Siems 6th at girls state

CORALVILLE – AGWSR freshman Rory Siems earned a sixth-place medal to lead a trio of Cougars at the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association’s girls state wrestling tournament, held last Friday and Saturday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

For the first two years, the state tournament was held at Waverly-Shell Rock High School, and moving to a bigger venue was a welcome change for AGWSR head coach Chad Gerbracht, even with attendance restrictions in place due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Gerbracht said. “It can be a big moment for the kids and fans-wise, once we can get to a normal year, it’ll be awesome.”

Siems, wrestling in the 160-pound bracket, reached the semifinals with an 11-8 decision against Kayte Yaw of Des Moines East and pinning Marley McSwain of Dubuque Wahlert in the first period.

“She did a great job,” Gerbracht said. “Most of the matches we were behind in, the other girl usually got the takedown first, but she scrambles and never gives up. She finds a way to get a good switch and end up in a good position, doing a lot of things right in there.”

In the semifinals, Siems was pinned by top-seeded Morgan Griffin of Spencer in the first period. Griffin went on to finish as the runner-up at 160.

“We knew that was going to be a tough one to score points on,” Gerbracht said. “Still, we thought she had a very similar offense to McSwain, but she was sound as far as her technique, she wasn’t very sloppy.”

North Fayette Valley’s Val Boleyn defeated Siems in the consolation semifinal by an 11-1 major decision, and in the fifth-place match, Colfax-Mingo’s Maggie Schroeder pinned Siems in the second period.

“We didn’t take advantage of some positions where the result would’ve went the other way [against Boleyn],” Gerbracht said. “That’s a case of a freshman versus a senior there. … [Against Schroeder] I think there was some wear and tear from the previous match, I don’t know if that got into her head, but she’s got three more years to improve on her position there.”

Trinity Rotgers, who finished eighth at 138 pounds last season, missed out on a medal this year after finishing 1-2 in the 138-pound bracket that was one of the larger brackets of the tournament.

“I think she had bigger goals for the day and weekend, but there were some tough girls in there,” Gerbracht said. “First match she was ready to go, hit her shot, not a lot of coaching went in there.”

After a 52-second pin of Highland’s Maddie Peiffer, Ridge View’s Isabella Deeds won an 11-0 major decision to send Rotgers to the backside. Needing a win to get to medal contention, English Valleys-Tri County’s Nevaeh Briggs denied Rotgers with a 12-6 decision.

“I was impressed with Deeds, knew nothing about her,” Gerbracht said, “but she was a very solid freshman, very impressive. … [Against Briggs,] felt that probably could’ve went the other way, got behind in that one.

“Normally, Trinity is spot on with a beautiful double [-leg takedown] but we never got that double and weren’t able to finish.”

At 170, Kylie Willems got more valuable learning experience, going 1-2 and finishing out of medal contention.

Gerbracht was still impressed with the growth Willems has shown as a sophomore who has only wrestled for three months.

“Her growth as an individual has been awesome to see,” Gerbracht said. “She wasn’t sure about the sport, still has a lot of questions, but she got one win from placing.”

After pinning Ottumwa’s Elizabeth Batterson in the opening round, top-seeded Kendal Clark of Humboldt pinned Willems in 12 seconds and Jane Murphy of Decorah knocked Willems out with a first-period pin.

“She was going to go for broke against Clark and Clark kinda pushed back and she lost her footing and we ended up in a bad position,” Gerbracht said. “… She’s already looking for ways to get better, understands what it’s about now.”

The Cougars also got to learn from assistant coach Ali Gerbracht, a former IWCOA girls state champion who helped with transporting the girls to their six tournaments this season as well as offering coaching throughout the season. Ali is also a volunteer assistant on the Cedar Falls girls wrestling team.

“The girls are grateful to have someone knowledgeable who understands position, takes time to walk through some options,” Chad Gerbracht said.

IWCOA Girls State

138, Trinity Rotgers, 1-2. Rotgers pin Maddie Peiffer (Highland) 0:52. Isabella Deeds (Ridge View) MD Rotgers 11-0. Nevaeh Briggs (English Valleys-Tri County) dec. Rotgers 12-6.

160, Rory Siems, 2-3, 6th place. Siems dec. Kayte Yaw (Des Moines East) 11-8. Siems pin Marley McSwain (Dubuque Wahlert) 1:33. Morgan Griffin (Spencer) pin Siems 1:05. Val Boleyn (North Fayette Valley) MD Siems 11-1. 5th-place match: Maggie Schroeder (Colfax-Mingo) pin Siems 2:47.

170, Kylie Willems, 1-2. Willems pin Elizabeth Batterson (Ottumwa) 1:26. Kendal Clark (Humboldt) pin Willems 0:12. Jane Murphy (Decorah) pin Willems 1:25.