As Mid-Prairie opens the new wrestling season at North Scott this week, one thing will be the same as last year. 

The Golden Hawks are still looking for pins. 

“We’re tough on top,” said Mid-Prairie coach Dylan Walther, who works with the girls wrestling team. “Mia (Garvey) is a chicken winger, but most of the other girls have a good power half and they can smash the other girl’s face in the mat a little bit. They just kind of dominate them, pin them, and end the match.”

A few things will be different this season as girls wrestling enters its first season of IGHSAU sanctioned competition. Body fat and hydration tests will be required of the girls wrestling teams this year as well as a weight loss descent plan, meant to encourage safe weight loss for athletes moving to a lighter weight class.

Teams will be using the same weight classes from last year’s state tournament all season, and wrestlers will only be able to compete at their weight class or one above. 

“They’re pretty happy that they get the two pound allowance at those weight classes,” Walther said. “So once they make it once they can weigh in at two pounds above what the weight class is. Last year at state, they didn’t get that.”

The girls will also have to qualify for the state wrestling tournament this year. Four regional meets will be held on January 27, with eight wrestlers from each weight class advancing to a bracket of 32 at Coralville’s Xtream Arena. 

Six of the ten Golden Hawk wrestlers experienced the girls state wrestling tournament last year with all six winning at least one match. 

Mid-Prairie senior Mia Garvey won her first three matches in Coralville last year and was one win away from a medal. She’s looking forward to one more season with her teammates. 

“I’m kind of excited to see the new talent in the room,” she said. “Just to help everyone else, since we’ve been here the longest, to help them learn and grow is kind of exciting.”

“We’re the leaders of the group this year,” added Grace Conway. “It’s our responsibility to show the girls how to push themselves.” 

Conway and  Marissa Cline each went 2-2 at the state tournament last year. Both are looking to reach their maximum potential as seniors. 

“It feels a little different being a senior and knowing this is our last year,” Cline said. “You’ve got to just leave it on the mat, just leave it there. Because you’re never gonna go back.”

Conway, Cline and Garvey are expected to fill spots at 140, 145 and 170. 

Junior Gabi Robertson is back at 100, looking to improve on her seventh place finish at last year’s state meet. 

She went to a wrestling camp in Georgia during the offseason and began wrestling at a club in North Liberty. 

She’s excited this season about “having more experience in putting the pieces together of what you’re doing, this year versus last year.”

Robertson is disappointed that she won’t have the chance to fill a spot at 106 for the Mid-Prairie boys this season. 

“You can’t wrestle guys this year,” she explained. “Last year at the beginning of the season, I got to wrestle guys and I think that taught me a lot more. But I can’t this year.” 

Sophomore Ashlee Farrier picked up a win by major decision in last year’s state tournament and junior Ellie Brennenman went 4-2 at 135, where she expects to compete again this year. 

Brenneman also spent time working on wrestling over the offseason. 

“I went to a one week wrestling camp this summer and then I also did club wrestling this fall,” she explained. “And I did a tournament just a few weeks before the actual season.” 

Brenneman’s goal this year is to podium at the state tournament.

“And I’d like to get a team trophy,” she said. 

Other Golden Hawk wrestlers filling weights at 120, 155, 170 and 235 are junior Kenda Shqair, freshman Mardie Berry, freshman Ellie Callahan, and junior Sam Stacey. 

Two weeks of practice have prepared the Golden Hawks for the season-opening tournament at North Scott on Tuesday, November 15. 

“We’ve had Washington here a couple of times (for practice),” Walther said. “That definitely helps us, where we get some different bodies in here. 

“We had a couple open mats over the summer, in the fall, in the spring a little bit. We had some girls come in and work hard and those and new girls that were just trying to see what the sport was all about. They’re doing a good job helping them, trying to encourage them to kind of stick with it and learn a little bit.”

Conway said that the Mid-Prairie wrestling room has some of the toughest girls in the school, but it’s also a close group that has each other’s backs.

“No matter what, we always come off the mat with a smile,” she said, “and that’s because of the people in our corner.”