(Oakland) Three wrestlers will represent Riverside at the girls state tournament. The two day tourney begins Thursday at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
The Lady Dawgs were excited to advance as many wrestlers as they did. “I’m pretty excited with how things went. Our entire team laid their hearts out on the mat. They went out with a bang whether they made it or not. I couldn’t be more proud of my team. They put everything out there in hopes to get to state and we got three through.”
Head coach Taylor Frain qualified two regional champions with Molly Allen and Carly Henderson. “I’m expecting them to do really well at state this year. Molly and Carly are drill partners. They’ve been pushing each other in practice. They’ve been talking to one another on how to up their game these past few months. They’ve been feeding off of each other. When one of them is out on the mat the other is nearby cheering her on. I expect them both to be up on that podium by the end of this week.”
Allen is a defending state champion. She went 9-0 last season and won the 105 pound weight class. This year she’s at 115 pounds and is 26-0. “She’s going to see some tough competition. They are going to challenge her for that spot. She has a really good game plan going into this week. She’s been around wrestling for quite some time so she knows what to expect and how to handle herself and everything. That’s what’s really going to help her set herself apart from all the other girls in her bracket.”
Henderson and Meek each participated at state last year, but did not place. Henderson won 15 matches a year ago and is 27-5 this season. Meek goes to state with 22 wins on the year. “For Kia the biggest thing is she needs to come out and be aggressive. When she’s on her game plan and not trying to do anything fancy and new…there’s times when she’s wrestling and she tries to hit moves that we don’t normally do and we get caught. So if she just sticks to her game plan and comes out and is aggressive and acts as if there is nothing to lose she is going to go really far this week. She just needs to go out there and execute and lay everything out there and pull the trigger on things.”
Coach Frain comments on what they’ve done this week to be at their best for state. “During practice a lot of it is fine tuning and keeping the cardio up. Also keeping it fun.” Frain says, “As coaches we can get really intense sometimes. At the very end you want them to do well, but you have to keep it fun for them”
Each weight class has a bracket of 32 wrestlers. Allen is a #1 seed, Henderson is a #10 seed, and Meek is seeded 30th. Thursday’s first session runs from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. and will include the first round, second round, and first wrestleback. Session two from 5-9 p.m. will have the quarterfinals, 2nd wrestleback, and 3rd wrestleback.
On Friday the semifinals will start at 9:00 a.m. followed by the 4th, 5th, and 6th wrestlebacks along with 7th place matches. From 6-9 p.m. they’ll have championship, 3rd, and 5th place matches.
Riverside coach Taylor Frain:
