Comet girls win four titles at Go-Hawk Wrestling Invitational

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

WAVERLY — We’ve all heard of “Taco Tuesdays”.

The way high school girls wrestling rolls in Iowa, you may as well also refer to it as “Takedown Tuesday”.

“It’s just the way it’s set up,” Charles City girls wrestling head coach Robert Pittman said. “The boys have their big tournaments on the weekends. There’s no room for both, so we hold many of our big tournaments during the week.”

So that may explain why on a school night that nearly 20 teams converged at Waverly-Shell Rock for Tuesday’s Go-Hawk Invitational.

With the tournament utilizing the school’s entire main gym to accommodate the wrestlers and their fans, it was indicative of how popular female wrestling has become in the state amidst its first sanctioned prep season.

After more than four and a half hours, the event came to its near conclusion with one of the more exciting bouts of the evening.

Less than a half week removed from winning her bracket at the Dan Gable Donnybrook in Coralville, Charles City sophomore Destiny Kolheim had advanced to the finals in the 170-pound bracket with three straight fall victories.

But against Izzy Strickert of Independence in the first-place match, it didn’t look good for Kolheim as she was down 4-1 with less than a minute left in the third period.

With short time approaching, Kolheim — who has caught the eye of many knowledgeable wrestling fans with her explosive sprawl-busting two-legged takedown — was able to get a 2-point TD to pull within 1 before turning Strickert’s shoulders for the rousing fall victory.

It was the fourth title the Comets had won at the invite.

Some were expected, like from two-time state champ and University of Iowa-bound Lilly Luft, who earned a 9-2 decision over a game opponent, Independence’s Dakota Whitman, to claim the Girls 135-pound title match after fall victories in the opening, quarterfinal and semifinal rounds — undefeated Luft also won her bracket at the Donnybrook.

Another expected gold medalist was Comet junior Ava Thompson, who placed third at heavyweight at last year’s Girls State Tournament. At WSR, Thompson was able to secure the Girls Extra-Heavyweight title with a pair of fall victories over her lone opponent, Batavia’s Makayla Brown.

But really no one expected such championship glory from Charles City sophomore Savannah Baldus, who was the consummate dark horse in the Girls 170B bracket before busting it for the title while going 3-0 with a pair of fall victories.

“She’s one of our newest wrestlers, and she was 0-3 coming in here,” Pittman said of Baldus. “That’s what you like to see. Improvement. It’s not always about wins and titles.

“Like Leah Stewart,” Pittman said of his 190-pounder, who placed third in her bracket while going 3-1. “I just showed her how to do (an arm-drag takedown) and she did it while winning her third-place match.”

Pittman also cited the continued improvement of senior Elizabeth Oleson, who went 3-1 while placing third in the 140-pound bracket.

“And that was probably the toughest bracket in the tournament,” Pittman said.

The Go-Hawk Invite used a scramble format for the tournament. Usually team scores at scramble tournaments, where schools enter a varying number of wrestlers, are not posted.

As of Wednesday afternoon, team scores weren’t posted for the Go-Hawk Invite.

Charles City would likely be among the top placers as every Comet entered in the tournament recorded double-digit team points with the exception of Thompson, who only had one opponent.

Other wrestlers placing and scoring points for the Comets were Kyia Roths, who placed fourth in the 110-pound bracket and had a fall victory; Tegan Cavanaugh, who placed sixth in the 115-pound bracket while going 3-2 with a pair of fall victories; Kylie Blunt, who placed fourth in the 130-pound bracket while going 2-1 with a pair of fall victories before having to forfeit the third-place match due to injury; and Morgan Maloy, who placed seventh in the 145-pound bracket while going 3-2 with three fall victories.