2023 Iowa high school girls state wrestling primer: Qualifiers, returning champs, unbeatens
The state’s top girl wrestlers will take center stage this week.
Iowa’s inaugural high school girls wrestling season has reached its final stage, with the first girls state wrestling championships taking place Thursday and Friday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
This week’s state tournament is the first by the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union, but it is the fifth straight girls state championship event. The Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association hosted a girls state tournament for the last four years, at Waverly-Shell Rock in 2019 and 2020, then at Xtream in 2021 and 2022.
As such, our primer here — the beginning of our comprehensive coverage this week — includes a few historic notes with results from those previous IWCOA girls state championships.
MORE:Iowa's 25 best girls wrestlers for the 2022-23 high school season
As of Sunday afternoon, a total of 2,386 Iowa girls were registered and eligible to wrestle this season, according to stats kept by Trackwrestling. That is more than double the 1,023 that wrestled last year, and ranks among the top statewide totals nationally, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations.
There were 1,307, about 54.8% of the statewide total, that competed at last week’s regional competitions, which served as the IGHSAU state-qualifying events. At their conclusion, 448 advanced to this week’s state championships.
Which leads us to here, our quick-hitter primer with fast facts ahead of Thursday’s opening round. It includes lists of the teams with the most qualifiers, returning state champs, undefeated wrestlers and those seeking to become four-time state medalists.
An excellent week of wrestling awaits, with the state’s top girl wrestlers ready to put on a show.
FROM THIS SUMMER:Team Iowa wins team title at 16U women’s freestyle national championships
Most Qualifiers by Team
Decorah, 10 qualifiers
Cedar Falls, 9 qualifiers
Waverly-Shell Rock, 9 qualifiers
Ankeny, 8 qualifiers
East Buchanan, 8 qualifiers
Lewis Central, 8 qualifiers
Osage, 8 qualifiers
Anamosa, 7 qualifiers
Dallas Center-Grimes, 7 qualifiers
Mason City, 7 qualifiers
Perry, 7 qualifiers
Ridge View, 7 qualifiers
Southeast Polk, 7 qualifiers
Spencer, 7 qualifiers
Bettendorf, 6 qualifiers
Linn-Mar, 6 qualifiers
Missouri Valley, 6 qualifiers
Raccoon River-Northwest, 6 qualifiers
S.W.A.T. Valkyrie, 6 qualifiers
West Liberty, 6 qualifiers
West Marshall, 6 qualifiers
RELATED:Ankeny beats Raccoon River, Southeast Polk in inaugural CIML girls wrestling tournament
14 returning state champions
Two-time champs
Lilly Luft, sr., Charles City — 2021, 2022
Naomi Simon, jr., Decorah — 2021, 2022
One-time champs
Jillian Worthen, soph., Union — 2022
Molly Allen, soph., Riverside — 2022
Reanah Utterback, soph., Sigourney-Keota — 2022
Hannah Rogers, jr., Wilton — 2022
Alexis Ross, sr., Fort Dodge — 2022
Emma Peach, soph., Iowa Valley — 2022
Isabella Deeds, jr., Ridge View — 2022
Jana Terwee, jr., West Lyon — 2022
Savannah Sistad, jr., Creston — 2022
Olivia Huckfelt, jr., Spencer — 2022
Rachel Eddy, sr., Independence — 2021
Jannell Avila, sr., Iowa City West — 2020
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15 undefeated wrestlers entering the 2023 girls state championships
Katie Biscoglia, Raccoon River-Northwest — 41-0, 100 pounds
Jillian Worthen, Union — 23-0, 105 pounds
Jalynn Goodale, Osage — 30-0, 110 pounds
Jasmine Luedtke, Ottumwa — 28-0, 110 pounds
Molly Allen, Riverside — 26-0, 115 pounds
Mackenzie Childers, Cedar Rapids Prairie — 44-0, 125 pounds
Lilly Luft, Charles City — 35-0, 130 pounds
Colbie Tenborg, Saydel — 21-0, 130 pounds
Kiara Djoumessi, Waverly-Shell Rock — 43-0, 140 pounds
Emma Peach, Iowa Valley — 34-0, 145 pounds
Nicole Olson, Missouri Valley — 30-0, 155 pounds
Skylar Slade, Southeast Polk — 44-0, 155 pounds
Naomi Simon, Decorah — 32-0, 170 pounds
Averie Wittkop, West Marshall — 27-0, 170 pounds
Olivia Huckfelt, Spencer — 40-0, 235 pounds
MORE:‘The sky is the limit’: Meet Southeast Polk’s Skylar Slade, one of Iowa’s top girl wrestlers
10 wrestlers seeking to become four-time state medalists
Just four girls finished as medalists at each of the four IWCOA state championships from 2018-22:
Bettendorf’s Ella Schmit, a four-time state finalist and three-time champ;
Waverly-Shell Rock’s Annika Behrends, another four-time finalist and two-time champ;
North Cedar’s Ashlynn Miller, who took fourth or better all four years;
Colfax-Mingo’s Kylie Doty, who took sixth or better all four years.
This may be the first IGHSAU-organized state wrestling tournament, but 10 more senior wrestlers finished as medalists at the last three IWCOA state tournaments and are seeking to become four-time state medalists:
Adyson Lundquist, S.W.A.T. Valkyrie — 5th in 2020, 2nd in 2021, 3rd in 2022
Jalynn Goodale, Osage — 7th in 2020, 5th in 2021, 2nd in 2022
Sophie Barnes, Lewis Central — 5th in 2020, 2nd in 2021, 3rd in 2022
Alexis Ross, Fort Dodge — 3rd in 2020, 2nd in 2021, 1st in 2022
Lilly Luft, Charles City — 4th in 2020, 1st in 2021, 1st in 2022
Jannell Avila, Iowa City West — 1st in 2020, 6th in 2021, 3rd in 2022
Moorea Brown, Center Point-Urbana — 7th in 2020, 4th in 2021, 3rd in 2022
Keeley Kehrli, East Buchanan — 5th in 2020, 2nd in 2021, 6th in 2022
Isabella Canada, AHSTW — 8th in 2020, 4th in 2021, 4th in 2022
Rachel Eddy, Independence — 2nd in 2020, 1st in 2021, 3rd in 2022
RELATED:Lilly Luft, a two-time state champion from Charles City, commits to Iowa women’s wrestling
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: Iowa girls state wrestling primer: Returning champs, unbeatens, more
