The Boone girls’ wrestling team advanced three wrestlers to the Iowa Girls State Wrestling Championships: Poppy Malone (105), Emersyn Zehner (135), and Cadence Heggen (190) at the regional state‑qualifying meet in Nevada, Friday, January 30.
All three secured top‑two finishes to punch their tickets to Coralville.
Zehner (19-15) capped her postseason with a regional championship.
Zehner pinned Kate Feltz (Webster City) in 1:19, then rolled in the semifinal with a 10-0 major decision over Willow Sexton (Benton).
She sealed the title by pinning Sienna Fehr (Algona) in 3:08.
Malone (25-6) finished runner‑up and earned her spot at state.
After two byes to open her bracket, Malone pinned Eden Geddings (Algona) in the semifinal in 1:48, sending her to the championship match.
There, she fell to Allison Houston (Nevada) before bouncing back with a pin in 2:45 over Marie Burns (Cedar Rapids Prairie) in the second-place match.
Heggen (27-10) fought to secure 2nd place and a state berth.
After a bye and a first‑round pin in 1:55, Heggen fell to Reagan Haynes (Algona) in a tech fall.
She responded with three straight wins in the consolation rounds: a pin over Gracen Plagge (Denison‑Schleswig), a fall against Jocelyn Flores (Cedar Rapids Prairie), and a 4-0 decision over Joscelyn Stricker (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) in the true‑second matchup.
Brooklynn Elliott (21-17) placed 3rd at heavyweight, including a pin in 3:15 in the third‑place match before falling in the second-place match.
Abigail Molitor (28-4-14) placed 4th, opening with a quick pin in 53 seconds, earning another victory in the consolation semifinal, and finishing just outside state qualification.
Other Boone competitors at the meet included:
Ray Kashawlic at 100 (0-7) received multiple byes and wrestled two matches, including a consolation semifinal appearance.
Johanna Meeks at 120 (12-22) dropped both of her contested matches after a first-round bye.
Brayleigh Haglund at 125 (5-13) wrestled deep into the consolation bracket after multiple byes and an 11-7 quarterfinal loss.
Averie Strollo at 130 (3-15) had a 14-4 major decision to open the meet and a third‑round pin in the consolations.
Ashton Devitt at 155 (3-10) had a consolation‑round fall in 1:45.
Gabriella Eckard at 170 (8-10) advanced into the consolation semifinal through several byes before being eliminated by fall.
Complete results were previously posted to kwbg.com
The 2026 Iowa Girls State Wrestling Tournament will be held Thursday and Friday, February 5 and 6, at Xtream Arena in Coralville.
The Class 2A first round, quarterfinals, wrestleback 1 rounds and wrestleback 2 rounds will be held Thursday.
No. 9 seed Malone will face No. 8 seed Houston of Nevada.
No. 10 seed Zehner will face No. 7 seed Josephine Budederi of Cedar Rapids Jefferson.
No. 10 seed Heggen will face No. 7 seed Divine Akili of Linn-Mar in Marion.
In addition, KWBG will air “Meet the State Wrestler” interviews featuring Boone and Ogden wrestlers and coaches at 6 p.m. Wednesday, February 4.
Jill Lutz reporting
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