Adams leads Newton grapplers at girls state tournament

CORALVILLE — Newton head girls wrestling coach Chad Garvis knew freshman Kylee Adams would be a state qualifier before she wrestled in her first high school match.

The next step for Adams is to earn a spot on the podium. She fell one win shy of that accomplishment after going 3-2 in her first state tournament this past weekend.

“She came back from a tough loss in the first round that I think she feels like she should have won,” Garvis said. “Winning three matches in a row is awesome.”

Two Newton wrestlers competed in the Iowa High School Girls State Wrestling Championships inside a sold-out Xtream Arena on Thursday and Friday.

Adams’ three wins at 100 pounds came after she dropped her first match of the tournament in overtime.

Sophomore Ashlyn Van Manen qualified at 190 but went 0-2 in her first trip.

“She had two tough matches here,” Garvis said. “She didn’t wrestle bad, but she knows she has things to improve. And I think she will. She has some plans already.”

Adams was the 13th seed in the 100-pound bracket. She opened the tournament with a 9-7 loss to 20th-seeded Alexis Kolbet of Osage.

She rallied from an 0-2 hole to lead 5-2 following a near fall late in the second period. Kolbet got back to 5-all and eventually went in front 7-5 before a late Adams reversal in the third forced overtime.

Kolbet (33-22) scored a takedown in SV-1 to lock up the win. Adams would advance further in the tournament though.

“I had a lot of first-match jitters. I wrestled well but it wasn’t my best,” Adams said. “I needed to circle more because I got a stalling call.

“I was mad at myself because I knew I could have done better, but I took my anger out on the next girl.”

The next girl was 29th-seeded Madison Froehle of Norwalk. And Adams handled Froehle (23-17) with a first-period pin. She scored an early takedown before using a double chicken wing to turn her.

Adams followed up her first win with a 9-6 triumph over 19th-seeded Lauren Watson of Ankeny.

She trailed Watson (37-10) 2-0, 4-3 and 5-4 before a reversal gave her a 6-5 lead. A locked hands violation on Adams tied it at 6-all, but a near fall in the third pushed the Newton freshman to the three-point victory.

“I think I did well. I know I could have done more, but I will use this as a way to get better,” Adams said. “I still have a lot ahead of me. I have been working on a lot of stuff, and I saw some of that show (in the tournament).”

Adams advanced to Friday with a second-period pin over 22nd-ranked Sophia Calpito of Charles City.

Adams faced another deficit in the match but used a reversal to tie it at 2-all before pinning Calpito (24-20).

“After the injury timeout, she chose bottom,” Adams said. “I locked the chicken wing up and tried to run it but couldn’t. So then I grabbed her other arm and got her into a double chicken wing and then flipped her over. It was tight. I almost let go because it was hurting me, too.”

The winner between Adams and Bettendorf’s Olivia Hernandez on Friday morning was guaranteed a state medal.

Hernandez (40-8) was seeded seventh and she came into the tournament ranked 10th by IAwrestle.com. Adams was eliminated from medal contention after a first-period loss by fall.

Adams wanted to do better but her three wins while facing elimination at the state tournament can give her a boost into next year.

“It’s amazing. I was really nervous,” Adams said. “My main goal was to make it to the second day. I just thought about how I have everything to gain and nothing to lose.

“My bottom and mat returns are two things I need to work on,” Adams said. “I have been getting more comfortable with my shots, too.”

Van Manen ended her sophomore season with a 17-9 record. She came into the tournament seeded 25th and dropped both of her matches by fall.

She trailed eighth-seeded and ninth-ranked Ciera Hutton-Spieker (27-3) of Interstate 35, 13-5, before the match ended in the third period.

Van Manen faced 24th-seeded Elvia Topete-Anzua of MOC-Floyd Valley in her elimination match. Topete-Anzua (22-20) led 4-2 after the first and second periods before scoring a third-period pin.

“She started the season late because of an injury,” Garvis said about Van Manen. “She built off that, wrestled hard and we thought she had a solid chance to get here. She won the toughest match of regionals to get here. That was big for her.”

Notes: Newton finished with seven points and tied for 98th place in the team standings. Decorah won the state championship with 141 points. The rest of the top five included East Buchanan (96), Raccoon River-Northwest (96), Waverly-Shell Rock (93) and Council Bluffs Lewis Central (89) and 141 schools scored at least one point in the tournament.