Decorah regional champs, 10 move on to state

By Becky Walz,

Monday, January 30, 2023 9:35 pm

The Decorah girls’ wrestling team proved why it is one of the best in the state and ranked No. 5, after running away with the Region 7 title and qualifying 10 wrestlers for the state tournament following Friday’s tournament held at Luther College.
The Vikes garnered 266 points over No. 8 Anamosa who finished in second place with 191 with Mason City third with 163 points.
The top four in each weight class from each regional punched tickets to the first state meet sanctioned by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, with a total of 32 girls advancing to state. The state meet will be held at the Xtream Arena in Coralville, Thursday and Friday, Feb. 2-3.

   The Decorah girls’ wrestling team proved why it is one of the best in the state and ranked No. 5, after running away with the Region 7 title and qualifying 10 wrestlers for the state tournament following Friday’s tournament held at Luther College.
   The Vikes garnered 266 points over No. 8 Anamosa who finished in second place with 191 with Mason City third with 163 points.
   The top four in each weight class from each regional punched tickets to the first state meet sanctioned by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, with a total of 32 girls advancing to state. The state meet will be held at the Xtream Arena in Coralville, Thursday and Friday, Feb. 2-3.

Champs
   Decorah crowned five champs Friday including No. 9 Ashley Bjork (130), Ana Simon (135), Lauren Luzum (145), No. 10 Mairi Sessions (155) and No. 1 Naomi Simon (170).
   A. Bjork was the first to win a title at 130 pounds with three falls. The senior threw Jocelyn Schwartz of Oelwein in 2:44 in the quarterfinal to advance to face Alexis Hoeft of Mason City. The Viking needed 3:55 to turn Hoeft and move on against No. 8 Kylee Shoop of West Delaware. In the final, A. Bjork threw Shoop in 4:35.
   Freshman Ana Simon had one fall and two decisions to win the 135-pound title. It was a fall in 1:56 for A. Simon over Avery Fruend of Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center (AP-GC) in the quarterfinal. Denver’s Tyanna Teetzen put up a fight in the semifinal which the Viking won by a 9-5 decision. In the final, it was a 9-2 decision for A. Simon over Mackenzie Bachman.
   It was three falls and a regional championship for Lauren Luzum at 145 pounds. First up for the freshman was AP-GC’s Shayla Barrett who Luzum got to on her back in 49 seconds. The Decorah grappler turned Kiya Steger of Epworth to her back in 1:37 in the semifinal and pinned Hadley Frater of Anamosa in the final in 44 seconds.
   Sessions, a senior, picked up an 8-0 major decision victory in the quarterfinal over Kelsey Knief of Bellevue. In the semifinal, Sessions threw Leah Schwenker of Cascade in 1:55. It was a difficult win for the Viking in the final as it took overtime for Sessions to defeat No. 7 Josie Jecklin of Epworth, 6-4.
   At 170 pounds, top-ranked N. Simon never gave her opponents a chance with three falls, all under a minute Friday. In the quarterfinal Nicole Williams of Tripoli fell to the Decorah junior in 49 seconds. West Fork’s Fernanda Ramirez was thrown by N. Simon in 53 seconds in the semifinal and Waterloo West’s Lydia Parkhurst was pinned in 42 seconds.

Also advancing
   Three Vikes finished with silver including McKenzie Tollefson (140), Kamryn Steines (190) and Skyla Jevne (235). Other Decorah wrestlers moving on to state included Chloe Sheffield (105) and Kaitlyn Bjork (115).

Region 7 qualifier team scores
1. Decorah 266; 2. Anamosa 191; 3. Mason City 163; 4. Epworth 151; 5. West Delaware 121; 6. West fork 120; 7. North Central 99; 8. AP-GC 97; 9. North Fayette Valley 83; 10. Bellevue 72; 11. Oelwein 65; 12. Cascade 64; 12. Tripoli 64; 14. MFL MarMac 61; 15. Union 56; 16. Waterloo West 51; 17. Denver 50; 18. Nashua-Plainfield 50; 19. Waterloo East 28; 20. North Butler-Clarksville 21

Individual results
105 – Chloe Sheffield, 3rd place
Quarterfinal – WBF 0:32 over Ava Bilden (NFV); semifinal – LBF 1:17 to Layla Phillips (Mason City); cons. semifinal – WBF 0:14 over Alexis Ott (Waterloo West); 3rd place – WBF 2:59 over Ava Bilden (NFV)

115 – Kaitlyn Bjork, 4th place
Quarterfinal – WBF 0:51 over Madison Edwards (North Central); semifinal – lost 11-6 dec. to Libby Stocks (Waterloo East); cons. semifinal – WBF 0:35 over Bailee Craun (Oelwein); 3rd place – lost 6-3 dec. to Kamina Munson (Mason City); 4th place – WBF 2:54 over Aubrie Kingsbury (Tripoli)

120 – Rorie Weidow, DNP
Rd. 2 – WBF 1:08 over Gracee Kearney (Cascade); quarterfinal – LBF 1:37 to Preslee Dickman (West Fork); cons. rd. 4 – WBF 5:59 over Jadyn Wirth (Waterloo West); cons. rd. 5 – lost 3-1 sudden victory to Kate Kotta (Mason City

130 – Ashley Bjork, 1st place
Quarterfinal – WBF 2:55 over Jocelyn Schwartz (Oelwein); semifinal – WBF 3:55 over Alexis Hoeft (Mason City); final – WBF 4:35 over Kylee Shoop (West Delaware)

135 – Ana Simon, 1st place
Quarterfinal – WBF 1:56 over Avery Freund (AP-GC); semifinal – won 9-5 dec. over Tyanna Teetzen (Denver); final – won 9-2 dec. over Mackenzie Bachman (MFL MarMac)

140 – McKenzie Tollefson, 2nd place
Quarterfinal – won 8-5 dec. over Mya Peterson (North Central); semifinal – WBF 5:56 over Emily Watters (Anamosa); final – lost 3-0 dec. to Kyleigh James (Mason City)

145 – Lauren Luzum, 1st place
Quarterfinal – WBF 0:49 over Shayla Barrett (AP-GC); semifinal – WBF 1:37 over Kiya Steger (Epworth); final – WBF 0:44 over Hadley Frater (Anamosa)

155 – Mairi Sessions, 1st place
Quarterfinal – won 8-0 maj. dec. over Kelsey Knief (Bellevue); semifinal – WBF 1:55 over Leah Schwenker (Cascade); final – won 6-4 sudden victory over Josie Jecklin (Epworth)

170 – Naomi Simon, 1st place
Quarterfinal – WBF 0:49 over Nicole Williams (Tripoli); semifinal – WBF 0:53 over Fernanda Ramirez (West Fork); final – WBF 0:42 over Lydia Parkhurst (Waterloo West)

190 – Kamryn Steines, 2nd place
Quarterfinal – WBF 2:30 over Jennifer Knepper (Cascade); semifinal – WBF 1:52 over Kylie Vance (Nashua-Plainfield; final – LBF 4:33 to Sharidan Engelken (Epworth)

235 – Skyla Jevne, 2nd place
Quarterfinal – bye; semifinal – WBF 4:36 over Halana Reed (Cascade); final – LBF 2:48 to Adriana Shepherd (Epworth)

 

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