The Okoboji/HMS girls wrestling team saw action three times before the Thanksgiving break.
The Pioneers traveled to Emmetsburg November 19 for a double dual with the E-Hawks and Sioux Central. Okoboji/HMS won twice, beating the Rebels 57-24 and Emmetsburg 66-10.
The two HMS athletes competing were Natalie Dagel and Miley Appeldorn. Dagel pinned Sioux Central’s Jazzmin DeShazer in 2:37 at 235 pounds and won by forfeit in the Emmetsburg dual at 190 pounds. Appeldorn, wrestling at 120 pounds, received a victory by forfeit in the dual with the Rebels and lost by fall to Emmetsburg’s Taylor Thayer in 3:42.
The wrestlers were back in Emmetsburg November 23 for the Lady E-Hawk Tournament. Okoboji/HMS finished second behind Central Lyon/George-Little Rock, scoring 189 points compared to the Lions’ 210.5.
HMS wrestler Madi Lauer competed at 115 pounds. She lost twice by fall, to Gracey May of Humboldt in 2:38 and to GTRA’s Trista Guinn in 11 seconds.
Appeldorn wrestled in the 120-pound weight class. She received a bye into the quarterfinals where she pinned East Sac County’s Kennedy Harman in just 16 seconds. Appeldorn then dropped her semifinal match to the E-Hawks’ Taylor Thayer by fall in 2:44. In the consolation semis she lost to her Okoboji/HMS teammate Addilyn Plathe by fall in 2:31. The 5th Place Match was a rematch between Appeldorn and Harman with Appeldorn again getting the pin, this time in 51 seconds.
Okoboji/HMS placed second again to the Lions November 25 at the West Lyon Girls Wrestling Tournament at Inwood. The Pioneers compiled 110 points with Central Lyon/George-Little Rock scoring 138. Eleven of the Pioneers’ points came from Lauer who placed fourth at 115 pounds. She won her quarterfinal match by fall over Sophia Salzman of Sibley-Ocheyedan in 53 seconds. Lauer was on the wrong end of a pin when Sioux Center’s Cora Schut ended their semifinal match in 35 seconds. Wrestling in the consolation semis, Lauer pinned Ella Jean Kooiker of Boyden-Hull/Rock Valley in 2:52. The 3rd Place Match also ended in a fall with Spirit Lake’s Joley Schmahl getting the better of Lauer in 2:58.