Taking just six wrestlers with him to compete at Central DeWitt Friday, Dec. 16, Midland girls’ coach T.J. Bowen was not only able to crown two champions, but the team was more than competitive against the 14-team field.
“It was a very impressive night, in my opinion,” said Bowen, as Taelynn Gravel and Tylan Bentley took home championships while Olivia Coates and Karlena Buford added a runner-up performances.
“Many of the girls are really coming into their own as we head into the Christmas break. A big night for sure, as there were some tough girls in some of those brackets.”
Gravel was dominant winning the 110-pound bracket pinning her way to a title over Bellevue’s Elyse Berendes-Green (56-seconds), Clinton’s Akemah McClendon (2:46) and Davenport’s Jacey Mason (4:27).
Bentley did the same in the 145C division, sticking Bellevue’s Aubreigh Hennings (1:34) and West Liberty’s Alyssa Lenz (2:47) in the round-robin class.
Buford opened with a back-to-back falls in the 115-pound class over Clinton’s Maren Schwarz (38-seconds) and West Liberty’s Alissa Sanchez (3:52) before being handed a 35-second pin loss at the hands of Pleasant Valley’s Caitlin Reiter in the championship bout.
Coates started her tournament in the 135B class with a pin over Cascade’s Grace Davis (4:33) before being handed a 1:22 setback against Anamosa’s Leah Whitson in the finals.
Alyssa Eckhardt scored a fourth-place finish at 120-pounds posting a meet-opening 4:00 pin win over Clinton’s Callia Logan before dropping her final two bouts of the evening.
Alivia Streets was seventh at 130 going 0-2 at the tournament.
“We’re starting to see some fight from the girls now when they get caught in a bad situation, and that has been great to see,” Bowen said. “Karlena was on her back in the semifinals and was bridging enough to get a reversal and secure the fall. Alyssa, wrestling the No. 2 ranked girl in the state was fighting for over 30-seconds from her back.
“Even when we’re outmatched, the girls are showing lots of fight. Many of the girls we’ve wrestled have far more experience than we do. Sometimes it’s not just about winning every single match, but more about winning small battles. Every time we step onto the mat, we seem to be narrowing the gap between those experienced girls and ourselves.”
Pleasant Valley claimed the DeWitt Invitational team title scoring 119 points to edge runner-up Anamosa (118 points) by a single point. Midland placed seventh against the field scoring 89 points and defeated Davenport (81), Cascade (75), Bellevue (53), Muscatine (42), Davenport Assumption (37), Durant (30.5) and Maquoketa (10).
