SWAT season culminates at state for quartet

CORALVILLE — All four girls who represent SWAT and finished their season in the Class 1A portion of the state wrestling tournament last Thursday at Xtreme Arena collected more than 20 wins on the season. A couple were knocking on the door of 30-win seasons.

The Valkyries — all four state qualifiers were from CAM — found some success, but also got a taste of the tough competition that the state tournament has, resulting in early exits, as none wrestled on Day 2 of the event.

Freshman Nadia South opened with a loss by fall to Kate Martin of Mount Vernon but bounced back in her first consolation match, beating Scarlett Reiter of Don Bosco with a fall in 2:54. ATU’s Sophia Hazen beat South in 1:04 in the next match to end her season with a 27-11 record.

Bailey Lillard’s season finishes at 26-10 after she also went 1-2 in the state tournament, wrestling at 145 pounds. She began with a win, defeating Mackenna Dorr from Oakland Riverside with a fall in 2:55. She lost in the quarterfinals to Tayla Stiefel of East Buchanan, in a fall in 3:20. Stiefel was the eventual state champion. On the back side, Lillard lost to Kelly Throndson of New Hampton/Turkey Valley in a pin in 1:29.

At 170, Stella Beattie’s season ended at 29-4 after she also began with a win, pinning Raelene Hawkins of Iowa Valley in 4:25. Humboldt’s Danica Diedrick pinned Beattie in the quarterfinals in 1:31 before Beattie was pinned again, in 1:11, by Kayma Burleson of Clear Lake.

Megan Gerlock finishes 23-10 after going 1-2 at 190 pounds. She opened her state tournament with a 7-2 decision loss to Kenley Korthals of Central Lyon/George-Little Rock but bounced back, pinning Davis County’s Myah Vanlaningham in 3:52. Maren Subbert of Hampton-Dumont/CAL beat Gerlock in a late pin (5:49) to eliminate her from contention.