Oskaloosa Girls Send Two Wrestlers to State After Strong Regional Showing

The Oskaloosa girls wrestling team competed in its regional state qualifying tournament Friday in Iowa City and qualified two wrestlers for the state tournament after a competitive day on the mat. Alyssa Sheets and Mia Luck both earned trips to state by finishing second in their weight classes.

Sheets wrestled at 105 pounds and finished the day with a 3-1 record. After receiving a bye, she pinned Mackenzie Kult of Western Dubuque in 1:02 in the quarterfinals. She followed with another pin, defeating Olivia Hernandez of Bettendorf in 5:35 in the semifinals to reach the championship match. Sheets lost in the finals by major decision, but wrestled back for true second place and pinned Kaylin Goodwin of Linn-Mar in 4:35 to secure her state berth. Sheets scored 22 team points in the tournament.

Luck competed at 135 pounds and also went 3-1. She opened with a bye, then pinned Autumn Wheeler of Muscatine in 1:03 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals, Luck earned a technical fall over Alyssa Kriener of Linn-Mar to advance to the finals. After a loss by major decision in the championship match, she wrestled for true second and pinned Sariyah Wolf of Bettendorf in 1:56 to punch her ticket to state. Luck added 21.5 team points.

Zayva Claussen wrestled at 140 pounds and went 1-2 on the day. Following a quarterfinal loss, she pinned Presley Huggins of Davenport in the consolation bracket before being eliminated in the next round. Claussen scored 3 team points.

Kadence Briggs competed at 170 pounds and also finished 1-2. She worked through the consolation side and pinned Lucy Bowers of Clear Creek-Amana before falling in the consolation semifinals. Briggs earned 4 team points.

Sheets and Luck will wrestle Thursday at the state tournament at Xtreme Arena in Coralville. Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 4:30 p.m. Oskaloosa will send the two qualifiers to compete against the best wrestlers in Iowa.