Historic Cardinals

CORALVILLE — Senior Grace Brown was expecting more. She didn’t perform to her standards. But left it all on the mat in her final prep tournament.

The 3rd Annual Iowa Girls State Wrestling Championships grew to more than 450 wrestlers this season. Every bracket was larger than last year. The competition has never been tougher.

And Newton’s wrestling team brought home a pair of podium finishes after Brown placed fifth at heavyweight and sophomore Jessie Hutchinson was sixth at 195 pounds.

The Cardinals took three grapplers to the Xtream Arena, the new and improved site of the girls state wrestling tournament. Its no longer small enough to have at a high school venue. Newton scored 31 points with its three wrestlers, good for a 35th place finish.

“They made great progress and set a good example for the other girls back in Newton,” Newton wrestling coach Adam Hale said. “It shows them what you can do if you work hard and put your mind to something.”

Brown was the first-ever medalist at Newton last year when she finished third in an eight-person bracket. This season, the Cardinals had two medalists for the first time in school history.

Brown was 3-2 on the weekend at 285. Hutchinson’s sixth-place finish came with a pair of wins. And sophomore Emma Lopez-Garcia was 2-2 at 132.

It was the first season of wrestling ever for both Hutchinson and Lopez-Garcia.

“The girls are already talking about bringing more girls next year and trying to be even better,” Hale said.

Fourth-ranked Brown (5-3) capped her career with another state medal. She will wrestle at Grand View next season.

Brown opened the tournament with back-to-back pins, including a win over fifth-ranked Dori Waschkat of Tripoli in the quarterfinals.

In the semifinals, Brown was pinned by top-ranked Millie Peach of Iowa Valley. Peach went on to become the first three-time state champion in Iowa girls wrestling history.

Brown lost by fall to No. 8 Brooke Rood of LeMars in her first consolation match. That pushed her to the fifth-place bout where she again pinned Waschkat in the first period.

“I wish I would have done better. I went downhill from last year, but that’s OK,” Brown said. “There’s a lot new girls in my bracket and they are very strong. I respect all of them and they all worked hard, too.

“Everyone wishes they could have done better. It’s my senior year and I wanted to leave it all on the mat and I did.”

Hutchinson went 7-4 in her debut wrestling season. Her 195-pound bracket featured 19 wrestlers.

After receiving a bye, 10th-ranked Hutchinson won her first match by fall to reach the quarterfinals. In the quarterfinals, Hutchinson guaranteed herself a podium finish with a pin over No. 3 Katie Schlosser of Colfax-Mingo.

Hutchinson lost by fall against second-ranked Abby Boehm of North Fayette Valley in the semifinals. She was defeated by fifth-ranked Bella Canada of AHSTW 4-2 in her first consolation match and then lost by fall in the fifth-place bout to settle for sixth.

“It feels really good. But I am also the kind of person who wants to keep pushing myself forward so I am ready to come back and get more next time,” Hutchinson said. “There was a little disappointment.”

Hutchinson started the winter on the girls basketball team. The original plan, according to Hale, was that Hutchinson would try to do both sports. But after attending her first wrestling practice, she informed Hale she was going back to just one sport.

“Towards the end of practice I asked her what her thoughts were,” Hale said. “She said was now thinking of doing just one sport. I told her thanks for giving wrestling a try because I thought she meant she was going back to basketball. Then she clarified she was dropping basketball for wrestling. I think she made the right choice.”

They made great progress and set a good example for the other girls back in Newton,” Newton wrestling coach Adam Hale said. “It shows them what you can do if you work hard and put your mind to something.

—  Newton head wrestling coach Adam Hale after the girls state wrestling tournament

Lopez-Garcia also was wrestling for the first time this winter. Her main sport is soccer, but she decided to challenge herself with another one. And it was mostly due to Brown’s recruiting.

“I’ve always been a Tom boy. So I wanted to do like football or wrestling,” Lopez-Garcia said. “Grace is the senior and she told me I should consider wrestling because we had a girls team. I needed a challenge, something that would push me mentally and physically and make me stronger. It’s taught me so much.”

In her first state tournament, Lopez-Garcia (4-7) won a pair of matches. She opened the weekend with a 5-2 win and won her third match 8-7. Between those wins she lost by fall twice.

Lopez-Garcia was in a bracket of 51 wrestlers. She was seeded 39th but finished in the top 24.

“I thought it was good for me. I was really proud of myself,” Lopez-Garcia said. “Even though I didn’t make it to (Saturday), I had some really good matches and I have really improved. I still need to work on some things, but I have gotten a lot better.”