won the regional title at Iowa City, was seeded 14th and squared off against Anamosa senior Addison Appelhans (36-4) in the first round.
DiPrima, a sophomore, had compiled a season record of 40-3 and likes to put her opponents away quickly. All three of her matches at the Class 2A, Region 4 qualifier last week went more than one period.
She would get more of the same in the first round, needing a pin in overtime to advance past Appelhans.
DiPrima trailed 3-0 after a takedown in the first period. The two were both standing to start period two and DiPrima would get a takedown just before the midway point of the 2nd period to tie things up. She would work that to a nearfall with :30 left in the period, but Appelhans got out with a reversal before the end of the period for a 5-5 tie.
DiPrima went aggressive in the third period with Appelhans starting down. DiPrima shoved her around into a 4-point near fall 23 seconds in, but again Appelhans would turn the tables with a reversal. The Hound would get a stalling caution and managed an escape near the edge of the circle, but Appelhaus would score another takedown in a scramble with 12 seconds left to tie things up at 10 at the end of regulation.
With both wrestlers starting standing in the OT session, DiPrima took control, forcing Appelhans to the mat and scoring a pin :13 into the extra session.
DiPrima then found herself in the quarters against No. 2-seed Shaylee Sutherland of Spencer. Sutherland proved why she was ranked 2nd best in the state at 140 lbs. when she scored a quick takedown five seconds into the match and rolled over for a nearfall and pin.
“Coming into this, she has to do her job and not let outside things distract her. Wrestling is wrestling if they have a 1 or 20 by their name. You gotta wrestle and, up here, you’re not going to get away with much,” Doherty said.
DiPrima would suffer a first-round pin in the second round consolations to Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Meredith Kaump (33-4, seeded 8th).
“Kat is another one that gets to see what it’s like to win up here. She’s had an excellent season. She got to experience the win here. Those two sophomores got to experience the situations and will learn to wrestle their match and not just feel people out and wait for things to happen.”
The Lady Hounds’ Fenton came in her first ever tournament seeded 14th. The sophomore compiled a 34-14 record this year and drew a tough first round against 3rd-seeded Destiny Brown of Ridge View. Brown is 41-3 on the year and finished the year ranked 3rd in the state at 125 lbs.
Fenton held her own well through the first period with Brown giving up just one takedown for 3 points with four seconds left in the period. But Brown would get the Bloodhound figured out in the second period, recording three takedowns, while giving up a couple escapes. The final takedown of the period came with five seconds before the horn that resulted in a 2-point nearfall and a 14-2 lead. She would get a reversal out of a down start and ride out the third period for a 16-2 win over Fenton.
Fenton then went to work to get her first win of the event in the first round of consolation by taking out Linn-Mar’s Chloe Adamson. Adamson had Fenton in a predicament in the early going scooping up a leg, but Fenton literally jumped over a trip while her other leg was shelved and used the momentum to pull out of the hold and avert the takedown. She used the energy from the move to pull Adamson down to the ground and leverage her over for the pin at 1:04.
“B being a runner up at regionals and punching her ticket to state was great. We know she can compete to place, but this being so much more, we wanted to get her to place where she can feel what it’s like to win a match here.
The first round, she had Brown who finished runner-up last year and, despite the score and the result, I believe B wrestled very well. Brown has wrestled for how many years and B just picked this up a year or so ago.
“I'm extremely happy she gets to experience the state tournament number one, and then to get a win in this atmosphere.”
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