Comet girls place 4th at Decorah Fall Wrestling Tournament

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

DECORAH — You’re not allowed to throw punches in wrestling.

But a raised fist by the referee can eventually knock you out of the winner’s circle.

With short time approaching in the third period of the 190-pound championship match during the waning moments of Saturday’s Decorah Fall Girls Wrestling Tournament to commence a new season for most of the participating teams, Charles City senior and returning state-medalist Leah Stewart was leading Cedar Falls junior Briar Ludeman 3-2 and needed to maintain control from the top position for the remainder of regulation to hang on for the victory and title.

At the whistle, Ludeman was able to get to her feet which got many of the Tiger fans monitoring the bout to their feet as Ludeman looked as if she was going to invoke overtime by tying the match with an escape. Stewart was able to ride Ludeman out of the circle, but that’s when she got a raised fist by the referee … a warning for stalling.

Another such infraction would have given Ludeman the penalty point she needed to force OT. But while trying to get to her feet again when the match was restarted, Stewart was able to grab one of Ludeman’s ankles and drive her back onto the mat and keep her there until time expired to seal the win.

Stewart, who placed fifth in the 190-pound bracket at last season’s State Girls State Championships, claimed the only title for the Comets, who placed fourth among 17 represented teams with 157.5 team points, behind champion Cedar Falls (537.5), runner-up Decorah (223) and Crestwood (207.5).

Charles City had two other girls make it to the finals, and two others who finished the meet strong in their “backside brackets” while winning their consolation championship (third-place) matches.

Charles City sophomore Sophia Calpito, a returning state-qualifier, advanced to the championship match of the 100-pound bracket. There, Calpito faced Decorah senior Chloe Sheffield, who was runner-up at 100-lbs. at last season’s state tournament.

Sheffield nearly had Calpito pinned in the first period. Calpito was able to survive the near-fall predicament and wrestled Sheffield more competitively in the latter periods, but couldn’t close the point-differential gap that Sheffield attained early in the bout and lost by a 6-2 decision.

Comet senior captain Kylie Blunt advanced to the finals of the 130-pound bracket.

In the semifinals, Blunt fell behind Xavier junior Keara Adams in the first period, but then began to take control of the match in the second period before pinning Adams a little more than 30 seconds into the third period.

Blunt faced Cedar Falls sophomore Jobie Conway in the championship bout. Conway got the fall victory in just under a minute for one of seven titles for the team champion Tigers.

Charles City sophomore Alexus Ohlendorf defeated Lake Mills sophomore Laylah Ingledue with a technical-fall in the 115-pound third-place match. Ohlendorf had pinned Ingledue in the opening round to send her to the backside bracket early where she went 3-0 in the matches she wrestled before facing Ohlendorf again.

Charles City sophomore Emma Schmitt pinned Waukon freshman Addison Donahue 54 seconds into their 110-pound third-place match.