The shorthanded Golden Hawk wrestling team had four top-three finishers at the Vinton-Shellsburg Girls Invitational on Saturday. 

Gabi Robertson won both of her matches, clinching a first-place finish with a second-period pin of Fort Madison’s Hailey Kemper.

“She wrestled solid with two pins,” Mid-Prairie coach Dylan Walther said. “Kemper is new, but has a solid record.”

Mia Garvey and Ashlee Farrier were both out sick on Saturday, while Grace Conway was taking the ACT that morning. The Golden Hawks still finished fourth out of 17 teams with 93 points. 

“Overall, we performed pretty well without three that had a shot at being on the podium if they wrestled well,” Walther said. “We also had two that were battling injury as the day moved on.”

While many of the girls tournaments have A, B, and C brackets of four wrestlers at each weight class, Saturday’s tournament featured just one bracket at each weight. 

Vinton-Shellsburg sophomore Rayleigh Stander had three pins of 39 seconds or less in a third-place finish on Saturday, but lost by first-period pin to Golden Hawk junior Ellie Brenneman in the semifinals at 135. Brenneman went on to meet Union’s Ava Mehlert in the final 

“(Brenneman) got the first takedown in her finals match, but got out of position locking a cradle, leading to her being pinned,” Walther said. 

Kenda Shqair went 3-2 in a round robin bracket to finish third at 120 pounds. All three wins were pins with two coming in 64 seconds or less. 

“Kenda performed well,” Walther said. “There was a place winner from last year in her bracket and the Vinton girl has had a good season. When she is wrestling girls with similar experience, she is never out of a match, she has several pins while behind later in the match. It seems to fuel her.”

Sam Stacey defeated fellow junior Macey Johnson of Burlington Notre Dame in the first round of a round robin at 235, but dropped the next two to finish third as well.

“Sam wrestled well, controlling her match against (Johnson),” Walther said. “Sam won that match earlier this year, but it could have gone either way.”

Mardie Berry went 2-2 to finish fourth at 145, earning her 10th victory of the season. The Golden Hawk freshman had a first round matchup with Washington junior Jenna Bose, who had pinned Berry at the West Liberty Tournament on November 21. On Saturday, Berry returned the favor. 

“She took a good sized lead over Bose before pinning her, controlling the entire match,” Walther said.  “She is starting to buy into the mental toughness that we have talked about, out wrestling opponents when they get tired in the third period.”

Ellie Callahan and Marissa Cline each had two wins as well, finishing fifth and sixth in their respective classes. 

“Marissa was in a tough bracket with a handful of girls on the same tier as her,” Walther said.  She wasn’t wrestling 100% as the day moved on, which probably cost her a couple of matches. Ellie Callahan was also battling injury, and has been gutting it out the past few weeks.”