Whippets close out the first half of the season with an undefeated day

Battling against the top teams from Nebraska, Colorado, and Kansas, the lady whippets wrestled hard all weekend but could not overcome the absences of three of their varsity wrestlers in duals on day one at the Flatwater Fracas. Those absences led the whippets to give up 30-36 points worth of forfeits in each dual, an impossible hole to overcome.

In pool action, Minden dropped their first dual to A#7 Millard West by a score of 30-40, meaning they were just one match away from finding a way to upset a top ten team. Keira Crane, Brinley Pohl, Marlie Petersen, and Cristal Gonzalez picked up wins in contested matches. 

In the second round, Minden fell to Colorado 5A #6 Eaglecrest 6-78, with Keira picking up the only win for Minden. Cristal wrestled one heck of a match, securing two takedowns and leading most of the way against a 4th place medalist before losing by fall late in the third period.

Round three was once again a close one as Minden fell to Bennington 30-42. Ella Warburton, McKinley Segelke, Keira, Brinley, Marlie, and Cristal all picked up wins in their matches.

The last round of day 1 saw Minden take on the Bearcats from Kearney, ranked #2 in Class A. Keira and Marlie picked up wins for the whippets as they fell 12-71, though the win by Keira avenged her only loss of the season to A#3 Swarm.

In the opening round Saturday, the whippets finally were able to break through as they defeated Smith Center, KS 36-21. Four girls picked up wins in contested matches while two others picked up forfeits.

That momentum carried over into the placing rounds, as Minden defeated Lincoln Northeast 42-24 behind 7 wins and a particularly stout run from 145-170 to lock up the dual.

It all came together in the final dual against Seward, as the girls won EVERY SINGLE contested match to win the dual 54-24. Marlie put an exclamation point on her strong final two weeks picking up a first period fall over A#6 (130) Rediger.

In all, the team finished in 13th place and turned a lot of heads with how well they competed. And of course as it seems every week, Keira Crane made a little more history. This time, she became only the second girl in program history to go undefeated while wrestling in every single dual. She notched six wins by fall plus a forfeit, oftentimes bumping up to 125 to selflessly help the team try to win the dual. The only other to accomplish this feat was Isabel Serrano in 2023. 

The coaching staff is extremely proud of the effort and energy shown by this team. They have absolutely earned every win and not expected it to be given to them. They will get a chance to watch film and work on mistakes over the two week break before our home opener January 6th against Aurora.