By Giovanni Coronel
WELLMAN
Donning special camo attire in honor of the Iowa National Guard, the Golden Hawk gals welcomed three fellow conference members to celebrate senior night with a trio of duals on Dec. 16.
Two seniors, Ashlee Farrier and Gabby Gingerich, were honored after Mid-Prairie’s first dual. Both Farrier and Gingerich went undefeated on the night with each girl celebrating senior night by going 3-0.
“They both are go-getters. They both practice really hard,” Mid-Prairie girls wrestling head coach Brock Moore said about Farrier and Gingerich.
“Ashlee has been around the block enough where she understands how it all works, how practices work, how the season works. Gabby is just year two with us. She’s just strong. She’s a strong girl.”
The Hawks opened the night with a 66-9 victory over Durant. Mid-Prairie had six wins by fall with those victories coming from Farrier (1:03), Gingerich (18 seconds), Ruby Miller (4:51), Austyn Sexton (1:12), Cassie Trimpe (17 seconds), and Emma Creed (55 seconds).
“We had a lot of light weights that matched up with them. We did some moving around to kind of see how they would line up. Worked out for our advantage,” coach Moore said about the dual against Durant. “Some of those wins happen that we maybe weren’t expecting, but we knew we could get, we just weren’t sure how it was going to turn out.”
In Mid-Prairie’s next dual against Wilton, they were narrowly defeated, 42-36. The Hawks won five matches by fall with those victories coming from Gingerich (2:20), Farrier (1:04), Ellie Callahan (1:28), Trimpe (37 seconds), and Layken Lee (2:32),
“Wilton is a tough team. They’re well coached. They know the game of duals and how to place people in the right places,” coach Moore said. “We’re in the process of working our girls down weights, and we would have matched up a lot better. We’ll see them two more times in duals this season.”
The last dual of the night came against Anamosa, and it was another close defeat for Mid-Prairie, 42-36.
“Anamosa came out strong. They had a lot of tough girls, strong girls. I feel like there’s some room for improvement and conditioning,” coach Moore said. “Our girls are changing weights, and when you start changing weights like that, you’re matching up five pounds lighter than the girl in front of you. It makes it a little bit easier for them to take advantage of that weight difference.”
Mid-Prairie earned two wins by fall against Anamosa and they came from the senior duo of Farrier and Gingerich. Farrier, wrestling at 130, picked up a win by fall in 35 seconds over Paige Heims. Gingerich, wrestling at 120, defeated Ryan Carlson by call in 3:28
Up next for Mid-Prairie is a double dual at Solon on Dec. 19 and then competing in the East Buchanan Dual Tournament on Dec. 21.