Waukon girls wrestling trio of Mia Kurth, Makenna Kurth and Kloe Hemmersbach to compete in IGHSAU State Tournament this Thursday and Friday in Coralville

For the second consecutive season, the Waukon girls wrestling team will be sending a trio of young ladies to the Girls State Wrestling Tournament sanctioned by the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union (IGHSAU) this Thursday and Friday, February 1-2 at the Xtream Arena in Coralville. Competition will begin at the season grand finale Thursday morning at 10 a.m. and will take place on eight different mats through 3 p.m. and include the first two rounds of competition on the championship side of the bracket, as well as the first round of wrestlebacks on the consolation side of each of 14 weight class brackets that will each feature 32 wrestlers competing for State Tournament honors.

Competing for the Indians for the second time at the sanctioned season grand finale will be senior Mia Kurth in the 100-pound bracket, where she won five of six matches last year on the way to a third-place finish, and senior Kloe Hemmersbach in the 190-pound bracket, who split four matches in the 170-pound State Tournament bracket last season to end up shy of a final-eight podium finish. Freshman Makenna Kurth will be competing in her first-ever State Tournament in the 110-pound bracket. All three Lady Indians finished within the top four placewinners in their respective brackets at the Region 8 Tournament held in Mason City Friday, January 26.

The second Thursday session will take place from 6-9 p.m. and include the championship quarterfinals and second- and third-round wrestlebacks. Friday’s first session of competition will also take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with the Friday evening session determining the tournament’s top finishers from 6-9 p.m. Any wrestler suffering two losses in Thursday’s competition into the early rounds of Friday will be eliminated from the tournament, until just eight wrestlers remain in each weight class who will then finish wrestling to their respective first through eighth places.

Mia Kurth, who sports a 28-2 season record, will open the Girls State Tournament as the number-two seed in that 32-wrestler 100-pound bracket. Her first-round opponent Thursday morning will be a recent familiar face in Mason City freshman Ella Als, who sports a 28-20 season record and is a 31st-place seed. Kurth actually pinned Als in 45 seconds in the semifinal round of this past Friday’s Region 8 Tournament on the way to Als finishing as the Region 8 fourth-place finisher at 100 pounds.

Makenna Kurth brings a 30-13 record into the State Tournament and will be a number-18 seed in the 32-wrestler 110-pound bracket. She will open the season grand finale against West Liberty senior Alissa Sanchez, who is the 15th-seeded wrestler at 110 pounds and sports a 28-6 season record after finishing as the third-place finisher in the Region 5 State Qualifying Tournament in Cedar Rapids.

Hemmersbach will begin the season grand finale as the number-nine seed in the 190-pound bracket of 32 wrestlers with her 26-9 season record. She will be matched up in the opening round with MOC-Floyd Valley senior Elvia Topete-anzua, who is the 190-pound bracket’s 24th-seeded wrestler and sports a 21-18 season record after finishing as the fourth-place finisher in the Region 1 State Qualifying Tournament bracket held in Sioux City.