5 things to watch in 2024 Iowa high school girls’ state wrestling tournament

On Thursday and Friday, there will be 448 wrestlers who will toe the line in hopes of becoming a state champion at the second IGHSAU girls’ state wrestling tournament at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

Action gets underway at 10 a.m. Thursday.

Here are five things to watch:

Naomi Simon: 4-time state champion?

Decorah’s Naomi Simon can cement her name into history by becoming the first four-time girls’ state wrestling champion. She won two Iowa Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association titles before the first IGHSAU season last year.

The Iowa women’s wrestling recruit is undefeated this season with a 43-0 record.

Simon recorded first-period falls over all her opponents en route to her 170-pound title in a regional tournament,

Simon will lead Decorah, which is one of the top team contenders in this year’s tournament.

130 loaded with Eastern Iowa talent

The top three spots in the IWCOA rankings at 130 pounds are locals.

Cedar Rapids Prairie’s Mackenzie Childers leads the pack at No. 1, with Vinton-Shellsburg’s Chloe Sanders and Alburnett’s Lyni Gusick No. 2 and No. 3, respectively.

Childers was Prairie’s lone regional champion, recording first-period pins in all her matches. Sanders pinned her way to the 130 title in Region 6, which included a pin over No. 5 Lexy Petersen of Bettendorf in the final. Gusick finished third in Region 6.

Additional Eastern Iowa wrestlers ranked at 130 include East Buchanan’s Destiny Krum at No. 6, Linn-Mar’s Brielle Parke at No. 7, and Anamosa’s Adison Musser and West Delaware’s Kylee Shoop tied for No. 9.

West Delaware triples its state qualifiers

Last season, there was a little bit of West Delaware orange and black in the field of girls’ state wrestling competitors.

There will be much more this year, as the Hawks tripled their number of qualifiers.

Returning state qualifiers include Shoop and Anna O’Rear. The four additional Hawks who punched their tickets to state are Addison Schulte, Lexi Bunting, Abigail O’Rear, and Samantha Murray.

The Hawks have been wrestling tough, finishing second at the Wamac Conference tournament behind Vinton-Shellsburg and third in the Region 7 tournament behind Cedar Falls and defending state champion Waverly-Shell Rock.

Iowa Valley’s Breanna Peach looks to complete undefeated season

  Buy Photo

Last season, Iowa Valley’s Breanna Peach missed out on the state finals by just two points.

This season, the sophomore is undefeated with a 31-0 record and ranked No. 2 by the IWCOA. She’s second to the defending 235-pound state champion, Olivia Huckfelt of Spencer.

Peach didn’t wrestle more than a minute in each of her three regional matches to win the 235 title.

Peach comes from a strong line of high-caliber wrestlers. Her sisters, Millie and Emma, both won girls’ wrestling state championships.

South Tama’s Elsbury sisters both ranked No. 2

The IWCOA has Maeley and Autumn Elsbury of South Tama ranked No. 2 in the 135 and 170-pound weight classes, respectively.

Maeley is ranked second to Dubuque Wahlert freshman Bella Miller, while Autumn is ranked second to Simon of Decorah.

The Elsbury sisters have a combined record of 63-2. Maeley’s loss came in mid-November by a narrow, 12-10, decision to Benton Community’s Lizzy Wolf at the South Tama Invitational. Autumn’s lone defeat also came during the South Tama Invitational to Briar Blake of North Tama by fall.

Maeley is the defending 135-pound state champion, while Autumn came in fourth place a year ago.