ANAMOSA  

Cold weather has been a pesky adversary for winter sports this month, but after a hiatus that lasted two weeks, the Mid-Prairie girls wrestling team hit the road to compete in the inaugural River Valley Conference Girls Tournament Championship meet on Jan. 19.

This was a 12 team meet taking place at Anamosa and as you’d suspect based on the name of this event, all the teams participating were part of the RVC. 

Thanks in large part to three Golden Hawks finishing in second place, Mid-Prairie ended the meet with 135 team points to place third in the final overall standings.   

Mid-Prairie’s Austyn Sexton, Ashlee Farrier, and Ellie Brenneman all made it to the first place match in their respective weight classes, but all three would be relegated to second place after Brenneman and Sexton lost by fall and Farrier lost by decision. 

Sexton (115) went 2-1 at the RVC meet. She won her first match by fall in 21 seconds she once again won by fall in the semifinals in 1:22. 

West Liberty’s Silvia Gracia-Vasquez was the one who defeated Sexton by fall in the finals in 3:24.

Farrier (130) received two byes in this tournament, so she only wrestled in two matches, ending the night with a 1-1 record. In the semifinals she won by fall in 37 seconds to advance to the first place match. 

In the battle for gold, against Anamosa’s Adison Musser, Farrier fell behind 4-0 after the first period.

She was unable to erase her deficit or score a pinfall, as Musser ultimately won with a 5-1 decision. 

Brenneman (135) won her first two matches. She wrestled a quick match in the quarterfinals, winning by fall in 24 seconds, and then her semifinal match went the distance, winning by fall in 5:30. 

In the first place match Brenneman, despite building up a 6-4 lead, was defeated by pinfall by Tipton’s Becca Hinderaker in 3:02. Brenneman ended the conference meet with a 2-1 record, on the season she has a 24-11 record. 

  Another top performance for Mid-Prairie came from Mardie Berry. Berry (155) won her first match by fall in 39 seconds but lost her second match by fall in 1:29. 

She bounced back with a win by fall in 2:35 to move on to the third place match where Cascade’s Baleigh Martin defeated Berry by fall in 4:21. 

Berry ended her night with a fourth place finish and improved her season record to 25-13, with her 25 wins being the most on Mid-Prairie’s roster. 

Also placing fourth was Shelby Stacey. Stacey (235) won two matches by fall in her journey to the third place match but in that match she was defeated by Cascade’s Kiera Turnis by virtue of a 7-3 decision. 

Two Golden Hawks placed fifth, Ellie Callahan and Ruby Miller. 

Callahan (170) competed in six matches, winning four and losing two.

In her final match of the night, she won by fall in 1:33 to claim fifth place. Miller (105) advanced to the fifth place match after two wins and two losses. She won her fifth place match by major decision, 12-1. 

Up next for Mid-Prairie is a chance to qualify for the state tournament when they head to the HyVee Hall in Des Moines for Super Regionals on Jan.26.