Decorah widened its lead in the team race during a session that ended the repeat hopes of three returning champions as the first day of the 2024 state wrestling tournament wrapped up at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
Defending champion Namoi Simon pinned all three of her opponents at 170 pounds to lead Decorah’s charge to the top, Teammate Chloe Sheffield will join Simon in Friday’s semifinal round as the Vikings finished the day with 79 points. Decorah also has five wrestlers still alive on the consolation side, giving the Vikings plenty of potential to add to their point total.
Cedar Falls is second with 64 points and Raccoon River-Northwest has 60, followed by Ankeny with 59, Bettendorf with 58.5 and defending champion Waverly-Shell Rock with 56. Ankeny has one semifinalist. The other contenders each have two.
Cedar Falls got a huge win at 120 from Apryl Halsor, who pinned defending champion Abigail Meyer of Pleasant Valley in 3:33. Meyer had won her first two matches with pins of 30 and 29 seconds.
Another returning champion fell at 125, where Ridge View’s Destiny Brown edged Union’s Jillian Worthen 11-10. Worthern was a champion at 105 last year. If Brown reaches the finals Friday night, she could find herself facing another returning champion. Riverside’s Molly Allen, the winner at 115 a year ago, also reached the semifinals at 125.
Mackenzie Childers of Cedar Rapids Prairie, the champion at 125 last year, had to forfeit to Anamosa’s Adison Musser in the quarterfinals at 130.
Among the returning champs moving on was Southeast Polk sophomore Skylar Slade at 155. Slade pinned all three of her opponents to raise her career record to 95-0, including a 46-0 mark this year.
Another outstanding sophomore, Katie Biscoglia of Raccoon River-Northwest, improved to 48-0 with thee pins, giving her 35 for the season.
Action resumes Friday at 10 a.m. with semifinals and more wrestlebacks.