Three Huskies reach top of the podium in West Liberty

By Jeff Yoder
Posted 11/22/22

The little Highland wrestling team had a big night at West Liberty on Monday. Three of the four Huskies reached the top of the podium in the 18-team tournament. 

Led by five victories from …

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Three Huskies reach top of the podium in West Liberty

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The little Highland wrestling team had a big night at West Liberty on Monday. Three of the four Huskies reached the top of the podium in the 18-team tournament. 

Led by five victories from senior Mackenzie McFarland, the Huskies went 11-1 with first-place finishes from McFarland, Abbie Grout, and Lilly Barre.

Highland coach Dylan Stewart said the girls have gained some mental toughness over the offseason, which has been evident through two tournaments. 

“We’re starting to fight in really close matches,” he said. “A lot of the stuff that we do in the practice room is starting to transition onto the mat, which you love to see. 

“From last year to this year, it’s just our mindset. I really think a lot of our girls are starting to believe in themselves, they’re very confident.”

Junior Lilly Barre reached the championship match of the BGM tournament on Saturday. Two days later, a pair of first-period pins put her on top of the podium for the first time in her career. 

She pinned North Scott’s Sierra Metcalf in 61 seconds to secure first place. 

“I just came in and I knew what I had to do,” Barre said. “I knew I had to get the head pressure on really quickly, that’s been my biggest struggle. So I came in doing that and I knew as soon as she popped up, I was going to have to hit my double and it all just went as planned.”

Barre has five pins in six matches so far this season. 

“It feels great,” she said. “From last year, winning two matches the whole season, to now winning five matches so far, and I’ve only been to two tournaments… it feels pretty good.”

Grout opened her day at 100 with the Huskies’ most competitive match of the day, a 6-4 decision over Wilton’s Audrey Cummings. A pair of penalty points for locked hands cut into Grout’s lead and made the match closer than it should have been, but she responded by pinning her next two opponents to claim first place in the bracket. 

“I think it just showed a lot of mental toughness,” Stewart said. “I thought she’s just really in a good mindset and really believing in herself. So you love to see that and you’d love to see her build on that.”

McFarland took a 3-0 lead in her first match. She started the third period on top and pinned Alburnett’s Hallie Portwood with just over a minute remaining. First place was on the line in McFarland’s fourth-round match with Wapello’s Madi Lundvall, who had won her first three on Monday. 

McFarland got a takedown with 42 seconds left in the opening period and secured the pin 15 seconds later. 

“I thought today she was really locked in and moved her feet a lot,” Stewart said. “She’s listening to some coaching, getting a lot of shot fakes in there. She started to understand how to open her opponents up. We’re just hoping she can build off that confidence.”

Angelina Roling went 2-1 to finish second at 115. She bounced back from her first loss of the season to pin WACO’s Rylee Rice in less than a minute. 

“All these girls, they’re starting to walk into gyms and really understand that they might be top dogs in the gym,” Stewart said. “So just getting them to build on that confidence is really where we’ve got to keep it all. And it’s so much fun.”

 

BGM tournament

Roling came back from 1-0 down in the third period with a reversal and pin of Louisa-Muscatine’s Madilyn Eichelberger in  the first-place match at 120 pounds in the BGM tournament on Saturday. Roling went 2-0 on the first day of the wrestling season for Highland.

McFarland finished second at 110, with an 8-6 overtime loss in the first place match. Barre went 3-1 on the day, and also fell in the championship match at 125, which was one of the larger brackets with 12 wrestlers. After a first-round bye, Grout dropped a semifinal match at 100, but bounced back to win the next two, finishing third. 

Freshman Lexie Skipton saw the first action of her career, wrestling in the JV tournament.