Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The girls state wrestling tournament returns to Xtream Arena in Coralville on Thursday with a slight twist.

For the first time the two-day event scheduled for Thursday and Friday at Xtream Arena in Coralville will be divided into two classes.

There are 11 Your Prep Sports area wrestlers that will be competing at the tournament across Classes 1A and 2A.

Opening-round matches get underway at 10 a.m. on Thursday in Class 2A with the Class 1A opening session set to begin at 4:30 p.m.

Before the action gets rolling Your Prep Sports provides a quick breakdown of the Class 1A state tournament highlight area competitors.

The Wrestlers

Area qualifiers/Opening round opponents

110 – Amelia Terrill (15-21) Fr., City High vs. No. 1 Kate Seery (35-2) Jr., Linn-Mar

120 – Trinity Myers (28-13) Sr., West High vs. No. 4 Tegan Robertson (40-5) Soph., Ridge View

145 – Izzy Brown (15-9) Fr., City High vs. No. 2 Skylar Slade (38-0) Jr., Southeast Polk

155 – No. 3 Shaona Emmanuel (23-5) Jr., City High vs. Amaziah Twillie (27-10) Fr., Burlington

155 – No. 4 Peyten Van Dyke (21-5) Soph., Liberty High vs. Bailey Schuster (34-19) Fr., Spencer

170 – Molly Carlson (29-8) Jr., City High vs. No. 11 Isabella Taylor (32-7) Jr., Anamosa

Undefeated Wrestlers

100 – Siera Becker (34-0) Soph., Indianola

110 – Ashlyn Leslie (23-0) Jr., Nevada

115 – Abigail Meyrer (41-0) Jr., Pleasant Valley

130 – Mackenzie Childers (45-0) Sr., Cedar Rapids Prairie

145 – Mahri Manz (45-0) Sr., Council Bluffs Lewis Central

145 – Skylar Slade (38-0) Jr., Southeast Polk

155 – Haylee McGrew (30-0) Sr., Ankeny

170 – Autumn Elsbury (41-0) Jr., South Tama

235 – Ella Brown (31-0) Sr., Cedar Rapids Kennedy

235 – Mackenzie Arends (41-0) Sr., Nevada

Returning State Champions

Current weight class, Wrestler, School, 2023 championship weight class

105 – Katie Biscoglia, Raccoon River-Northwest, 100

125 – Camille Schult, Waverly-Shell Rock, 120

135 – Bella Miller, Dubuque Hempstead, 135

145 – Mahri Manz, Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 145

What to Watch

First Round Match to Watch

City High junior Molly Carlson returns to the state meet for the third consecutive season seeking her first opening-round win.

Carlson went 0-2 in her state meet debut two seasons ago as a freshman at 155 pounds and went 1-2 last season at 170 pounds.

In both appearances at state Carlson has dropped her opener.

Carlson (29-8) will attempt to reverse that trend on Thursday when she faces Anamosa junior Isabella Taylor (32-7).
Taylor is a two-time qualifier with 71 wins over the previous two seasons and enters ranked 11^th in 2A after pinning her way to a regional title last Friday at Cedar Rapids Jefferson.

Carlson is coming off her own regional title performance last week and has won 21 of her last 23 matches dating back to December.

Wrestler to Watch

City High junior Shaona Emmanuel (32-5) will be making her state meet debut this week and will look to make it a memorable appearance as she expects to immediately be in the medal hunt at 155 pounds.
Emmanuel is seeded fourth in an extremely deep 155-pound bracket that is headlined by top-seeded Haylee McGrew (30-0) of Ankeny who was last year’s 155-pound runner-up.

One of the most improved wrestlers in the area last season Emmanuel has taken another big step this season while emerging as one of the state’s best 155 pounders.

Emmanuel brings a 16-match winning streak into the state tournament after pinning six consecutive opponents while winning Mississippi Valley Conference and regional titles last month.

Each of the losses for Emmanuel this season have come to ranked opponents including three to top-three ranked wrestlers.

Weight Class to Watch

The 155-pound bracket features a pair of area standouts that should be in the medal hunt as Liberty High sophomore Peyten Van Dyke (21-5) joins Emmanuel in a deep and talented bracket.

Emmanuel and Van Dyke, who have already met twice this season, are on opposite sides of a 155-pound bracket that features unbeaten McGrew as the top-seeded and Waverly Shell-Rock freshman Amalia Djoumessi (41-4) as the number two seed.

Van Dyke went 1-2 in her state meet debut last season and opens with Spencer freshman Bailey Schuster (34-19).

The Teams

Regional champions (State Qualifiers)

Spencer (9); Ankeny (9); Cedar Falls (11); Burlington (6); Hinton (7); Council Bluffs Lewis Central (8); Mason City (9); Southeast Polk (9); Racoon River-Northwest (10)

What to watch in team race

The first Class 2A team race should be a good one with Racoon River-Northwest, Ankeny and Cedar Falls leading the way.

Raccoon River-Northwest finished third a year ago and is the top returning finisher in the 2A field while Ankeny was seventh a year ago and Cedar Falls ninth in the one-class tournament.

Cedar Falls has both impressive depth and top-end talent with a 2A-best 11 qualifiers including four wrestlers ranked in the top four at their respective weight.

Raccoon River-Northwest has 10 qualifiers including six ranked in the top five while Ankeny has nine qualifiers including two top-ranked wrestlers.

Keep an eye on Waverly-Shell Rock which was fourth last season.

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