Cyclone grapplers have final tune-up before Regionals

In their final tune-up before Regionals, the HCHS Cyclones girls wrestling team struggled Monday at Red Oak High School against four other schools in part due to weight differences, but head coach Tarah Devlin-Lawler was still proud.

“A lot of the teams that we saw didn’t have the same weight classes as we did,” she said. “We didn’t get a whole lot of competition, but the competition we did see the girls wrestled great. It gave them a chance to go to Red Oak and get a good feel for the gym we’ll be at for Regionals.”

Individually, Hallie Lopez, Danica Schwery, Kyrsten Madden competed for the Cyclones.

Lopez had two matches, winning one and losing the other. Her loss came against Audrey Schmitz of Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln in the 170 weight class getting pinned at 1:10. Her victory was over Abbi Henderson of the 170 weight class of Red Oak pinning her in 2:23.

Schwery’s two losses came against Paige Baier of Red Oak in the 155 weight class getting pinned in 59 seconds, along with losing to Chloe Nelson of the 155 weight class of Shenandoah with a pin at 1:49. Madden lost to Amber Rea of Red Oak in the 135 weight class due to a technical fall at 3:26.

“These girls work really hard, and they put everything they have out on the mat,” Devlin-Lawler said. “At this point in the season, they’re still going out and wanting to compete and wanting to do better, and learn from matches that don’t go their way.”

The Cyclones will be back at Red Oak High School Friday for Regionals competing against 17 other schools.

“We’re really excited to go and compete,” Devlin-Lawler added. “We’re looking forward to having some really good competition and some pretty good matches. I think the girls are a little bit nervous, but we’re just hoping to go compete and leave everything on the mat.”