The mats at the CHI Health Center in Omaha featured a bit of Black and Gold last week, as three members of the Ansley-Litchfield girls’ wrestling team competed in the inaugural NSAA Class B Girls State Wrestling Championships.
In Omaha, the Spartans were paced by Morgan Hawkins, a senior who capped her career with a bronze medal.
“I am just really happy with myself,” Hawkins said moments after stepping off the medals stand on Wednesday night. “I have been down here twice and have gotten beat out both times. Just to come back my senior year and be able to place, that was awesome.”
Hawkins said that after having experienced the bright lights of the state wrestling tournament multiple times during her career, when she arrived in Omaha last week, she knew exactly what to expect.
“Going into it, after being down here a couple of times, I was not as nervous as I had been the past couple years,” the Spartan said. “Overall, it went pretty well.”
Hawkins opened the tournament by pinning her first two opponents. The Ansley-Litchfield wrestler took down JaeLeigh Miller of Lyons-Decatur Northeast. Then, in the quarterfinal round on Tuesday, she locked up Allee Jo Inzauro of Conestoga sixty-three seconds into the second period.
“Coming in to the tournament, I felt great,” Hawkins said. “Winning my first two kind of cemented that feeling and I knew that I could go for it.”
Tuesday’s quarterfinal victory guaranteed the senior a medal at state, a fact that Hawkins said took some pressure off of the remaining matches.
“It kind of set a precedent that I was going to medal no matter what,” she said.
Hawkins’s tear through the state tournament hit a snag in the semifinals at 235. In that match, the senior met up with Precious DeCora of Winnebago. The Warrior—who was the eventual state runner up—sported a 45-2 record heading into the match and pinned the Spartan midway through the final period.
“I could have wrestled a little bit better; that was one of my worst matches I would have to say,” Hawkins said of the semifinal bout. “I probably got down a little bit.”
After Hawkins’s first loss of the tournament, she rebounded to pin Madelyn Tryon of Southwest in the third period and then capped her career with a pin against Addison Marschman of Fairbury in the bronze-medal bout.
“That win felt really good,” Hawkins said of her consolation finals victory. “I came back and wrestled smart in that round for sure. It was great to get the medal.”
This year marked the first time in the emerging sport’s history that the girls’ state tournament was contested separate from the boys’ state meet. With just two classes, the state meet was contested over the course of two days, leading to a truncated schedule.
That schedule, which had Hawkins wrestling three matches on the final day of the meet, was a change of pace, the senior said.
“That was a little scary going back-to-backto back,” she said. “It was different not having that big, long break, like you normally would at state.
“I think I handled it okay.”
Also competing for the Spartans in Omaha were Clysta Brott and Jaycee Vogel.
Brott opened the tournament opposite Lilly Mefford of Battle Creek, with the Brave pinning the Spartan in the second period. In the consolation bracket, Boone Central’s Payton Becker took the Spartan the distance before advancing with an 8-4 victory.
Vogel went into the second period against Ella Henkel of Yutan, but the Chieftain sent the Spartan to the consolation bracket with a pin. On Wednesday, Vogel lasted 106 seconds opposite Megan Jones of Ainsworth.
