Liberty High Sophomore Van Dyke Bounces Back, Advances to Day Two of State Wrestling Tournament
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
CORALVILLE – The easy thing to do after an opening-round loss at the state tournament is to hang your head.
Liberty High sophomore Peyten Van Dyke admitted that’s what she did following a loss in her 155-pound opener on Thursday at the Class 2A state meet at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
For a few seconds.
Then Van Dyke got back to work.
Fourth-rank Van Dyke won back-to-back consolation matches to advance to day two of the state tournament on Friday.
“I did put my head down for a couple of seconds and I sat in the hall way and my coaches told me I could still get third, this isn’t the end,” Van Dyke said. “I really just used that as fuel and used my anger and discomfort of where I was at push myself to go further.”
Van Dyke (23-6) was pinned by Spencer freshman Bailey Schuster in her opener on Thursday.
After a brief break to regroup Van Dyke posted consecutive consolation wins to keep her season alive.
“We dissected what we did well in the first match and focused on that and flushed the rest,” Liberty High coach Derek Coorough said. “That’s the mentality all year is we flushed the bad and go get the next. She came out and got the next one and now we are in the situation to do that again.”
Van Dyke scored a second-period escape and added a takedown in a 4-1 decision over Morgan Bills (20-22) of Dubuque Hempstead in her first consolation match.
She needed a takedown in sudden victory to pull out a 6-3 win over Gracey Smith (34-14) of Clear Lake in the second round consolation match.
“I’ve been a little sick recently so my energy level has been a little lacking so I was really trying to pull everything out of me,” Van Dyke said. “I had to win that last match so I used every bit of strength that I had left.”
Van Dyke will face seventh-ranked Kalen Jo Westerfield (35-10) of Council Bluffs Lewis Central in a third-round consolation match on Friday in a session that begins at 10 a.m.
West High senior Trinity Myers (29-15) went 1-2 at 120 pounds on Thursday.
Myers dropped her opening-round match to fourth-ranked Tegan Robertson of Ridge View before posting a second-period pin of Saphira Olsen of Clear Lake.
Third-ranked Qendresa Selmani of Bettendorf defeated Myers 10-0 in the consolation second round.
IGHSAU Class 2A State Tournament
At Xtream Arena
Team scores (Top 10; area teams) – 1. Raccoon River-Northwest 80; 2. Cedar Falls 69.5; 3. Ankeny 63; 4. Southeast Polk 56; 5. Council Bluffs Lewis Central 50.5; 6. Waverly-Shell Rock49; 7. Spencer 43; 8. Mason City 39; 9. Burlington 35; 10. Cedar Rapids Prairie 34; 35. City High 10; 50. Liberty High 3; 50. West High 3
Opening Round (Area wrestlers only)
110 – Kate Seery (Linn-Mar) pinned Amelia Terrill (City High) 1:18
120 – Tegan Robertson (Ridge View) pinned Trinity Myers (West High) 5:05
145 – Skylar Slade (Southeast Polk) pinned Izzy Brown (City High) :46
155 – Bailey Schuster (Spencer) pinned Peyten Van Dyke (Liberty High) 3:00
155 – Amaziah Twillie (Burlington) pinned Shaona Emmanuel (City High) :36
170 – Isabella Taylor (Anamosa) pinned Molly Carlson (City High) 3:05
First Round Consolation
110 – Ella Als (Mason City) pinned Amelia Terrill (City High) 4:52
120 – Trinity Myers (West High) pinned Saphira Olsen (Clear Lake) 2:31
145 – Luisa Meade (Cedar Rapids Prairie) pinned Izzy Brown (City High) :32
155 – Shaona Emmanuel (City High) pinned Bella Bruins (Raccoon River-Northwest) :55
155 – Peyten Van Dyke (Liberty High) dec. Morgan Mills (Dubuque Hempstead) 4-1
170 – Molly Carlson (City High) pinned Kasandra Barroso (Denison-Schleswig) 2:13
Second Round Consolation
120 – Qendresa Selmani (Bettendorf) major dec. Trinity Myers (West High) 10-0
155 – Shaona Emmanuel (City High) pinned Bailey Schuster (Spencer) 1:25
155 – Peyten Van Dyke (Liberty High) dec. Gracey Smith (Clear Lake) 6-3 SV-1
170 – Ava Pfab (Western Dubuque) pinned Molly Carlson (City High) 2:14
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