MASON CITY — Two freshmen for Marshalltown girls wrestling have shown continued growth throughout the year.

That drive to improve paid off on Friday as Olivia Wise and Nevaeh Gonzalez qualified for next week’s Class 2A state tournament at a 2A Region 6 tournament at Mason City.

Wise qualified as regional champion with two victories by pinfall in the 190-pound bracket, pinning Cedar Rapids Washington’s Serenity Dawkins to punch her ticket.

“She has improved so much,” Marshalltown head coach Isaiah Cox said. “She’s been working so hard, been grinding this whole season, wants to be better, always asking questions, and she just blew everybody out tonight.

“She got that first match out of the way and said, ‘I’m going to state, I’m going to win this whole thing,’ and I was like ‘Wow, OK, you go do it,’ — she’s believing what she’s saying and it’s just awesome.”

Nevaeh opened her night with a 9-0 major decision in the semifinals against Reagan Westphal of Waterloo West, but lost by fall to Aniyah Smith of Mason City in the finals and had to wrestle Fort Dodge’s Addie Mikesell for true second place.

After a scoreless first period, Gonzalez started on bottom and was turned for two back points before escaping. Mikesell took Gonzalez down but Nevaeh worked to a reversal and turned Mikesell for the pin with four seconds left in the second period.

“When she started, she couldn’t even get up from bottom, could barely get in a stance,” Cox said. “Now she’s finding her niche, and it’s awesome.”

Genevieve Lantigua fell short of her campaign to return to state, finishing third at 155 pounds in her final season with the Bobcats. Ava Kusserow, also a senior, was fourth at 125 pounds. Natalie Nickey and Paige Kreuger also finished fourth at 100 and 105 pounds, respectively.

“We came up short in some areas, but we fought hard,” Cox said. “And we’ve got a lot of young girls here and it for a lot of them it comes down to some little things, we’re really close — we do those little things and we’re right there.”

A-P/GC punches 3 tickets for state

COLFAX — Aplington-Parkersburg/Grundy Center girls wrestling had three wrestlers advance from a Class 1A Region 2 meet at Colfax-Mingo High School on Friday night, qualifying for next week’s state tournament in Coralville.

Grace Storjohann won the 120-pound bracket with three pinfall victories, capped off with a pin of Shyla VanNevel of BGM in the finals in 1 minute, 5 seconds. Kira Cox was also a champion at 170 pounds, pinning Vinton-Shellsburg’s Sadie Burke in 39 seconds for the title.

Zoey Uhlenhopp was the runner-up at 145 pounds.

West Marshall’s Elizabeth Kalinay was the other area qualifier from Colfax, winning her three matches each in under a minute to capture the 190-pound championship.

Kylee Schuler was third for the Trojans at 140 pounds.

South Hardin-BCLUW did not qualify any wrestlers; returning state qualifier Taya Hollingsworth finished third at 155 pounds and Kaitlynn Dickes was fourth at 190.

North Tama tandem booking return trip to state

WILLIAMSBURG — North Tama’s first two girls state wrestling qualifiers will be back at Xtream Arena next week.

Addy Hochstetler and Briar Blake finished in the top two to advance from a Class 1A Region 8 tournament in Williamsburg on Friday night.

Blake advances as the regional champion, remaining undefeated with two pinfall victories in the 170-pound bracket. Hochstetler made it as a runner-up, bouncing back from a loss in the 145-pound championship match to win her wrestleback in a 10-1 major decision over Cardinal’s Macy Grove.

At last year’s state tourney, Blake finished third at 170 pounds and has been the top-ranked competitor in 1A at the weight class all year. Hochstetler is looking to bounce back from a 1-2 finish at last year’s state meet.