Waverly-Shell Rock wins 2023 girls state wrestling title as youth movement continues
CORALVILLE — The thousands of wrestling fans who packed Xtream Arena this week got the full Kiara Djoumessi experience.
Djoumessi, Waverly-Shell Rock’s venerable junior wrestler, danced before some of her matches. She sang a song from “Mamma Mia!” in a post-match press conference. She spent time knitting a hat before another match. She smiled after scoring takedowns.
And, oh yeah, she won. A lot.
And so did her team. Again.
Djoumessi blitzed the field at the 2023 girls state wrestling championships. She went 5-0 for first place at 140 pounds. In interviews all week, she said she loves wrestling, but often ended her matches early, recording four first-period pins en route to gold.
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“Sometimes I can catch girls in positions where they’re not good,” Djoumessi said, “and I’m pretty good on capitalizing on those mistakes. I’ve had probably three girls try to shoot on me all year, and that’s what I’ve done to all of them.
“I just knew before I even stepped on the mat that I was going to win — and I won.”
Djoumessi’s individual crown led Waverly-Shell Rock to the team title at the first Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union-organized state tournament. The Go-Hawks totaled 123 points to outlast East Buchanan (113), Decorah (108), and Lewis Central (102) in an exhilarating team race.
The state team race was an intriguing subplot in this first girls wrestling season. The Go-Hawks won team titles at each of the last four state tournaments hosted by the Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association, but schools could bring as many wrestlers as they wanted — and Waverly-Shell Rock often brought more than anybody.
This year, under the IGHSAU, statewide participation popped. In all, 2,386 Iowa girls wrestled this winter, according to Trackwrestling. As such, the IGHSAU implemented state-qualifying tournaments, so only 448 girls qualified for this week: 32 wrestlers in each of the 14 weights.
That leveled the playing field to a certain degree, and it made the team race truly start at last week’s regional competitions. Decorah led all teams with 10 qualifiers, but Cedar Falls and the Go-Hawks weren’t far behind with nine each. Lewis Central and East Buchanan each brought eight, setting up a heated battle for first place this week.
Thursday ended with Decorah on top with 82 points. The Vikings pushed one wrestler into the semifinals, but went 16-2 in the wrestlebacks and had eight wrestlers reach the all-important final day. The Go-Hawks trailed by 8 points, but positioned themselves to take over with a strong Friday morning session. They pounced on that opportunity when Djoumessi, Haidyn Snyder (145), and Madison Hinrichs (235) all made the finals.
More:Iowa high school girls state wrestling tournament: Full results from Day 2
Djoumessi’s first-period fall over Centerville’s Sarah Lewis, a returning state finalist, officially gave the Go-Hawks the team lead a little over an hour into Friday’s morning session. Then her first-period pin over Lewis Central’s Mahri Manz in Friday night’s finals mathematically sealed the deal — and inspired another massive smile.
“It’s so awesome,” Djoumessi said. “I’m so excited because I’m going to get two gold medals.”
She paused, then smiled again.
“I really, really, really want a pink shirt,” Djoumessi said, referring to championship gifts given to title-winning teams by the IGHSAU. “I missed my opportunity to get one in volleyball, so I’m really hoping that we get pink shirts.”
Weight-by-Weight Championship Finals Analysis
100: Katie Biscoglia capped a perfect 46-0 freshman campaign with a 5-2 win over Osage’s Gable Hemann. Biscoglia scored a takedown in the second period and a reversal in the third to hold off Hemann, who is now a two-time state runner-up.
105: Union sophomore Jillian Worthen makes it two state titles in as many years, scoring four takedowns to beat Mason City’s Layla Phillips, 10-1. Phillips stormed into the finals as the No. 7 seed after not placing at last year’s IWCOA-led state tournament, but ran into a freight train in Worthen, whose nickname is ‘Monster.’
110: Ottumwa junior Jasmine Luedtke added an elusive state title to her stellar high school résumé, which includes twice qualifying for the boys state championships, reaching last year’s girls state finals and earning All-American honors at the Junior women’s freestyle national championships. She scored a first-period takedown and a third-period reversal in a 4-1 win over Vinton-Shellsburg’s Bree Swenson.
115: Riverside’s Molly Allen wins the all-Molly final with a third-period pin over Sioux City North’s Molly Sek. Sek scored 68 points in her first four matches to reach the finals as the No. 10 seed, but Allen, a 16U freestyle national champ last summer, built a 15-3 lead before recording the pin in 4:43. She is now a two-time state champion.
120: Pleasant Valley freshman Abigail Meyrer scored a third-period reversal to take out top-seeded Layla Ewing of Moravia. Meyrer was one of three freshmen to win state titles on Friday, a sign that Iowa’s youth movement in girls wrestling isn’t slowing down.
125: Prairie’s Mackenzie Childers put forth one of the most impressive weeks of any wrestler. She capped a perfect sophomore campaign, 49-0, by pinning Wilton’s Hannah Rogers, a returning state champ. To even reach the finals, Childers beat Lewis Central’s Sophie Barnes, who handed Childers her last loss in last year’s third-place match. Childers recorded four pins and a major decision en route to first this week.
130: Charles City’s Lilly Luft caps her sensational high school career with a third consecutive state championship. She won 9-0 in the finals over Vinton-Shellsburg freshman Chloe Sanders. Luft became the third Iowa girl to win three state titles, joining Bettendorf’s Ella Schmit and Iowa Valley’s Millie Peach. She also piled up 125 career wins, the most in state history … for now.
135: South Tama’s Maeley Elsbury scored 2 back points on a tilt in the third period to pull a 2-0 upset over Fort Dodge’s Alexis Ross, a returning state champ, in the finals. Elsbury, a junior, took two steps up after a third-place performance last year. Ross, a senior, caps her high school career as a three-time state finalist and four-time state medalist.
140: Waverly-Shell Rock junior Kiara Djoumessi recorded a first-period pin over Lewis Central’s Mahri Manz for her first state title. That fall also mathematically clinched the team title for the Go-Hawks.
145: Iowa Valley’s Emma Peach joined Worthen and Allen as two-time state champs as a sophomore. She built a 7-0 lead before pinning Waverly-Shell Rock’s Haidyn Snyder late in the second period. Peach pinned her way to first this week to cap a perfect 39-0 season.
155: Southeast Polk’s Skylar Slade was the third freshman to win a state title this week. She also pinned her way to gold, securing a finals fall over Iowa City West’s Jannell Avila, a four-time state medalist. Slade, already one of Iowa’s top wrestlers, finished her freshman season 49-0.
170: Decorah’s Naomi Simon recorded three first-period pins in five matches this week to win her third state title. In Friday’s finals, she pinned Mount Vernon’s Libby Dix in 95 seconds. Simon, a junior, is now a three-time state champion and has positioned herself to potentially become Iowa’s first female four-timer next season.
190: West Lyon’s Jana TerWee and Nevada’s Mackenzie Arends met in a state final rematch. TerWee won last year. On Friday, Arends got revenge, winning 1-0 in the ultimate tiebreaker.
235: Spencer’s Olivia Huckfelt pinned her way to a second-straight state title, with a second-period fall over Waverly-Shell Rock’s Madison Hinrichs. She finished the year 45-0 and is now 80-1 in her career with 67 straight wins.
2023 Iowa girls state wrestling championships
Final Team Scores
Waverly-Shell Rock, 123
East Buchanan, 113
Decorah, 108
Lewis Central, 102
Osage, 73
Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Waverly-Shell Rock wins 2023 girls state wrestling team championship
