Brenneman and Robertson finish on the podium

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 1/25/22

The Golden Hawk numbers from the girls state wrestling tournament speak for themselves. 

Eleven wrestlers, thirty-one wins, and two medals. 

I feel like this weekend was a huge …

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Brenneman and Robertson finish on the podium

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The Golden Hawk numbers from the girls state wrestling tournament speak for themselves. 

Eleven wrestlers, thirty-one wins, and two medals. 

I feel like this weekend was a huge success,” coach Justin Garvey said.  We wrestled amazing all day Friday. We brought 11 girls in, and we had five alive still coming into today. And you know, as each round went by, the competition level got tougher and tougher. 

“It was a rough road this morning, and I think we lost every match in that first round. But they kept battling back and we got Gabi (Robertson) and Bronwyn (Brenneman) into the medals.” 

Brenneman went 6-2 in the tournament to finish on the podium for the second straight year. 

She won all three matches on Friday to reach the quarterfinals. She dropped a 4-1 decision to Waverly-Shell Rock’s Macy Smith, who eventually reached the championship match. But Brenneman came back to win the next two to guarantee a top-six finish. 

“I’m so happy about it, I can’t even believe it,” Brenneman said. “It’s an awesome feeling. 

I’ve put in a lot of work this season and it’s been on my mind since basically last year, ending on this podium. It’s like all that work we put in, in the offseason and throughout, it just pays off.”

Brenneman wrestled Kylie Doty of Colfax-Mingo for fifth at 130 pounds in the final match of her career. After a scoreless first period, Brenneman got an escape and fought off Doty’s shot to get a takedown. A buzzer-beating reversal gave Brenneman just a one-point lead going into the third. 

Doty chose bottom for the final period, and not wanting to give up another two-point reversal, the Mid-Prairie coaches instructed Brenneman to give up the tying point to go neutral.

Brenneman wasn’t sure. 

“I gave him a look,” she said. “We’re really just gonna let her go and give up that one point? I have the lead right now.” 

But it paid off as Brenneman was able to counter Doty’s offense to score another two for the win. 

“I don’t know if it’s just me being tired or getting too much in my head but I wasn’t taking as many good shots, but I was able to score off a shot she took and get a (takedown) out of it,” Brenneman said. 

“Going back to my corner and seeing how proud and happy my coaches were — it’s the best feeling.”

Robertson also suffered her first loss in the quarterfinals at 100. Needing one more win for a medal, she took a 7-0 lead over Atalia Rosales of Spencer, before Rosales put Robertson on her back. Robertson fought and didn’t up the pin, but led just 7-6 with one period remaining. 

“I knew she was a good thrower, so I just really wanted to try and stay out of that,” Robertson said.  “I got stuck once but I was luckily able to catch the leg and stay out of it. I just kind of had to hold off there because I couldn’t get my arm back. And then I just tried riding around as much as I could and trying to expose her back and pin her the rest of the time.”

Robertson got an escape and another takedown in the final period to secure a medal. 

“After I got off my back, I knew I had to get it now otherwise I’d never get it,” she said.

Robertson lost the next match, but finished her state tournament weekend with a win in the seventh-place match.

Mia Garvey advanced to the quarterfinal with a pair of pins, where she ran into the future 155 pound state champion Isabella Deeds of Ridge View. She needed just one win in the consolation bracket to reach the podium, but trailed 1-0 after two periods with Western Dubuque’s Josie Jecklin. She was unable to get the tying escape and gave up the pin with less than a minute left. 

“She had a good tournament,” Justin Garvey said. “You know, she had a .500 record coming in but every girl that beat her this year is on the podium. She’s right there battling with the best of them. She was one match away from a medal. I think last year she was two matches away from a medal, so she’s getting closer.”

Madison Kelly went 5-2 over the weekend and also came up one win short of a medal. Ellie Brenneman went 4-2 in the state tournament and Ali Bolanos was 3-2. Marissa Cline and Grace Conway each picked up two wins. Ashlee Farrier and Emil Harmston each won a match as well. 

“She got better and she had fun doing it,” Garvey said about his senior, Harmston. “I know getting beat isn’t always fun and practices aren’t fun, but there is a lot of fun to be had as well. There’s a lot of camaraderie. We always refer to the wrestling team as a family and I think that atmosphere is what the girls really like about being wrestlers.

Mid-Prairie finished ninth out of over 150 teams with 98 points. Waverly-Shell Rock won the state title for a third straight year. 

“We’ve had a lot of success bringing home hardware,” Garvey said. “This will be the second year in a row that we finished in the top ten. So I’m hoping that you know, other girls in the school will see this and get excited and we’ll start building that girls program as well.”