When the whistle blew though, Autumn Elsbury clocked into work, and the South Tama County junior capped an undefeated season with a Class 2A state championship at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

Elsbury pinned Anamosa’s Isabella Taylor in the second period to capture her first state title, grabbing the gold after finishing as runner-up in last year’s tourney. It was her 100th career pin, to boot, with four of those pins coming in the last two days in a dominant performance for the overwhelming favorite in the bracket.

“This feels amazing,” Elsbury said. “It’s really fun being in the state finals, win or lose, but winning is, like, 100 times better. And I’ve worked so hard to be where I am — it’s been a goal of mine since I was a freshman.”

Even a confident, dominant wrestler like Elsbury admitted she was nervous coming out to the mat.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - South Tama County junior Autumn Elsbury begins to turn Anamosa’s Isabella Taylor to her back during the Class 2A girls state wrestling final at 170 pounds on Friday night at Xtream Arena in Coralville. Elsbury improved to 45-0 with the second-period pin for the state title.

“It’s just a lot going on at one time,” Elsbury said. “But I felt pretty confident for the most part.”

A first-period takedown followed by four nearfall points at the end of the first period was a big boost, as was reversing out of bottom position to start the second period before stacking Taylor onto her shoulders for the win.

She ends the season with a perfect 45-0 record, with all but one of those matches ending in a pinfall. She also becomes the second Elsbury sister to win a state title — Maeley won the 135-pound crown in 2023.

“I was happy for her when she won it, and I knew that was going to be my goal, too,” Autumn said. “It feels awesome to be a state champ.”

A promising senior season awaits.

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - South Tama’s Autumn Elsbury, right, is embraced by her father and coach Danny Elsbury during the medal ceremony at the girls state wrestling championships on Friday at Xtream Arena in Coralville. Autumn pinned Isabella Taylor of Anamosa, left, for the Class 2A 170-pound title.

“This is just going to push me even more, because I think being a two-time champ would be amazing,” Elsbury said. “It’s gonna push me to really want to work hard and accomplish those goals as well. Because it’s not easy, even if people make it look easy — it’s not.”

South Tama added a couple of seventh-place medals for 155-pound senior Abigail Chyma and heavyweight sophomore Kinley Jimenez.

Chyma was pinned by Shaona Emmanuel of Iowa City High in the third-round consolation.

It looked like that’d be her fate in the seventh-place match as well, trailing 8-0 in the third period after being taken down twice.

“It was the last period of my last match,” Chyma said. “I couldn’t go out like this, and it was my dad’s (assistant coach Steve) birthday, so the least I could do was win my last match for him.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - South Tama senior Abigail Chyma, right, gets a hug from her father and coach, Steve Chyma, after defeating Peyten Van Dyke of Iowa City Liberty in the Class 2A seventh-place match at 155 pounds on Friday at Xtream Arena in Coralville. Abigail won by fall in 5 minutes, 1 second.

Chyma hit a reversal and turned Iowa City Liberty’s Peyten Van Dyke to her back to secure the pinfall victory with 59 seconds left in the third period, much to the delight of Steve Chyma hollering from her corner.

“Best birthday gift I could’ve given him,” Abigail added.

Jimenez also bounced back from a loss by fall in the third-round consolation to pin Sage Dzeladini of North Scott for seventh place in a rematch from yesterday’s first round.

“I didn’t want to be too cocky, I was just trying to think about myself and not get worried about my moves,” Jimenez said. “Placing at state, even winning a match at state, was one of my biggest goals in my wrestling career. So now that I did it, I’m so excited to get new goals and push myself.”