Beattie remains perfect as SWAT shines at WCV

SWAT wrestler Stella Beattie kept her undefeated season intact Saturday in Stuart, cruising to an individual championship at the West Central Valley Girls Invitational.

Beattie, now 21-0, pinned her way into the 170-pound championship match, where she needed just 1:23 to pin Rylie Massey of Kuemper Catholic for the title.

“My expectation was just to improve from last year. That’s really all you can hope for,” Beattie said. “That’s why I did a lot of offseason work — so I could get better. Obviously, the goal is to stay undefeated and keep winning.”

At 105 pounds, Addi Glade of Nodaway Valley placed second after reaching the finals with a pair of falls. She was then pinned by East Union’s Quynn Foster in 30 seconds. Third-place finishers included Nadia South of CAM at 110 pounds and Bailey Lillard of CAM at 145. Destiny Fry of CAM finished fifth at 115, while Addy Erlandson of Nodaway Valley was fifth at 140. Erin South of CAM placed sixth at 130.

“I feel like I’m doing pretty well for halfway through the season. I’ve just got to keep pushing myself,” Fry said. “My matches at Atlantic against the Clarinda girl really built my confidence back up, because I had been struggling a little.”

In Stuart, Kuemper Catholic claimed the team title with 136 points, while Clarinda finished second, six points back. The Valkyries scored 124 points.

“I was happy with how the girls competed at WCV,” SWAT head coach Tyler South said. “We had some ups and downs, but overall they competed well and wrestled hard, and I was proud of how they finished as a team.”

The night before, the Valkyries competed at Atlantic’s tournament, earning a 43-36 dual win over Clarinda but falling 43-28 to Missouri Valley and 42-36 to Lewis Central.

The Valkyries have just three regular-season dates remaining — Tuesday at Southwest Valley, Saturday at Waukee Northwest and the following Saturday at Atlantic — before regional competition begins.

“As we approach regionals, we’ve been focusing on keeping everyone healthy and making sure everyone’s mindset is good,” South said. “I feel like our conditioning is good; we just need to keep everyone healthy right now.”