Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CORALVILLE – McKenna Rogers told herself before starting the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union state wrestling tournament on Thursday the competition would be fierce.

Then for the next two days the Solon freshman rose to the level of that competition.

“It made my heart race for sure,” Rogers said of wrestling at state. “I was nervous and I knew I was going to have some good competition so I knew I had to step up my game but it’s been a great experience and I’ve had a lot of fun.”

After the opening period of her final match at the state meet on Friday evening Rogers told her self she needed to step up.

Then for the next 1:59 Rogers did that and then some.

Rogers (38-3) erased an early 3-0 deficit with a pair of takedowns before pinning Cedar Falls freshman Lauren Whitt (40-11) in 3:59 in the 105-pound fifth-place match in front of a near capacity crown at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

“I definitely told myself I had to pick it up second period,” Rogers said. “I knew I had to bring the intensity more because I didn’t not start the match the way I wanted to. I had to really come at her.”

An impressive freshman season for Rogers was capped by a strong state meet showing with the finishing touches applied by an eventful final day on Friday.

Rogers went 3-1 on Friday on her way to her fifth-place finish.

She pinned Ava Gannon of Dallas Center-Grimes to secure a state medal and advanced to the consolation semifinals with a 11-2 major decision over Maya Humlicek of Council Bluffs Lewis Central.

“I told myself that I could do it,” Rogers said. “I knew I was going to have more matches today and I knew it was going to be hard but I tried to keep my mindset good and keep my energy up even with having some tough matches.”

After an 8-7 loss to Hillary Trainor of Sumner-Fredericksburg in the consolation semifinals Rogers pinned Whitt in the fifth-place match on Friday evening.

“Today is a grind and whether you have a great or you have a poor match you have to be able to flush it and go again within the hour,” Solon coach Jake Munson said. “McKenna does that really well.”

Rogers fell into an early deficit in her match against Whitt.

The Cedar Falls freshman recorded a takedown 36 seconds into the match and rode out Rogers for the rest of the opening period.

An escape by Whitt made it 3-0 less than 20 seconds into the second period.

From that point on Rogers went to work.

“McKenna has a switch that when she flips it she is as good as anybody out there,” Munson said. “You saw that flip get switched the second period.”

Rogers evened the match at 4-4 with a pair of takedowns in a span of 22 seconds.

The second takedown eventually turned into the winner as Rogers rolled Whitt on to her back with less than 10 seconds remaining in the second period.

“I had it super deep so I was hoping she would go over one of those times,” Rogers said. “I was just trying to muscle it around and it finally worked where I got her over and got the pin.”

The 3-1 performance on Friday concluded a 5-2 showing for Rogers at the state meet.

“The thing that always impresses me about McKenna is she seems to do her best wrestling on the biggest stages,” Munson said. “She doesn’t shrink away from tough opponents or big matches and that’s one thing that has really stood out here her freshman year is she will compete against anybody you put out there.”

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