Girls wrestling: Rockets run away with inaugural home tourney title

Dec. 27—EDDYVILLE — They might need to start thinking about building a brand new trophy case at Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont.

With the way things are going, it won't take long the school's second-year wrestling program to fill it up.

Just six days after claiming the program's first championship trophy at Chariton, the Rockets celebrated by keeping the team's inaugural home tournament title in house. EBF rolled to a 49-point victory over Cardinal, a team that had edged out the Rockets earlier this season at Pekin's home tournament, racking up 167 points with six of the team's 13 wrestlers reaching to podium by placing in the top three of their respective weight classes including individual championships from Hollie Roberts at 100 pounds and Miley Kirkpatrick at 135.

"It was just a lot of hunger that our girls had that we carried over from the Chariton tournament to this one," EBF head girls wrestling coach Garrett Krause said. "The girls were excited. They got that motivation and they just got after it.

"Once you take one bite, you want all of it. We're just going to keep taking chunks out of the competition, we're just going to keep growing and trying to get better every single week."

Kirkpatrick gained perhaps the most satisfying win of the day, avenging an earlier loss at Pekin's tournament to Panther sophomore Hailey Pedrick. After losing on a late fall after opening an 11-7 lead in the third period in the first meeting with Pedrick, Kirkpatrick put away the rematch in the closing seconds of the second period.

"I kind of gave up the last time I faced (Pedrick). The biggest thing I learned from that match is that you have to keep fighting," Kirkpatrick said. "I fought the whole time in this match. I was made from things turned out last time."

Kirkpatrick, like many of her EBF teammates, is in her first year of competitive wrestling. After something of a learning curve in her first few weeks, Kirkpatrick enters the holiday break and the second half of the season with an overall record of 16-8.

"In my first ever meet, it was horrible," Kirkpatrick said. "It's crazy how much I've learned. The biggest thing I've learned is how to focus on each match. I was just trying in my first meet to do whatever I thought I could do, but if you focus in on getting the moves down and doing what you want to do, it helps so much."

Ajaah Cox also went into the holiday break gaining some championship-winning momentum, earning her 20th win of the season. The Cardinal senior earned a 4-2 win over Pleasantville senior Madilyn Rowson, using an early takedown to wrestle ahead for good just six days after falling one win short of the 155-pound title at Chariton.

"I knew I was going up a good, experienced wrestler. I had to work my movements. I couldn't stick to one thing," Cox said. "I want to be more of an offensive wrestler this season. I've worked a lot on single legs over the summer with my brother (OHS head girls wrestling coach and former boys state qualifier Isaiah Cox). I'm quick. I'm fast. I can use that. Isaiah was good at single legs when he wrestled. He's taught me a lot of different techniques and how to better my offense."

Albia finished in a tie for third place with 103 points, matching Saint Ansgar. Briana Wolfer and Paige Popson each collected 16 points for the Lady Dees, winning a pair of individual titles with Wolfer taking the 105-pound championship while Popson won the championship at 125 pounds.

"Our coaches work with us really well to do it all," Popson said. "It feels good to finally be on top of that podium for the first time. You know you're working your hardest. This just proves that the hard work is paying off."

Pekin finished 12th overall with 35 points, led by the 18 collected by Pedrick on her way to wrestling Kirkpatrick for the 135-pound title. Sigourney-Keota matched Oskaloosa with 24 points, all of which were scored by top-ranked junior Reanah Utterback who remained unbeaten in her first season of sanctioned girls wrestling improving to 25-0 this season pinning Saint Ansgar junior Mariah Michels in just 1:28 of the 115-pound finals.

"She (Michels) defended my first shot, which doesn't normally happen," Utterback said. "That's good. It just makes me have to keep working harder."

Moravia finished 16th overall with 18 points. Breegan Ellison made the run to the 140-pound championship match for the Mohawks before falling to Columbus/Winfield-Mount Union junior Josie Nelson.

— Scott Jackson can be reached at sjackson@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter@CourierScott.