Sistad reflects on her state title

CORALVILLE – Creston sophomore Savannah Sistad had a very successful outing at the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association (IWCOA) State Championships in which she only allowed one point over the two day weekend.

With her victory in the 220 weight class Saturday evening, Sistad becomes the first Creston wrestler to be a state champion since Chase Shiltz won in 2017.

“It’s pretty exciting, it means a pretty big accomplishment that all my work has paid off and that all the coaches that took chances on me and worked with me also paid off,” Sistad said on what winning a state championship means to her.

Sistad opened her tournament with a 2-1 victory by decision Madison Hinrichs of eventual dual team champion Waverly-Shell Rock, she pinned Mariel Feekes of Sheldon/South O’Brien in 1:11, Sistad got another pin in the semifinals over Dallas Center-Grimes’ Halley Beaudet in 1:41 and in the finals she won a 3-0 decision over Missouri Valley’s Jocelyn Buffum.

Sistad was just excited to be there.

“Sometimes there’s restrictions for girls state because you can’t have districts if you don’t have enough numbers,” Sistad explained. “So it was exciting just to be there and I was taking it one match at a time. I just warmed up like I normally do and I went out there and wrestled.”

For the 2022-2023 season, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union have made girls wrestling the 11th sanctioned sport in Iowa.

“It means I will have a lot more opportunities in the state of Iowa,” Sistad said. “I know some girls were deterred from the sport because they were worried they would have to wrestle boys. Now that it’s sanctioned, they can just only wrestle girls.

With Creston being the wrestling community that it is, there are hopes that more girls will go out for wrestling to don the red and white trimmed singlets of Panther wrestling.

“If we get a team set up, I’m pretty sure a lot more girls will start wrestling,” Sistad added. “I know some girls that said the would come out for wrestling if there was a girls team, whether or not they come out it’s pretty exciting to think about.”

Even though the girls state tournament is over, Sistad is still wrestling.

On Monday, the sophomore Sistad made it to round three of the Harlan JV Tournament.

Sistad will continue to improve as a wrestler thanks to her coaches.

“I do want to thank my coaches, they’ve really helped me out,” Sistad said. “When I started, I was not good whatsoever. They built me up to where I am today.”