Berns, Medberry first at Iowa Falls

By Willis Patenaude  | Times-Register

It was a long trip for Central’s girls wrestling team to the Iowa Falls-Alden Girls Tournament on Dec. 20, but the Warriors made the two-hour drive “with the intent to see different competition,” said coach Colten Ledbeter. The trip proved to be well worth it.

Three wrestlers competed, including Mylee Mueller  at 170 pounds, who entered the tournament seeded low in the bracket, pitting her against experienced upperclassmen. Despite a loss in the quarterfinals to Raelene Hawkins  of Iowa Valley, Marengo, Mueller took care of business in the consolation rounds, pinning Cheyenne Simmons  of BCLUW-SH and Brooklynn Simons from AGWSR to make it to the third-place match. Mueller wrestled a good match for over three minutes, but was ultimately defeated by Fernanda Ramirez from West Fork to finish fourth. 

“Mylee continues to grow each time we wrestle and beat some very good girls, showing what she improved on from last week already. She showed a lot of strength and determination in winning some underdog and come-from-behind matches to take fourth place,” Ledbeter said.

Also making the trip was Mayleigh Medberry at 135 pounds. Medberry already has multiple tournament wins on the season and currently holds a 24-5 record. Her tournament started with a bye in the quarterfinals, before she took on Lily Baker from West Fork in the semifinal. Medberry pinned Baker in under 90 seconds to move into the first-place match, where she wrestled Ellie Reints of Aplington-Parkersburg. Medberry racked up points over three minutes to earn a 17-0 tech fall. 

“Mayleigh looked great in her matches and racked up a lot of points with her dominance in the referee’s position,” Ledbeter said. 

The final wrestler who journeyed to Iowa Falls was 130-pound star Reese Berns, who was celebrating her 18th birthday. But before the night was over, she would be celebrating another accomplishment. 

Entering the arena, Berns saw her mom with balloons reading “happy birthday,” “congrats” and “so proud of you,” but she just thought it was for her birthday. In her match against Nadelyn Stanbrough of North Butler/Clarksville, Berns stuck to the normal routine and wrestled like she always does, pinning her opponent in 41 seconds, but not realizing she’d just reached a career milestone in the process.

“I hear the announcer acknowledging my success and that is when I turned to my coaches and teammates holding up balloons and a banner for my 100 pins,” Berns said. “All of my family and teammates’ family was cheering and I heard my mom yelling ‘happy birthday.’ I was filled with emotions, as I didn’t realize how close I was to 100 pins. I gave my two teammates, Mylee and Kendall, along with my coaches, a hug and started to cry.”

The moment was even more special by the fact that Jarod Bormann, Berns’s first wrestling coach, designed the banner and the Little Warrior Wrestling team donated it. It was with the Little Warriors that Berns started her wrestling journey.

“The ongoing support from Jarod Bormann and the Little Warrior Wrestling Team has helped pushed me to be the wrestler I am today. I am also truly grateful for all the support I’ve had over the years from my coaches, teammates, family and friends as they have motivated me,” Berns said. 

The job was not finished, though. Berns made quick work of Jocelyn Freed from Aplington-Parkersburg with a pin in under 80 seconds, had a fall against Brooklyn Gehling from Iowa Falls-Alden in the first- place bout in 25 seconds.

Reflecting on the 100th pin, Berns said, “This means so much to me because I am the first girl at Central to accomplish this goal I have had throughout my high school career of wrestling. This being said, I hope to inspire the youth girls and boys to do the same, as nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it.”

Berns and the rest of the Warriors are scheduled to wrestle again on Thursday, Jan. 2, in the Osage Girls Tournament.