State Wrestling

(February 17-18th, 2023)

I know I just put the date for this year, but we do have to take a moment to look back in time. Last year was Ivory's first year wrestling, so I'm not sure I really understood how cool it was that she went to State. That said, it also was a shoe-in that she would go, since there weren't enough girls to kick anyone out. However, it was SUPER cool that she got 4th place. And I actually blogged about it, because it overlapped with Annie coming to visit for Ivory's birthday. So you can check out most of the State stuff here. 

I do have a couple other pictures from last year. Let's start off with the bracket, because it tells us some cools stuff. First, it shows that there just weren't as many girls last year. Girls wrestling has been around for less than a decade, so it is still growing. You can see that many of the girls had byes. Ivory did a great job winning her first two matches. (She's on the bottom middle and then jumps to bottom left.) In fact, she was supposed to lose in her second match, but instead, she pinned the girl. It was a total upset. The girl did some back to grind her face into the mat many times to take third, but Ivory still got fourth and that was amazing for her first year.

She made me buy her a hoodie to celebrate her victory. (I would have gotten it for her anyway :)

This year, there were still some girls that slid into State because the brackets weren't super full, but Ivory's weight class was not one of them. In fact, 105s had some of the hardest girls in them. But Ivory decided to stick it out, and I'm super proud of her. She had to qualify in divisionals which happened a couple weeks before State. Here she is with Emma. They both made it! 

Ivory possibly had more bruises and small injuries than ever before. She would come home and show them off. She seemed to have odd aches and pains come up randomly. My goal for State was that she would come home with no serious injuries. We only had one more weekend to go. 

I know the bracket may ruin the suspense but let's put that on here first. Then you can follow Ivory on her journey. (Notice no byes this time around.)

I was really happy that we happened to have a day off from school for State. So I got to attend almost every match Ivory had. (Much better than last year when I only saw the last match.) In Divisionals, the girls were divided into two groups, A & B. Ivory wrestled in group A and took 4th place. This also determined where they would be seeded for State. She started out against Blaser (who took 5th in group B) It was a good match. The girls kept going out of bounds. Here you can see Ivory trying to throw the other girls down and bring her back in bounds, but they were already too far out.

Going out of bounds is okay. They just blow the whistle and you start back in the center. It didn't take too long for Ives to get the pin. Nice job.

I couldn't stay for the second match. Don't worry though, Ivory had good company. 

Her next match was Mortimer. Mortimer was the first person Ivory ever wrestled in a competition. She is well trained and comes from a family of wrestlers. She's good. Ivory wasn't planning on winning. Her goal was to not get pinned. I actually watched this match online. I'm not subscribed, so I couldn't watch the video, but I could watch the points. I watched Mortimer's points go up and up. Eventually Mortimer teched Ivory, but Ivory was not pinned and that was a victory for her. 

I was able to come back to watch the last match of the day. Ivory was now in the consolation bracket. She went up against Jessop. This was a quick match and fun to watch. Ivory had a good takedown. Also, I think it is funny that often when Ivory pins someone, her feet will lift off the ground as she tries to center all her weight on top of her opponent. 

That was all for Friday. We were back on Saturday for the rest of the competition. Ivory was starting with the blood round. That is the round that determines who is out and who will place. If Ivory lost, no more matches for her, and if she won, she would get at least 6th place, or better. Ivory was up against a girl named January. She was the state champion for the 100 weight class in 2022. I was hoping for the best, but actually, as usual, mostly hoping that Ivory wouldn't be injured. There was a delay at their mat while the ref table had some technical difficulties. Ivory chatted with her coaches.

It was a good match. I only am including the second half of the match on video. Ivory was super proud of a takedown she got. She'd been practicing tugging the arm of her opponent and grabbing their leg and she did it just right. Also, notice her feet going up again on the pin. 

That's right. She won the blood round! Ivory was going to be on the podium again. But it was still to be determined where. (Unless you already looked closely at the bracket. Then you already know.) Here she is talking to her coach afterward. And later, walking around staying slightly warm.

Her next match was against Jones. Ivory got pinned in 26 seconds at Divisionals by Jones. She wasn't super thrilled to be wrestling her. Her goal was to make it through the first period without being pinned. That didn't happen, but Ivory did make it twice as long as last time. Look at Jones plant her feet to throw Ivory. That girl was brutal. (But I did smile to myself that was also was in the consolation bracket. No first place for Jones.)

With that loss, Ivory was either going to get 5th or 6th. She went up against Sharp, who she had beaten in the past, so she was hopeful. I did not really like Sharp. She did a weird little in and out dance and kept bopping Ivory in the forehead. It looked super annoying, but it isn't illegal. It was a really long match. There were takedowns and escapes on both sides. You can see in these pictures that Ivory lifts her off her feet and slams her down. It goes from Sharp having no feet on the ground to Ivory with both feet in the air. 

No one could get a pin, so it was going to be decided by points. Ivory got a takedown just as the time ran out. There was a lot of debate on the call. Two refs conferred together and they finally decided that Ivory got the points, which changed it from a tie to 11-9. Ivory won. Yay Ives!!

That meant 5th place. I'm so dang proud of her. She is such a strong chica, who worked hard. She was one of three girls from the school who placed at State. 

I love her flexing in this picture. I think she's pretty proud too. And she should be. This is a crazy good group of wrestlers.

That will probably be our last match. Ivory doesn't plan on wrestling in the fall, and I don't think the other girls will pick it up, but it was sure awesome to watch Ivory develop such an awesome talent. And guys...no serious injuries. My prayers were answered. Sure, she had to pause multiple matches for bloody noses, but that is pretty normal for Ivory. She is a bleeder. But she walked away from wrestling in much the same shape as she started. (Well, with more muscles of course.)