Five Girls Compete at the Girls NSAA State Championships
Launch the media gallery 1 playerBy Kolten Wragge
Five Bluejays traveled to Omaha for their shot at gold at the girls state wrestling tournament, and one came home with gold and another with a state medal.
Senior Isabelle Kuehler, wrestling in Class B at 170 claimed top honors and junior Essynce Owens-Webb finished fifth at Class B 105.
“I think the team had a great season. Even without a full team, we accomplished many things. We finished sixth at state with only four girls wrestling and two medaling,” Kuehler said.
In Kuehler’s first match at state, she won by fall over Madilyn Reese of North Bend Central. In Kuehler’s next match, she again won by fall over Cynthia Carter of Logan View. In the semifinals match, she won by fall over Rylee Kursave of Arcadia/Loup City, punching her ticket back into the finals for a second year in a row. In Kuehler’s final high school match, she pinned Emma Finecy of Lakeview at the 5:00 mark to become a state champion at girls Class B 170.
Pierce’s other medalist, Owens-Webb, defeated Paisley Hoffman of North Central by technical fall, 17-0, in her first round. In the quarterfinals, Owens-Webb pinned Josey Werner of Chadron. In the semifinal match, Owens-Webb lost by fall to Hadley Mazzulla of Auburn. In her fourth match, Owens-Webb lost by fall to Ila Jurgens of Gibbon, and to wrap up her junior season, Owens-Webb beat Yarely Santiago of Norfolk Catholic by technical fall, 15-0, finishing in fifth place.
Another state qualifier, Isabelle Streff, competed at Class B 120. In her first match, she won by fall over Micheli Fisher of Norfolk Catholic. In Streff’s second match, she fell to Olivia McDonald of Sumner-Eddyville-Miller. In the third match for Streff, she pinned Sofie Lewis of Arlington, and in her last match, she lost in the heartbreak round to Madelynn Zierott of Louisville by fall.
Senior Jayan Sackville competed at Class B 125, and in her first match, she faced Laney Drueke of St. Mary’s, beating her by fall. In Sackville’s second match, she lost by fall to Addie Henry of Auburn. In the third and final match of her high school career, Sackville fell to Lilly Kester of Summerland.
Pierce’s fifth state qualifier, Evelyn Skrdla, competed tough all year and had the great accomplishment of qualifying for state, but due to an injury, she could not compete at the state championships and took a medical forfeit for her two rounds.
“Overall, all season, I say more often than not, they performed very well. They might have had some bad matches here and there, but they kept working and performing better every meet,” girls assistant coach Jaxson Daake said.
Overall, the girls competed very well; they wrestled tough and brought home some hardware. The girls finished sixth out of 76 teams.
