After winning the BGM tournament on Saturday, the Mid-Prairie girls continued a successful opening week of wrestling with five first-place finishers at West Liberty on Monday. 

Junior Gabi Robertson went 4-0 over the three-day stretch to win her bracket in both tournaments. 

Robertson closed the day with a quick pin, but had to work for the victory in her first match, an 11-7 decision over Durant’s Lainey Shlangoski

“She was super good,” Robertson said. “I met with her last year too, and I think she beat me. So I was happy to come out on top.”

Robertson took a 6-1 lead with a buzzer-beating takedown in the first period and extended the lead to 11-3 with three back points in the second. 

“I just tried to stay on top and not get stuck, because I knew that she’s really heavy on top,” Robertson said. “So I knew I had to stay on top myself. And I was able to keep her there. 

“There was a lot of blood time in that match, and it kind of worked out well for me, because I got breaks every so often when she had to take her blood time.”

Ellie Brenneman, Grace Conway, Marissa Cline, and Sam Stacey were all bracket winners as well. 

“Overall, it was a solid night with nine out of our ten wrestlers getting first or second, and all of us winning matches,” Mid-Prairie coach Dylan Walther said. 

“Our new girls are starting to look like wrestlers. We look like we have a much better idea of what is going on and are doing a lot of things we are talking about in practice. We just sometimes get caught in moves we haven’t seen before.”

Brenneman picked up a pair of pins to move to 6-1 on the season. Cline continued a dominant season with her fifth first-period pin of the season. She has won six matches by fall and has just one loss on the year. Conway wrestled for a total of just 51 seconds on Monday, winning both of her matches by pin in 30 seconds or less. Stacey also won both of her matches by first-period fall. 

Freshman Ellie Callahan missed Saturday’s tournament, but returned on Monday to go 2-1 with a pair of pins to finish second in her bracket. 

“Ellie Callahan looked solid in her return,” Walther said. “With her and Mia at 170, we have had to bump Ellie up for the team. Without any team points being kept, she wrestled her natural weight.”

Mia Garvey also finished second with two wins and one loss in her bracket. Ashlee Farrier was 2-1 with a second place finish and Kenda Shqair was 1-1 to finish second in her bracket of three. Mardie Berry was 1-2 with a pin of Fort Madison’s Marquel Warner in the first round of her bracket. 

BGM Tournament

The Golden Hawks edged Des Moines Public Schools combined wrestling program (DMPS) 118-116 to claim the tournament title at BGM on Saturday. 

Mid-Prairie had first-place finishes from Garvey and Robertson, while Farrier and Brenneman also reached the finals as well. 

“It was a total team effort,” Walther said. “If any win turns to a loss, we don’t have the points to win,” Walther said. “Mia Garvey clinched the team title with a win over Katie Yaw of DMPS in the final second of the match.” 

Colfax-Mingo’s Lily Webster was looking for revenge in the final at 100, which was a rematch of the seventh-place match from last year’s state tournament. But Robertson came out on top again, this time with a 4-2 victory in overtime. 

“A lot of little things added up throughout the day,” explained Walther. “In the first match of the tournament, Kenda Shqair pinned her opponent in a match she was losing 7-2 at one point. Mardie Berry did the same in the other gym, trailing 6-1 before getting a pin.”

Farrier, who was the five-seed at 130 pounds, knocked off the top seed Simone Standifer (DMPS) in the semifinals with a 1-0 decision. 

Brenneman reached the final at 140 with a medical forfeit and a first period pin of Iowa Valley’s Grace Schlak. 

“She has looked tough,” Walther said. ‘Only losing in the finals Saturday to a girl that made a deep run at state.”

Conway went 2-2 on the day to finish fourth in her bracket. 

North Scott Tournament

Mid-Prairie opened the season on Tuesday, November 15 with a second-place finish at the North Scott Tournament. 

Farrier, Brenneman, Cline and Stacey were all bracket winners, while Robertson, Berry, and Garvey all finished runner up at their respective weights. 

It took Berry, a freshman, just 15 seconds to earn her first varsity win with a pin of Notre Dame’s Navaeh Howard on Tuesday. Freshman Ellie Callahan earned her first varsity win with a second period pin in the third-place match, wrestling up one weight class at 190.