Despite fielding a smaller-than-normal roster, West Liberty’s girls’ wrestlers still found ways to make their presence seen on the podium.
A team of six Comets found their way to first or second place in five different brackets last Monday (Nov. 25) at the West Liberty Girls Invitational.
Of the five gold medal match participants in the blue and white, freshman Aileen Aragon claimed first place in the 125-pound bracket. She is now 8-1 on the young season.
After a first-round bye, she pinned Pleasant Valley’s Olivia Haan in just 50 seconds.
Her next two matches both lasted into the third minute of wrestling, but ended the same way. Ava Streeter of Durant got pinned at 3:04 in the semifinals and Aragon took care of Tipton’s Saidee Hamilton in the championship match, putting her shoulders to the mat at 3:23.
Aragon, who came into this season unranked according to IAwrestle, could see her name appear in the next edition of the rankings.
The No. 1 ranked wrestler at 120-pounds, senior Silvia Garcia-Vasquez, has been wrestling like it so far. She is 11-1 on the year but suffered her first loss in the championship match in West Liberty.
It was still an excellent event for the returning state runner-up. She pinned all of her first three opponents, Kaylee Carr (Wapello), Kayley Schlapkohl (Durant) and Gabby Gingerich (Mid-Prairie) in the first period.
She dropped a 5-1 decision to Pleasant Valley’s Abigail Meyrer in the championship. However, given that Meyrer is a state champion from 2023 and is wrestling in Class 2A, it cannot be considered a bad loss.
Junior Kiley Collins is West Liberty’s third and final preseason ranked wrestler and she took second-place in the 130-pound bracket last Monday.
Collins pinned her first two opponents, Chacey Lange of Tipton and Kaydyn Hendryx of Center Point-Urbana, in the first period. Then, she knocked off North Scott’s Chloe Hundertmark with a decisive 14-1 major decision.
In the first-place match, Collins suffered an 8-0 major decision loss to currently undefeated Ashlee Farrier of Mid-Prairie. Collins’ record now stands at nine wins and four losses.
At 135, Jacquelin Molina also secured second place and boosted her overall record to 4-2 this season.
She started off her tournament with a first-round bye and a second-period pin against Mid-Prairie’s Emmerson Moore.
Then, she defeated Center Point-Urbana’s Taylor Hoskins in the semifinals with a fall at 1:40.
Molina got clipped by Class 1A’s top-ranked wrestler at 135 in Wilton’s Kaydence Boorn. The Beaver got the better of the Comet with a 17-1 technical fall.
West Liberty’s final wrestler to place second was sophomore Alivia Garcia who had all four of her matches end in a first-period pin in the 115-pound competition.
The first three were to the positive against Desiree Ibbotson at 1:00 (Louisa-Muscatine), Tori Jones at 0:13 (Durant) and Emily Stutting at 1:16 (North Scott).
Alburnett’s Juliana Burds kept the trend going with a pin of her own at 0:52. Garcia’s record now sits at 8-4.
The other Comet to take to the mats was sophomore Addison Guerra at 105. She had a tougher time than her teammates, getting pinned in all three of her matches. She placed sixth.
On the team scoreboard, Fort Madison reigned supreme in this 16-school event by scoring 165.5 team points. Mid-Prairie (159.5) and Alburnett (158.5) were right on its heels.
West Liberty placed fifth with 124 team points, sandwiched in between Wilton (128.5) and Pleasant Valley (110).
North Scott (103), Center Point-Urbana (83), Tipton (76) and Durant (70) completed the top 10.
Individual champions at the West Liberty Invitational were as follows: Kenadee Helscher (Wapello) at 100; Finley Rushton (Tipton) at 105; Audra Coss (Wilton) at 110; Juliana Burds (Alburnett) at 115; Abigail Meyrer (Pleasant Valley) at 120; Aileen Aragon (West Liberty) at 125; Ashlee Farrier (Mid-Prairie) at 130; Kaydence Boorn (Wilton) at 135; Lyni Gusick (Alburnett) at 140; Zenlynn Lee (Mount Pleasant) at 145; Tatum Peters (Fort Madison) at 155; Ellie Callahan (Mid-Prairie) at 170; Jenna Small (Center Point-Urbana) at 190; and Addison Frere (North Scott) at 235.
The Comets wrestled at the Tipton Girls Invitational on Monday, Dec. 2 and will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 7 at Wapello High School for the Third Annual Willard Howell Girls Invitational.
West Liberty will participate in its first dual meets of the season on Monday, Dec. 9 in a River Valley Conference quadrangular.
Hosted at Bellevue High School, the two Comets teams will be joined by Anamosa and Maquoketa. The event is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m.
West Liberty will still be a dangerous team in this format as the Comets are ranked No. 10 in IAwrestle's Tournament Team rankings for Class 1A.
The nine teams above them are, in order, Decorah, East Buchanan, Osage, Mount Vernon, Vinton-Shellsburg, Denver, Solon, Iowa Valley and Wilton.
A handful of these teams have top-ranked individual wrestlers, including: Violet Diaz (Denver) at 100; Gable Hemann (Osage) at 110; Kaydence Boorn (Wilton) at 135; Andelyn Cabalka (East Buchanan) at 140; Chloe Sanders (Vinton-Shellsburg) at 145; Libby Dix (Mount Vernon) at 190; and Breanna Peach (Iowa Valley) at 225.