Storjohann’s junior season ended in heartbreak, as West Liberty’s Silvia Garcia-Vasquez rallied to a 15-7 major decision in the Class 1A 120-pound championship at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

Storjohann led 6-1 after the first period and was up 6-5 after two.

“It sucks losing the championship,” Storjohann said. “I didn’t finish how I wanted to, but it gives me a goal for next year and hopefully do better this year.”

She said she was getting to her offense in the first period, scoring two takedowns.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - West Marshall senior Elizabeth Kalinay, top, searches for a way to score against Libby Dix of Mount Vernon during their Class 1A 190-pound semifinal on Friday morning at Xtream Arena in Coralville. Kalinay lost the match by fall but eventually earned fourth place.

Garcia-Vasquez chose top to start the second period, and was able to lock in a double bar arm deep, with Storjohann looking stuck before spinning her way out for a second chance and still leading by a point heading into the third period.

“That girl was tough on top,” A-P/GC head coach Joel Reints said. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Grace in a double bar arm, and that’s a tough move to fight off your back. That just speaks to her heart and grit to battle through that adversity and try to give herself a chance to win the match.”

When Garcia-Vasquez hit a takedown in the third period and turned Storjohann again, Storjohann refused to be pinned, fighting out to make sure she’d get every bit of six minutes to try and make something happen — but it wasn’t in the cards.

“She’s a wonderful competitor,” Reints said, inhaling sharply as tears formed in his eyes. “I can’t say enough great things about the way she battles, the way she competes every time. I’ll go into battle with her any day.”

Storjohann’s junior season ends at a staggering 56-3 — the only wrestler to beat Storjohann this season before Friday night, Denver’s Lilli Cooper, was vanquished by Storjohann in the semifinals by a 7-3 decison.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - North Tama junior Addison Hochstetler, right, reacts after scoring a 6-5 decision to beat Addi Whisner of Mount Vernon in the Class 1A fifth-place match at 145 pounds during the girls state wrestling tournament on Friday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

“I just learned to be confident in myself,” Storjohann said of her previous two losses to Cooper. “I’m a really great wrestler and I’ve improved a lot over these last few years.”

Aplington-Parkersburg student Kira Cox added an eighth-place medal at 170 pounds, as the A-P/GC girls program continues to build momentum in recent years.

“Went from zero to one [medalist] last year, and now we’ve got two,” Reints said. “The future looks pretty bright. Two of our qualifiers returning and some of our girls at regionals were awfully close to make it down here. We’re definitely excited for the future.”

Storjohann once said she was “genuinely so awful” at basketball that it pushed her to give wrestling a try instead. And now she serves as a blueprint of how A-P/GC wrestling can continue to grow.

“She comes in as a freshman with zero experience, and now she’s here in the finals as a junior,” Reints said. “She’s done a lot in the offseason to catch up with some of the elite girls, and she’s right up there with them, she wrestles them all. The results speak for themselves.”

Kalinay caps senior season on podium

Standing as one of the best eight 190-pounders in Class 1A on the podium in Coralville on Friday night was everything Elizabeth Kalinay had hoped for.

She received a fourth-place medal to close out her wrestling career, West Marshall’s second-ever state medalist in girls wrestling.

“I’ve been looking forward to this for three years,” Kalinay said.

It was a rollercoaster day for Kalinay, bested by eventual champion Libby Dix of Mount Vernon in the semifinals but rebounding with a quick pin of Denver’s Kennedy Burk in the consolation semis.

The third-place match with West Liberty’s Bricsia Garcia-Vasquez ended in a 13-3 major decision in the Comets’ favor, but Kalinay said she still got what she wanted out of it.

“I went into it with the desire to inflict pain and go six minutes, and I did that,” Kalinay said.

Kalinay hopes she’s setting a good example for the next West Marshall girl to climb onto that podium.

“I hope they learn to practice hard every day, and look up to my work ethic in practice,” Kalinay said. “I stayed after every day working on stuff to get where I am today, and I hope they follow that same path.”

Bittersweet medals for Redhawk duo

North Tama junior Addy Hochstetler finished fifth at 145 pounds in Class 1A, and senior Briar Blake added a sixth-place medal at 170 pounds.

It’s a big step forward for Hochstetler, who went 1-2 in her state debut last year. She won her first match of the day by fall, was pinned in the consolation semi, but survived a 6-5 decision in the fifth-place match with Addi Whisner of Mount Vernon for the medal.

“This just gives me more confidence,” Hochstetler said, “now I know that I should be placing next year.”

For Blake, it’s a disappointing end to the top-seed in the 170-pound bracket, quickly steamrolling Iowa Valley’s Raelene Hawkins in the third-round consolation but falling short in the final second against Layna DeMoss of Benton in the consolation semis and losing by fall in the fifth-place match with Mount Vernon’s Gracie Pinckney.

“You hate to see a senior lose their last match,” North Tama head coach Andrew Knaack said. “She’s upset, and she should be, she’s one of the best girls in that bracket. But she got upset early in the tournament and I don’t know if she truly bounced back to finish the day. I know she would have been really disappointed if she left empty handed though. So it may not be the color she wants, but it’s better than a lot of people get.”

Hochstetler will draw on Blake’s overall demeanor toward wrestling with her upcoming senior season.

“Briar’s always been a calm person,” Hochstetler said. “So I think next year, just staying calm and working as hard as she did sounds good.”