Newton girls register historic dual win against DCG

Emma Lopez-Garcia has been a part of Newton’s wrestling team for the past two seasons.

She’s observed a lot of home duals under the spotlight.

On Thursday, the spotlight was on Lopez-Garcia and the rest of her teammates during the Cardinals’ first-ever girls wrestling dual.

Lopez-Garcia was 2-0 with two pins on the night and the Cardinals downed Dallas Center-Grimes 45-24.

“It was awesome. I have been looking forward to it. It felt like a varsity dual,” Lopez-Garcia said. “The spotlight on the mat made it feel like I was varsity. It was so surreal. I was more comfortable tonight than at state. It felt better. It felt like home.”

The dual featured 12 matches. They split those matches into groups of six before and after the JV matches so wrestlers had enough time between bouts.

After the first six matches, Newton and DCG were tied at 18-all as Lopez-Garcia (132/138), Ella Machin (170) and Stella Cupples (113) all won by fall.

“I wrestled well and tonight showed my progress and how much better I’m getting. It’s only the start though,” Lopez-Garcia said.

Cupples joined Lopez-Garcia with a two wins by pin night. Machin, Jessie Hutchinson (170) and Brianna Aebischer (145) all won their match by fall and Claire Breuer (132) was 1-1 in her two bouts.

The Cardinals went 8-4 in the 12 contested matches.

There will be plenty more girls wrestling duals in the future as the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union announced last week that it will sanction the sport starting next season.

“If we have girls in the stands who are on the fence about coming out, hopefully an environment like we had tonight will give them the boost they need to give it a try,” Newton wrestling coach Adam Hale said. “It’s a great opportunity and we tried to do it just like any of our other duals.

“The environment was sweet and it was awesome having our youth wrestlers here tonight yelling, too.”

DCG brought 21 girls to the state tournament last week and placed in the top 20 of the final standings. Hale was appreciative of the Mustangs for being willing to help them host the first-ever girls wrestling dual at Newton High School.

“It was great that DCG was willing to help us do this,” Hale said. “They matched up well with our girls weight-wise so we were able to get some good matches in tonight. The environment for that dual brought a lot of energy.”

Lopez-Garcia said she went crazy when the IGHSAU announced the sanctioning news at the girls state tournament. But she also felt a little sadness.

“I also was a little upset because I love the boys on our team and we are one big family right now,” Lopez-Garcia said. “It’s OK though. They’ll still be out here with us.”