Warriors ready for regionals
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
The Central girls wrestling team traveled to Sumner-Fredericksburg last week for the 2024 Cougars Invitational.
Leading the group was 120-pound Reese Berns, who needed less than 40 seconds to win all three of her matches and take home the top spot on the podium. That included a nine-second fall over Shayla Murphy of Dubuque Hempstead in the first place match.
At 125 pounds, Taylor Moser received a bye into the semifinals, where she won by fall to advance to the first place match. There, she lost a 4-2 decision to Kaydn Meyer from South Winneshiek to finish in second place.
Mayleigh Medberry, competing at 130 pounds, won a 10-1 majority decision in the quarterfinals and a 6-3 decision in the semifinals. Medberry took on Jillian Worthen of Union, LaPorte City, in the title match, but a pin dropped her to second.
At 140 pounds, Kimberly Suhr finished the invitational 1-2, with one fall. She was pinned twice.
Crystal Goodrich went 2-2 and placed fifth.
The Warriors were back in action at the East Buchanan Marilyn Invitational on Jan. 19, with Berns once again taking the top spot, to go undefeated on the week. She started with a bye into the quarterfinals, which she won via fall. Berns won an 8-4 decision in the semifinals, then needed triple overtime to defeat Grace Storjohann of AP-GC for a 12-11 victory in the first place match.
Brynn Meyer earned her first top-three finish, going 4-1 on the day, with a bye, a loss by fall and four wins via fall. One pin came in the third place match, where she defeated Hallie Portwood from Alburnett in 26 seconds.
Moser finished in third place, also going 4-1, with the lone loss occurring in the semifinals, which she lost by fall. All four of Moser’s wins were via fall, including the near three-minute win over Grace Patterson from Central DeWitt for third place.
Medberry also finished in third place, starting the day with two falls, before getting pinned in the semifinals. Medberry then strung together two more fall victories, defeating Ellie Reints of AP-GC in the third place match.
Goodrich got her first podium finish, placing fourth after a loss to Madison Edens from Central DeWitt in the third place match. She finished 4-2 with three byes, one win by fall and two losses by fall.
Suhr went 2-3 at the invitational, with a win via fall and one bye. She was pinned three times.
“The girls have been working a lot on cleaning up the small mistakes they were making in the first half of the season and it shows when they’re competing. They have also been working hard at improving their conditioning and that helped them win a handful of close matches this week,” said coach Colten Ledbeter.
Next up is the regional state qualifier in Mason City on Friday, Jan. 26, starting at 10 a.m.
