Gerbracht, Rotgers medal at girls state

WAVERLY – Everything was crashing in on Ali Gerbracht.

The expectations as a returning state champion and being the winningest girls’ wrestler in Iowa history, the rigors of making weight all season long, the challenge of the 106-pound bracket in front of a Waverly-Shell Rock High School audience that exceeded capacity.

In Saturday afternoon’s 106-pound championship match at the Iowa Wrestling Coaches Officials Association’s girls state wrestling tournament, it all finally caught up to Gerbracht.

Bettendorf’s Ella Schmit avenged last year’s defeat in the 106-pound title match with a 6-0 decision over Gerbracht, denying Gerbracht’s repeat bid in an otherwise impressive runner-up finish in Waverly.

While her stress levels were high, Gerbracht doesn’t want to take anything away from Schmit.

“She’s a tough competitor, and I’m excited to see what she does in the next few years,” Gerbracht said. “It can be hard to compete with everything crashing in around you, but it was a good match and I gave it my all, just came up a bit short.”

Schmit earned a first-period takedown, reversed out of Gerbracht’s top position in the second period and chose bottom to reverse again in the third period, riding out Gerbracht for the win.

Gerbracht blew through her first two opponents, pinning Lewis Central’s Hailey Williams and Alix Oliver of Dubuque Wahlert in 12 seconds each. Gerbracht pinned Alexis Partida of West Liberty in the second period and went to the third period with Alaina Sunlin of Monticello before pinning both of them, too. Sunlin finished third.

“Up to that match, we showed up to wrestle quite well, and we thought the top half of the bracket was stacked,” AGWSR head coach Chad Gerbracht said.

Chad, Ali’s father, reflected on this journey as Ali has become one of the pioneers of an attempt to grow girls wrestling in Iowa, a key figure in the state’s recent explosion of participation in the sport. Ali also has two younger brothers, freshman Bo and fifth-grader Gavin.

“I told her you can’t hang your head, that we were very proud of her as parents,” Chad paused as tears welled in his eyes, no doubt reflecting on the memories shared between Chad, Ali and Tonya, Ali’s mother. “Four years of coaching her and she hasn’t missed a practice or a meet. Sure, she complains about things from time to time, but I love the kid. I love the fight she has in her, and I’m very proud of her.”

Ali will attend the University of Northern Iowa as part of a nursing program that is shared with the Allen College of Nursing in Waterloo. If UNI adds a women’s wrestling program, she’ll continue to wrestle, but otherwise she plans on transitioning into a coach or official role.

“I’d like to get my coaching license next year and be able to take any other girls to tournaments on the weekend,” Ali said. “IAwrestle[.com] talked to me about joining their program, I’ve thought about officiating. … I want to stay in it, I want to stay involved, but those are my plans if UNI doesn’t get it.”

Gerbracht was one of two medalists for AGWSR this year, as freshman Trinity Rotgers earned eighth place at 138 pounds. The duo helped AGWSR unofficially finish 17th out of 94 teams competing.

Rotgers won both of her matches on the front side on Friday night, pinning Southwest Iowa’s Kennedy Lamkins in 1:56 and rallying to pin Colfax-Mingo’s Kirsten Frier in 4:50.

“Making sure I could get to Saturday was the toughest part,” Rotgers said. “I just had to take it one match at a time, wrestle hard and if I placed, that’d be top-notch, too.”

Rotgers went to the consolation bracket after losing by fall to top-seeded Olivia Diggins of Logan-Magnolia. Rotgers survived the “blood round” to guarantee a medal in a high-scoring 14-11 decision over Saida Komjo of West Des Moines Valley. Rotgers fell to Kennadi Colbert of Clear Lake in the following match, dropping to the seventh-place match where she lost by fall to Center Point-Urbana’s Moorea Brown.

“To end up on the stand after a long tournament is a compliment to her,” Chad Gerbracht said. “It’s up to her where she wants to go in the next three years. She got a big win on Friday night, and ran into a number one seed that was more than her experience level had, but she learned to keep her head up and finish her shots. … She wasn’t afraid to get in there and tangle with more experienced girls.”

A total of 350 girls competed over the two-day tournament in Waverly. While there are still considerable hurdles and red tape in front of girls wrestling being sanctioned in Iowa, fans packed the gym for an intense weekend of action.

“We’ve been at this for a long time, seeing it from the days of 36 girls at a makeshift state tournament, and now it’s really exploded in the past couple of years,” Chad Gerbracht said. “It’s been tough to get the footing to get where it is now, but we’ve outgrown this here in just one year. Where does it go next? Qualifiers? Bigger facilities? Side-by-side state tournament with the boys? We hope so. We hope the next group of girls going through get to experience that.”