Whether you want to call it a pet-peeve or not, Kiley Dillow knows what makes her tick.
 
Or more fittingly, what makes her ticked.
 
“I hate to not be good at something,” the Chanute junior admitted. “The thing that makes me the most mad is if I’m not good at what I’m doing.”
 
So even though she enjoyed tremendous success as a freshman after taking up wrestling for the first time that year after having played basketball in middle school, going 33-6 and placing third at the Class 4-1A state meet, Dillow was far from satisfied. And certainly not sold on whether she truly loved her new sport.
 
“Freshman year after state, I was like, ‘Whatever, I like it, but not sure if I love it,’” Dillow said. “My brother (Trey) drug me to summer stuff and it was rough and I was not good. But I fell in love with it through the team sport, competing with other girls around the state that truly loved the sport. That helped me realize this sport’s something special and it’s something you can’t get in other sports.
 
“As soon as that hit, I skyrocketed.”
 
Since losing in the quarterfinals at the 2023 Class 4-1A state tournament in Salina, Dillow has been one happy camper. Not only is Dillow good at wrestling, she’s one of the state’s best.
 
Dillow proved as much at this year’s Class 4A State Championships at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina, putting on an impressive show at 170 pounds. Coming into the meet as the defending state champion at the weight, Dillow left no doubt that she still rules things.
 
None of her four matches made it out of the first period, including her championship match with Tonganoxie’s Grace Stean, whom she pinned with 11 seconds left in the opening period for her second straight title.
 
Dillow finished 43-0, her second straight undefeated season as well.
 
“I think I expected it more,” Dillow said of her repeat. “I knew I could win it. The specialty isn’t quite there like it was with the last one. The first one is always going to be special. But it is fun having that target on your back. Everyone was out to get me, but that was fun. I enjoy it because that makes people watch me and brings more attention.”
 

 
All eyes have been on Dillow since her strong showing her freshman year. She was pinned by Atchison County’s Hannah Simmers in the quarterfinals that year, but stormed back with four straight pins before getting revenge on Simmers in the third-place match, taking a 5-0 victory for the third-place finish.
 
The loss to Simmer was the last time Dillow tasted defeat. She went 44-0 as a sophomore, beating Oakley’s Atavia Cain 9-3 for her first state title before rolling through this year’s tourney field. Dillow will go into her senior season riding a 90-match winning streak.
 
“If told me freshman year that after I lost in the quarterfinals of state that I hadn’t lost since, I’d think that’s crazy,” she said. “But looking back, there’s not really a match that I don’t feel I shouldn’t have won. I think I should win every single match that I’ve wrestled in high school.”
 
That kind of confidence has typically been prevalent for Dillow since she poured herself into the sport following her freshman season. It rarely wavers, even when she’s going up against her toughest competition.
 
But Dillow did admit, she let a hint of self-doubt creep in ahead of this year’s state tournament.
 
“I remember the night before there was that ‘What if?’ that went through my mind,” she said. “But I was talking to my coach and he said, ‘If you lose, you get second and we’re still going to go to nationals next week and you’re going to win that.’ He said the one match doesn’t define me. And throughout the season I knew if I lost, I’d learn more from that than I do from some of my wins. 
 
“Coming into state, I was kind of starting to put the pressure on myself. But after the first day I knew I had it in the bag. I got calmed down, took the pressure off myself and got my head right.”
 
In past years, Dillow has had a plethora of teammates sharing the state ride to help keep her in that right frame of mind. She was part of a Class 4-1A state championship team her freshman year and last year had a fellow finalist in now-departed teammate Reese Clements, who won the 135-pound title.
 
Their bond has been a long and strong one and one Dillow missed this year with Clements now serving as an assistant coach for Frontenac after graduating last spring.
 
“It was different,” Dillow said. “ Last year, I had Reese with me and we spent the majority of the day sitting in the hotel room, hanging out. We could talk to each other and got what each other were going through. This year, it was hard kind of being by myself. I stayed at the arena the whole day and I got to see a teammate go through the blood rounds and place, which was great. Reese was still there, coaching Frontenac, so I still got to talk to her. She’s always there for me.”
 
Dillow finished this season with 23 pins but showed off her true dominance by also recording 13 technical fall wins. She had made that a point of emphasis with the new scoring system for high school wrestling this year where takedowns went from two to three points.
 
“For me it was why ride on top? I hate top,” she said. “Let’s just go get seven takedowns and be done with it.”
 
One of those technical fall wins came over Stean at regionals. Though the Chieftain was impressive in pinning her way to the finals, Dillow was supremely confident when she hit the mat for their finals match.
 
She’s just at that point in her career.
 
“I feel in control the entire time, especially in school,” she said. “Summer’s a little different because I wrestle tougher competition. In school, they are intimidated by me and that gives me confidence. They’re going to have to wrestle to my ability and adapt to my style of wrestling.”
 
Chanute didn’t finish in the top 10 this season as a team for the first time ever, taking 12th. But with four of five state qualifiers back next year, Dillow warned, “Be ready for Chanute next year.”
 
And Dillow, who will look to put together a third straight undefeated season, something only four-time undefeated state champion Gabi Koppes of Clay Center has done in girls wrestling. She wasn’t sure how she could top her performances of the past two years, and that success still is a bit incredulous to her. 
 
“I didn’t think I’d be this good,” she said. “I thought I’d be good on the state level, but not to this extent. But at the same time, I’ve put in the same amount of work in the past three years that a lot of people have put in in seven years. I’m putting in so many hours throughout the spring and summer that that levels out.”
 

 
ABILENE’S WILSON TWINS COMPLETE JOURNEY, CAPTURE TITLES BACK-TO-BACK
 
Even though it was a moment they’d both thought plenty about, and a moment they’d experienced before, it was still a moment Josie and Jade Wilson had a hard time wrapping their head around.
 
The Abilene freshman twins had spent the entire season on the fast track to beginning their careers as state champions together. Josie ran the table going into state, posting an undefeated 35-0 mark at 100 pounds. Jade was nearly as good at 105 pounds, losing only twice in 34 matches.
 
But after completing that journey with back-to-back titles, the duo still needed to digest what they had just accomplished.
 
“It’s just surreal,” Josie said of sharing a championship season with her twin. “It’s such a blessing.”
 
“It’s really unbelievable,” Jade said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. But I’m just so happy right now.”
 
The Wilsons had won multiple Kids State Championships prior to arriving in high school this year, so their accomplishment wasn’t exactly a new one. But there’s something a little different about winning a high school state championship, particularly considering the opposition they were facing in the finals.
 
Josie’s undefeated season had already included a dominating technical fall win over Nemaha Central’s Renae Keim, that coming in the title match at the Gerald Sadowski Tournament in Holton in late January. But the Thunder sophomore hadn’t lost since and was impressive making it back to a rematch in the state finals with two first-period pins sandwiched around a technical fall win.
 
In the championship match, it was Keim, not Wilson, that struck first, getting a takedown 30 seconds in. In a position she hadn’t been in much this season, Wilson could have let the moment get to her.
 
Instead, she handled it like a seasoned pro.
 
“I always think of it as there’s a lot of match left and if somebody gets a takedown on me, you can’t take time worrying about it and let it mess up your mental mindset,” Josie said. “I just think of it as, ‘OK, she got the first takedown, I’m going to go get the next one. I’m going to go get back points, I’m going to get the pin.’”
 
It didn’t exactly play out that way, but it was close. Almost instantaneously after being taken down, Josie got a quick reversal less than 15 seconds later. She locked in one of Keim’s arms and after some wrenching near the center of the mat, she flipped Keim to her back and got the pin with 36 seconds left in the period.
 

 
“I never wrestle anybody as hard as I wrestle Jade, so I just try to picture her as Jade out there,” Josie said. “I know (Keim’s) a good wresler and I respect her a lot. I expected this time would be harder because she’d be coming for me in the state finals. So let’s go.”
 
The sibling rivalry between the Wilsons is always prevalent so as soon as Josie got her championship, Jade was even more determined to get hers. And there was a part of her that wanted to be even more dominant in how she got it.
 
“As soon as I saw her do it, I knew I could,” Jade said. “I knew I could do it if she could do it.”
 
Jade’s finals test was even tougher than Josie’s. Circle’s Alexis Wall not only was a defending state champion, winning the 100-pound title a year ago. She also had handed Jade one of her two losses this season, beating her in the finals at the Abilene Invitational.
 
Jade had also beaten Wall twice, a 14-10 win and then a 17-5 major decision, the latter coming in the regional finals.
 
Their rematch in the state finals resembled their second meeting. With Josie nervously watching from the side of the mat, Jade put any doubts to quick rest. She needed only eight seconds to take Wall down and only another 10 seconds to turn the T-Bird to her back.
 
Wilson poured it on from there, leading 10-1 at the end of the first and building a 13-1 lead 20 seconds into the second before Wall got a reversal. Wall momentarily had Wilson’s arm in position to turn, but Wilson fought it off and got her own reversal.
 
Though she couldn’t match Josie’s finals pin, Wilson never was in danger against Wall and “settled” for an 18-4 major decision.
 
“I had a really good warmup and I knew I couldn’t wait  and had to keep going and going and push the pace because she’s a really good competitor and a really good wrestler,” Jade said. “I knew if I just tried to rest, it wouldn’t go down well. As soon as the match started, I had to be quick on my feet. There were a couple situations where it could have gone back and forth, but I just stayed in good position.”
 

 
Josie finished off the season with a 39-0 mark while Jade ended with a 36-2 record. They were joined as state champions by another Abilene freshman, Noah Wuthnow, who won the boys’ 132-pound title. The three have grown up in school and on the mats together and as Wuthnow got his medal, the Wilsons took a brief pause from an interview to cheer.
 
“I think it’s really cool,” Jade said of the trio titles. “I know he’s worked really hard, like we have, and stayed after practice. He deserves it.”
 
All three can now realistically envision becoming four-time state champions for Abilene, something only one other Cowboy wrestler has done, Jake Kriegbaum, who is a coach for the youth program.
 
They also got to witness that history first-hand with North Central Kansas League colleague Gabi Koppes of Clay Center winning her fourth to cap the championship round. Koppes also became the first girl to go undefeated in her career, something Josie also will have a shot to do.
 
“It’s in the back of my mind, but I don’t like to look that far ahead,” Josie said. “One match at a time.”
 

 
GOODLAND’S GONZALEZ TAKES ON ALTER-EGO TO DEFEND 140-POUND TITLE
 
Whether or not Destiny Gonzalez does a spot-on Robert de Niro or impression or not is debatable.
 
But if she had ever decided to pull one out, the two weeks leading up to her Class 4A title defense at 140 pounds certainly called for it.
 
After losing a wild 21-15 decision to Rock Creek’s Brooklyn Burenheide in the Class 4A regional championship match, her Goodland coaches came to her with an approach for a potential rematch at the Class 4A state meet. And it was one she wasn’t necessarily the most comfortable with, eliciting a “Are you talking to me?” kind of reaction.
 
“My coaches told me that’s how I was going to win, with my takedowns,” Gonzalez said. “I’m not really a person that shoots. I’m more of a person that goes for it with throws. … But they know what they’re talking about, so I drilled those quite a bit the past two weeks.”
 
The extra work paid off in a big way. Unable to hit Burenheide with any big scoring throws, Gonzalez instead relied on timely takedowns to erase an early 6-0 deficit and secure an 11-8 overtime victory to win her second straight state championship at 140 pounds.
 
It marked the second straight thriller in her title match as last year Gonzalez edged Ellis’ Kaydawn Haag 3-2 in the state finals. After going 34-6 a year ago, Gonzalez posted a 30-4 record this year.
 
“This one had me on my toes, I’m not going to lie,” Gonzalez said. “This one definitely feels better.”
 
As it should. Ranked No. 1 to start the season at 140, Gonzalez ceded the top spot to Burenheide when the Mustang senior moved up from 130 pounds, where she had been ranked No. 1 as well. She had yet to lose a match, winning her first two tournaments of the year and despite being the defending champ, still dropped.
 
Though she really wasn’t affected by it mentally, she definitely had something to prove when she finally met Burenheide. With Burenheide also feeling the need to justify being ranked ahead of a defending champion, their regional clash became an epic one.
 
Neither wrestler could figure out a way to keep the other one down or muscle their way to pins despite multiple opportunities in their regional clash and it went back and forth with Burenheide pulling out the high-scoring victory.
 
“That was the first match that I’ve actually had where it’s, ‘Go, go, go. Score, score, score,” Gonzalez said. “That was definitely a wild one.”
 
After both easily worked their back to a rematch in the finals – Gonzalez getting two technical fall wins ahead of a semifinal pin of Nemaha Central’s Autumn Feldkamp and Burenheide pinning all three foes – the question was what could the duo do for an encore?
 
So naturally the first period of the title match went scoreless.
 
“I learned the first time when she caught me I’d better be smart and wrestle my hardest on my feet,” Gonzalez said. “And know situations. I just had to wrestle smarter than I did the first time. Hold my position and know what I’m doing. Take what she gives me and I did.”
 

 
Burenheide was giving Gonzalez nothing but fits to start the second period. Gonzalez locked up a cradle early in the period, but as she turned Burenheide, the Mustang countered and reversed Gonzalez right to her back. Burenheide couldn’t work the pin and Gonzalez fought back to the down position, eventually escaping.
 
As the period wound down, Gonzalez worked a quick shot with six seconds left to pull within 6-4 by the end of the period.
 
That would be trend that worked in Gonzalez’ favor. Burenheide restored an 8-4 lead with a two-point near fall but Gonzalez got another escape to get within three. Needing a takedown to force overtime and keep her title hopes alive, she got it with eight seconds left.
 
“I looked at my coaches in the corner and they told me, ‘You’ve got this. You’ve got a couple seconds, go,’” Gonzalez said. “And then I went.”
 
She wasn’t done with her late heroics. Overtime only lasts one minute and Gonzalez made her only shot of the period count, getting the match and title-winning takedown with four seconds left for the 11-8 win.
 
“I guess my takedowns were just working for me today,” she said. “Just snapping and going for that single leg. I knew it was going to come down to that and it did.”
 

 
MULVANE’S LANDRETH SHEDS UNWANTED TITLE EARNS LONG-COVETED ONE INSTEAD
 
Going into her senior season, a frequently-used golf analogy was the most fitting way to summarize Leiannah Landreth’s high school career to that point.
 
“Best never to win a major.”
 
In Landreth’s case, the “major” in question was a state championship. And in the Mulvane senior’s case, she certainly fit the criteria for the best wrestler in the state never to have reached the top of the podium.
 
Something she was all too aware of.
 
“To a lot of people, it was definitely like, ‘How does she not have one?’” Landreth said. “But they really didn’t know. Those who knew, knew. But it was still pretty hard dealing with that. Just seeing everyone else get their championship, people I’d beaten. It was hard.”
 
It’s talk Landreth won’t ever have to listen to again. After coming up just short in her previous three state tournament appearances, Landreth finally had her major breakthrough and got her long-awaited and coveted title. 
 
The Wildcat standout needed only 40 seconds in her 120-pound championship match to pin surprise finalist Mya Courtney of Frontenac. The victory capped a 42-0 season for Landreth and also was her 150th career win.
 

 
A huge smile beamed across Landreth’s face as her hand was finally raised at the center of the mat, but there was another emotion that was just as prevalent.
 
“It was more relief, just knowing I ended my high school career with something I’d wanted since my freshman year,” Landreth said. “I was excited I won, but I was honestly, I really wasn’t feeling what I thought I would. I really don’t know how to explain it. I’ve worked and trained so long for it, but this year it was more expected, I guess.
 
“If I’d won last year, that would have been epic. It just hit different this year.”
 
A state championship a year ago would have indeed been epic and even further cemented Landreth’s legacy as one of the best the state’s ever produced. And it was only a matter of seconds away from happening.
 
Prior to her 120-pound 4-1A state championship match with Rossville’s Kendra Hurla, the two had already had two legendary showdowns with Hurla prevailing each time, including an 11-10 decision in the finals of the Baldwin Invitational where Hurla scored a three-point near fall in the final seconds for a come-from-behind win.
 
In the state finals rematch, Hurla had history on the line, looking to become the first girl in state history to win four straight state titles. But less than a minute into the match, Landreth nearly ruined the party, taking Hurla to her back.
 
Hurla quickly fought off the pin and though she came back to take a lead early in the third, Landreth got a reversal to take an 8-7 lead into the final minute of the match. On the brink of a historic upset, Landreth saw Hurla recapture her late-match heroics. The Bulldawg reversed Landreth to her back in the final 30 seconds and pinned her as time expired.
 
It was a crushing defeat for Landreth.
 
“That was hard because I literally had it,” Landreth said. “Each time we wrestled, she always was able to pull through at the end. I would start off high up and she would always come back. Nothing changed for her, even when she was losing. She just had that great mindset.”
 
The loss to Hurla came on the heels of two straight defeats that were pretty hard to swallow as well. As a freshman, Landreth made the state finals at 109 pounds, but dropped a 5-2 decision to Lakin’s Josiah Ortiz, who also had beaten her earlier in the season.
 
Those two met again at the state tournament the next year, this time Ortiz pulling out a 1-0 win in the 115-pound semifinals – Landreth’s only loss of the season.
 
In her high school career, Landreth suffered just six losses, five of those coming to either Ortiz or Hurla and the other a 15-13 loss to Wellington’s Anna Cullens.
 
“Josiah and Kendra, those two girls, I mean, they were so tough,” Landreth said. “They all just motivated me each year. Over the summer, I just used it as fuel. And I learned. Most of the time in my matches I just like to go and make the first move, just kind of go at it. But I really learned how to think in my matches and slow down. I could still go fast, but I really had to think and not get ahead of myself.”
 
This year, Landreth really didn’t have that serious threat to contend with in her weight class, which she said perhaps contributed to her title breakthrough feeling a little bit anti-climactic. At the same time, however, Landreth was on such a mission to get that title that it may not have mattered.
 

 
She was completely dominant at the state meet, needing just a combined 2:18 to pin all four of her opponents, getting a 37-second pin of Independence’s Peyton Minick, a 36-second pin of Colby’s Joslyn Bartlett and 25-second pin of Burlington’s Olivia Lyons ahead of her quick pin of Frontenac’s Courtney, who had upset No. 3 Autumn Wilson of Tonganoxie in the quarterfinals and No. 2 Alyssa Calovich of Chapman in the semifinals with pin victories.
 
Unofficially, Landreth capped her title with another quick pin, this time of Mulvane assistant coach Michael Bird, who she threw to the mat -- with authority mind you -- when she returned to her corner after the title.
 
“That was planned,” she said. “I guess some people didn’t know and were like, “Oh I thought he went in for a hug and she just threw him!’ But no, that was planned. He was surprised because I actually threw him harder than he thought. I had to full send or he was going to fall on me or something bad like that.”
 
But through the years, Bird has known just how to be the perfect foil for Landreth in the practice room. Despite him being considerably bigger than the diminutive Landreth, the two were able to put in meaningful work together, giving her challenges that her female teammates simply couldn’t.
 
“I used to practice with some of the boys, but I don’t really have a lot of options,” Landreth said. “He knows how to not put all his weight on me and really push me. Going with Bird, we’d wrestle and then stop and think about stuff that I needed to work on from past years. He helped me lift my defense and just become better all the way around.”
 
A nationally accomplished wrestler who is ranked sixth nationally at 120 pounds and has been a national champion and is a USA Wrestling future Olympian, Landreth finished her career with a 150-7 record, her milestone win coming in the title match. She ranks only behind Olathe North’s Kaylan Hitchcock on the girls’ career victory list with Hitchcock completing her career this year with 181 victories.
 
“Achieving something like that is really cool,” she said. “But if I didn’t have a state title to go with it, it wouldn’t have been as good of a feeling. Being able to have them both together really feels good.”
 

  
FORT SCOTT’S MILES HANDLES SPOTLIGHT, PRESSURE LIKE A CHAMP
 
The spotlight is somewhat of a double-edged sword for Kenna Miles.
 
For starters, it’s something she aggressively seeks. A life-long competitive dancer, Miles has been signed with a talent agency for nearly a decade already, which has landed the Fort Scott teen both television appearances and a national advertising campaign.
 
But as someone who also has battled with anxiety, depression and self-confidence at various times in her life, being in the spotlight can also escalate each of those mental challenges.
 
Rather than let that edge of the sword dictate her life, Miles has chosen to embrace high-pressure situations. It’s become where she finds her peace.
 
“I really like pressure because I have really bad anxiety so it gives me an adrenaline rush,” she said. “It gets me energy to go out there and do good.”
 
While the dance stage has long been that spot, Miles has found a new sanctuary. When she steps onto a wrestling mat, she says, ‘I’m at home.”
 
And the spotlight has certainly found her there. Last year, Miles became Fort Scott’s first-ever girls’ state champion, capturing the 110-pound title in Class 4-1A as a sophomore. With all eyes on her to see if she could do it again this year, Miles responded.
 
The Tiger junior left no doubt another title was on her dance card, rolling through the 110 bracket. After pinning her first opponent of the tourney, Miles recorded three straight major decision victories including an 11-1 win over Jefferson West’s Sophie Waters in the championship match.
 
“Coming into the year I was a little skeptical of it, especially having such a big target on my back,” Miles said. “I was looking forward to the state tournament and winning again and it was a great outcome. This season it put a lot of pressure on me to perform well and prove what I achieved last year.”
 
After winning last year’s state title, Miles was on the highest of highs. Her title came in just her third year in the sport, one she wanted to take up at a much earlier age than she did after watching her brother, Ryken, enjoy a lot of success in kids club wrestling.
 
But up until her eighth-grade year, her mother, Leslie Godden was a hard “No” on letting Kenna follow him into the sport.
 
“She said I was going to get hurt for dance and all my other stuff going on,” Miles said. “But she finally gave in my eighth grade year. Watching my brother and seeing all the stuff he’s done with it, I just have always been interested in it.
 
“Dance and wrestling are two completely different sports. But it’s a confidence thing, too, and I thought it would help me gain so much more confidence. And it’s cool that I’d get to throw girls around for fun. It just felt like home since I’ve been around it for years.”
 

 
In her first high school season, Miles went 34-7 and placed fourth at state. She came back her sophomore season and took it up a notch, posting a 40-3 record and avenging a regional loss to Chase County’s Kenzie Rogers with an 8-5 win over the Bulldog in the finals.
 
After the breakthrough championship season, Miles went from that highest of high to a low. Experiencing some troubles at school and not having the wrestling room to work out those struggles, Miles began dealing with bouts of depression.
 
“It was just a lot of having such a good year last year,” she said. “I struggle with confidence, I always have. I was happy at practice and having such a good time during the season. And then I wasn’t around that and it was just me and myself and I was kind of losing myself.”
 
She began doing her schooling online and that helped her balance her busy schedule that not only includes wrestling and dance but self-marketing to enhance her national profile which already has some impressive entries on her resume.
 
When she was 10 she appeared on Nickelodeon’s LipSync Battle Shorties. Shortly after that, she won a contest to be a national model for Claire’s in their Back to School ads. Miles has also served as an ambassador for Abby Lee Dance Company and was to have appeared on the TV show “Dance Moms,” but the episode never aired.
 
She’s currently a top 10 finalist for a chance to appear in a music video for Ciara through an online voting contest “Dance Icon.”
 
Having those experiences have translated well to her success on the mat.
 
“I’ve been in a lot of high-anxiety, high-pressure situations and that’s helped me in wrestling,” she said. “I’ve been around stuff like that my whole life and that’s helped my mindset because there’s been so many situations where I’ve been nervous and fidgety.
 
“It’s kind of a mental thing. Before a match, my mind’s racing, my heart’s racing and sometimes it’s hard to breathe. But when I step out on the mat, it’s whatever happen, happens. God will be with you and whatever the outcome is, go out there and be you.”
 
Though the bracket showed Miles as being undefeated this year, she suffered one loss, that coming to Class 5A state champion Harper Holmes of Pittsburg, who was last year’s 105-pound champion in Class 4-1A while wrestling for Frontenac. One loss or none, Miles felt the pressure to finish off the season on top again, and responded.
 

 
“It was very scary because every match I felt I had to go out and win,” she said. “Everyone wants to beat you and they’re looking for that upset. But basically my motto was to prove people wrong.
 
“It honestly felt amazing. Sometimes when I get in high-pressure situations I don’t perform as well. But going into that as soon as I got out on the mat, I was on a roll.”
 
She built a 7-0 lead on Waters in the first period of the title match and the only moment that provided any hint of concern came in the second quarter when, starting on bottom, she saw Waters wrench into position to try and turn her on the shoulder that she had pop out of place earlier in the season.
 
“She was running that half and I was like, ‘Don’t get turned,” Miles said. “The whole time it was keep fighting and don’t give up.”
 
Miles fought it off, escaped and then got a takedown in the third to go up 11-0. She broke out a huge smile as the clocked ticked to zero, raising her arms in celebration of her second title, flashing two fingers.
 
“Winning again was a very special moment,” she said. “Not just for me, but my coach (Alvin Metcalf) as well. He’s done everything for me to be successful and I would not be the wrestler I am today if it wasn’t for him. He put so much confidence in me and I’m so glad for that.”
 

GIRARD’S MCATEE PERFECTLY FINE EXCEEDING GOALS
 
Exceeding goals is something that Kaylen McAtee has become pretty good at throughout her wrestling career.
 
And that trait developed almost immediately.
 
Taking up the sport in seventh grade because she had no desire to play basketball, McAtee had a modest goal.
 
“I just wanted to win one match,” she said.
 
She won two.
 
Fast forward to this season and McAtee was simply trying to atone for arguably the most disappointing performance she’s had on the mat in her career. Going into last year’s state tournament with a 26-2 record and fresh off winning a regional championship, McAtee not only didn’t place, she failed to win a match.
 
Holton’s Raegan Watkins stunned McAtee with a 41-second pin in the opening round and McAtee couldn’t recover in the opening consolation round, dropping a 6-4 decision to Plainville’s Lillian Garcia.
 
“I just let the nerves get to me,” McAtee said of her 2024 state showing. “I fumbled. Did something stupid. I continually worked in the offseason because I didn’t want to feel that low again.”
 
The extra work paid off. Not only did McAtee find her way to the medal stand this year, she made it to the top of the podium. With a first-period pin of Prairie View’s Shawna Case in the Class 4A 155-pound championship match, McAtee became Girard’s first-ever state champion, boy or girl.
 
Not only that, she completed an undefeated senior season, going 36-0.
 
“It means a lot,” McAtee said of both the undefeated season and making history for the Trojan wrestling program. “I’ve put a lot of work into this program and I’m glad to see the growth.
 
“I didn’t make it a goal to go undefeated. It just came with all the hard work I put in.”
 
After last year’s disappointing state showing, McAtee went to work to make sure her senior season was a different experience. She ramped up her offseason workouts, concentrating on refining her technique both on her feet and on the mat.
 
“The greatest thing that helped me was doing freestyle in the offseason and continually working,” she said. “Freestyle in Kansas, our coaches are excellent and really work with you one on one. We have a great freestyle team that really encourages growth.
 
“I improved miles and miles from last year.”
 
And it didn’t take long for her to realize that.
 
“First tournament I wrestled, I felt there was something different about me,” McAtee said of the KanOkla Tournament at Caney Valley where she pinned all four opponents. “Everything clicked. It took me about six years, but we’ve finally got here.”
 

 
McAtee pinned her way through every tournament she was in except for the Circle Invitational where she was finally pushed, taking a 14-11 decision over Haven’s Trista Rogers in the finals. With Rogers in Class 3-2-1A for the postseason, McAtee’s biggest threat to her undefeated season appeared to be Scott City’s Ashlyn Rose, who was ranked No. 2 and was 31-8 going into state.
 
But Rose was upset in the semifinals, by Case, who stunned the Beaver with a pin just over halfway through the first period. Even though McAtee had pinned Case twice this season – in 40 seconds at their first meeting at the Paola Invitational and then in just over a minute in the regional semifinals – she wasn’t taking her lightly in round three.
 
“I knew she’s a tough wrestler and very strong,” McAtee said. “That shot she usually hits is a killer. I got air time the last time she hit it on me. I knew what to expect and I just had to keep my hands down, stay focused and do what I do. I was looking forward to seeing her because I knew that we work well together.”
 
And whatever McAtee has works against Case. She fought off Case’s best attempts to lock in her killer shot and once she got her shot in, she had Case on her back and pinned with 49 seconds left in the first period to complete her undefeated senior season.
 
“I couldn’t have dreamt of a better way to go out,” she said.
 

WINFIELD’S BRENN FOLLOWS IN CHAMPIONSHIP FOOTSTEPS OF BROTHER, FATHER
 
Given her last name, it was seemingly a birthright for Abby Brenn to someday become a state wrestling champion for Winfield.
 
After all, her father, Andy captured a state championship for the Vikings in 1997. Now the head coach of the program, Andy was in the corner when his son, Abby’s brother, Kody followed suit with a state championship in 2023.
 
So naturally, Abby was next in line. Right?
 
“I had no interest in it,” Abby said of wrestling. “I was a short, nerdy little kid. Sports weren’t really my thing until I got older.”
 
Once it became her thing, Brenn took the fast track to following in the family’s footsteps. After just missing out on capturing her first state title last year as a sophomore, falling in the finals to Wellington’s Aubrey Hunt, she joined her father and brother as a state champion this year.
 
Brenn capped a 32-1 season with a 7-2 win over Paola’s Ellie Baska in the 190-pound finals to get one of her own.
 
“Of course there’s pressure,” Brenn said. “I’ve always said it’s just carrying on the legacy of it. But it’s also a thing I always wanted once I started. I thought it would be the coolest thing ever and (the family ties) are just the plus on the side. It’s still winning a state championship.
 
“I don’t know a wrestler who’s not good with winning a state championship.”
 
Brenn finally joined the family business as a seventh grader and if she’s being frank wondered just what she’d gotten into. At that time, Winfield didn’t have a girl-specific team at that level so she spent the entire season wrestling against boys.
 
“And I was not good,” she said.
 
While physically getting beat up, mentally she was being lifted up.
 
“Obviously you’re having a 2-20 season, you’re not in the best mood about it,” she said. “But I had a lot of people behind me supporting me. They said, ‘Stick with it, keep trying.’ And of course I had a coach at home and a really good wrestler at home who could help me whenever I needed. And then of course, all my access to camps and everything. So that helped me stick with it.”
 
It also helped that Andy had a 170-pounder, Jasmine Wilson, at the high school level that Abby could practice with to finally get some experience with her own gender. And with the girls’ program at the high school level having solid numbers, Brenn saw a much brighter future.
 
“It helped a lot, not just (Wilson) but I got to see the whole girls wrestling team and what I could have and the opportunities for me. It was cool and I wanted to do it.”
 
She started holding her own against her male counterparts as an eighth-grader and at the end of the season her middle school coach came to her and told her if she sat out the league tournament, she could wrestle a girls season instead. It came with a caveat of helping recruit more girls to fill the program, which Brenn did with moderate success.
 
Now, she was completely hooked.
 
“I was fully in on it,” she said. “I dove head first and didn’t look back. I was let’s go, I’m done losing.”
 
Brenn went 24-12 as a freshman and qualified for state at 190 pounds, going 2-2. The first of those state tourney losses came to Wellington’s Hunt, a 5-1 decision.
 
That started a rivalry with her fellow Ark Valley Chisholm Trail Leaguer. The two met four times last season, going 2-2 against each other. Those were the only two losses Brenn suffered in a 33-2 season and the second was a tough one two swallow.
 
After losing in their first meeting, Brenn pinned Hunt and then took a technical fall win in the regional finals. In the state championship rematch, Brenn had a 1-0 lead going into the final period before Hunt earned two stalling points and also induced Brenn into a penalty point, the deciding points in what eventually became a 6-2 Hunt victory.
 
“It was awful, nobody likes losing,” Brenn said. “Especially when you know you’ve beaten somebody and you know you can do it. And all the weight that was behind it. It was a hard loss, man.”
 

 
Brenn used the motivation of that loss to come back even stronger this season, recording 25 pins for the second straight year. She suffered her only loss of the season to Liberal’s Hayleen Martinez, who went undefeated and won her second straight Class 6A state title this year. 
 
She cruised into the finals with two pins around a technical fall win. In the title match, she didn’t let it come down to official’s decision. She got a quick takedown in the first period and added another in the third, never letting Baska gain any leverage in the match.
 
“It was just learning how to manage everything,” she said. “When you’re going from ‘Oh I qualified to oh, I’m in the state finals,’ with just a year in between, it’s crazy. Just the mentality of it all took over and I got anxious. This year I learned to control my nerves better and be a little more confident with everything, know I was supposed to be there and do it.
 
“This year, it was a ‘Go, go, go’ kind of mentality. I just had to prove I was the more aggressive one. I was so ready. I got a re-run at it, round two and nothing to be nervous of. I was at the worst spot of losing when you need to win. I was ready to go.”
 

FORMER TEAMMATE MOLDS COLBY’S HILLS INTO CHAMPION HERSELF
 
Coming into high school with a pretty accomplished middle school career, Morgan Hills spent much of her freshman season a year ago getting a big dose humility.
 
Not so much in the tournaments in which she and her Eagle teammates competed. Hills enjoyed a rather strong debut high school season, placing top three at every one of her regular-season tournaments and winning six tournament titles, including five in a row starting at the JR Durham Invitational in Norton and ending with a Great West Activities Conference championship.
 
Hills concluded her season 35-7 overall and with a fourth-place finish at the Class 4-1A state tournament at 135 pounds, with her only two losses coming to 2023 state champion Keira Mullen of Smoky Valley.
 
For all that success, however, very little of it translated into the practice room where on a daily basis she went up against senior Amanda Jaegar. The same Amanda Jaeger who the year before had become the Eagles’ first-ever girls state wrestling champion and then last year not only defended her 130-pound title but went 41-0.
 
Needless to say, Hills fought an uphill battle in those matchups. Like Mt. Everest uphill.
 
“I never got a takedown on her in practice,” Hills said. “She beat me up every day.”
 
If the “Iron sharpens iron” adage holds true, then Hills’ daily beatings with Jaeger came with a huge payoff this season. They molded her into the champion she became this season as she claimed the Class 4A 135-pound title.
 
Hills finished the season 29-2 after dominating Burlington’s Haylei Potter with a 17-2 technical fall win in the state championship match. 
 
“She helped me a ton, mentally too,” Hills said. “Just getting beat up every day helped mentally get tougher. Watching her win gave me a lot of motivation to work hard to try and get one too. I just always imagined winning one after watching Amanda get hers.”
 

 
Though Colby produced seven state qualifiers this season, the practice room didn’t proved the same challenges for Hills as she encountered a year ago. The only other two placers at state for the Eagles were 100-pounder Adrian Salcido (sixth) and 155-pounder Dallis Stieben (fifth).
 
Her most frequent practice partners, 130-pounder Cheyanne Hill and 140-pounder Makenzi Rhymer, had winning seasons this year, but obviously couldn’t push Hills the way Jaeger had.

By the same token, as she worked her way through the regular season, she was rarely challenged as well. The only two losses Hills suffered before the state meet came to Nebraska Class B state champion Ambie Custard of Southwest Indianola and Class 6A state runner-up Hailey Ramos of Dodge City, each of whom pinned her.
 
That had her a little concerned about what might happen when she ran into a test at state.
 
“All season, I kind of felt out of shape,” she said. “I never really had a full match. So having a full match was going to be tough and I had to push through.”
 
The state test never materialized. Hills didn’t even have to wrestle her opening match, winning via forfeit over Nemaha Central’s Harper Foster. In the second round, Buhler’s Lillie Ledford had to default with an injury in the third period.
 
After taking a 17-1 technical fall win over Santa Fe Trail’s Morgan Pickering in the semifinals, Hills faced No. 2-ranked Potter of Burlington, who had won 47 matches this season. But Hills came out the aggressor, needing just 28 seconds to get the first takedown of the match. She added another takedown later in the period and a third in the second period to build a 10-2 lead.
 
Things got a little scary in the third after Hills got another takedown. She worked Potter into a cradle but while Potter used a granby to fight out of it, Hills aggravated a previous shoulder injury and was down on the mat for a short period. But she regrouped and once they returned to the middle circle, Hills immediately worked a half nelson and got the necessary back points for the 17-2 technical fall win.
 
“I always like getting the first takedown and setting the pace for myself,” Hills said. “If they get it, I breathe and I’m like, ‘I’ll get the next one.’ I felt pretty comfortable. I’ve been working on top a lot and improved a lot so that helped.”
 
After winning her state title a year ago, Jaeger had a premonition for her practice partner.
 
“She told me, ‘Some day this is going to be you,’” Hills recalled. “I was so grateful to have her as a partner last year. It means a lot to me. We have state placers listed in our gym and there are so many of them.”
 

BUHLER’S PARKS CAUSES CHAOS ON WAY TO 145-POUND TITLE
 
With 11 of Class 4A’s 14 No. 1-ranked wrestlers going into the state meet coming away with state championships, upsets were few and far between as chalk ruled with five of the championship matchups 1 vs. 2 showdowns.
 
The exception? The 145-pound bracket where the chalk went up in dust.
 
Of course, the dust had barely settled from the upset-riddled bracket two weeks earlier at the regional in McPherson which had reshuffled the rankings in the first place.
 
Going into the regional, Buhler’s Macey Parks held down the No. 1 ranking while Pratt’s Miranda Webb was No. 2, Winfield’s Cora Moon, No. 3, Chapman’s Taya Rowley No. 4, Marysville’s Ella Johnson No. 5 and Clay Center’s Kristen Dumas No. 6. With all six of those wrestlers in the same region, chaos ensued to an extent. 
 
Webb knocked off Parks in the semifinals on her way to the regional title while Moon beat Rowley in the quarterfinals before falling to Johnson in the semifinals. Moon then beat Parks for third and Rowley took fifth.
 
Falling all the way from first to fourth in the rankings, Parks refused to let her disappointing regional linger.
 
“I was focusing on my mindset,” Parks said. “It was just wrestling as me and not to what people expected of me.”
 
A victim of the regional chaos, Parks flipped roles once she hit Salina. Proving why she had been ranked No. 1 for the last half of the season, Parks stormed her way to the championship, beating Chapman’s Rowley 6-5 in the title match.
 
Parks became Buhler’s second girls’ state champion, following in the footsteps of two-time champion Emilie Schweizer, who claimed titles in 2021 and 2023. Parks was a freshman when Schweizer captured her second title and remembered watching that performance and learning from her senior teammate.
 
“She always told me one match does not define you as a wrestler,” Parks said. “I’ve just kind of taken that to heart since.”
 
Certainly the matchups between Parks and Pratt’s Webb didn’t define their rivalry. Or perhaps, they perfectly summed it up.
 
Prior to the state tournament, the duo had already met four times this season. Webb drew first blood, pinning Parks in the finals of the Pratt Invitational. Undaunted, Parks came back to win the next two meetings, pinning Webb in the finals of the Nickerson Invitational and winning 8-1 in the finals of the Wichita South Invitational.
 
Webb evened the series with a pin win in the regional semifinals. The two set up a fifth showdown in the state quarterfinals after each won their opening match in Salina.
 
“I beat her twice and she beat me twice, so going into that match, I was like, ‘This is what I’ve got to do now,’” Parks said. “I was confident in my wrestling and in myself and my coaches are amazing and very helpful.”
 
The battle was everything it was expected to be between the two girls who’d been the only ones ranked No. 1 at 145 this season. But Parks got the job done, pulling out a 4-1 win via a decisive takedown.
 
“There was a lot of confidence from that, but I just trust my training and wrestle my match,” Parks said.
 

 
Parks followed with a pin of Tonganoxie’s Miranda Colgrove in the semifinals to get into the finals and carried the momentum into her clash with Rowley. She not only took Rowley down 13 seconds into the match, but right to her back for a quick 6-0 lead.
 
As easy as the first scoring came, it seemed Parks would have no trouble putting Rowley away quickly. Instead, she didn’t score another point and Rowley slowly closed the gap.
 
A reversal cut Parks’ lead to 6-2 and Rowley then got escapes in the second and third period to make it a 6-4 match. Parks gave up a point for stalling with 15 seconds left but Rowley could never get in deep for a shot and the Crusader junior survived.
 
“I got that takedown and after that my scoring wasn’t great,” Parks said. “I was still trying to score but being defensive at the same time. I just wanted to wear her down.”
 
Parks finished the season with a 38-6 record.
 

FAMILY MATTERS: PRATT’S CANDIA FINDS HER PLACE IN GREENBACKS HISTORY
 
In a season in which she fashioned a 33-0 record and finally captured the state championship that had eluded her throughout her successful career, Wendy Candia came way from this year’s Class 4A state meet with as complete of a season as one could imagine.
 
But for the Pratt senior, there was something that was missing. She wanted nothing more than to sprint off the mat after her hand raised as a state champion and embrace the man who she fully credited for getting her there.
 
She eventually found her way to former Pratt coach Tate Thompson, who was still in attendance at Tony’s Pizza Events Center and the two shared a long hug and a few tears. Just as he’s been throughout her wrestling career, and more recently her life, Thompson once again was there for Candia.
 
“The biggest part of my journey started my freshman year with Tate,” Candia said after winning the Class 4A 130-pound state championship. “He isn’t my coach currently, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been there for me every time, every match. He coaches me through a lot of things still.”
 
A long-time boys wrestling coach, Thompson built Pratt into a girls’ wrestling powerhouse as the sport’s popularity escalated rapidly. In doing so, he developed a family atmosphere for the program in which family took on an extended meaning.
 
In addition to his own biological children being members of the program, Thompson and his wife, Meriam, adopted four siblings from the Kansas City metro area in 2018, three of whom became wrestlers.
 
And when Candia was experiencing what she called “a chaotic situation” at her home, he took her in two. Candia has been living with the Thompsons for the past year-plus and now considers Thompson her dad.
 
“Wrestling was definitely my out for a lot of stuff I was going through,” Candia said. “That’s why this championship is pretty special to me. I really hope that I can make an impact on younger girls in Pratt, especially Hispanic girls. There are a lot of chaotic situations – I came from a chaotic situation – so I really hope to impact some of those girls and girls wrestling in general.”
 
Candia said she felt right at home as soon as she joined the high school program as a freshman, a loaded team that won the Class 4-1A team title by a whopping 44 points – a girls’ state-record margin -- and featured state champions Livia Swift (a three-timer) and Ava Thompson and runners-up Jadyn and Keimarla Thompson, Tate’s daughters. And though she was just learning the ropes that season, well enough to become a state qualifier, Candia said she felt just as important as her highly accomplished teammates.”
 
“He never focused on just our three-time Livia (Swift) or Jadyn or just the top ones who are always up there,” Candia said of Thompson. “He focused on everyone. He really focused on team culture, building people up. He kind of had a mentorship program within the program and those girls really built me up and taught me to be a leader. This program as a whole has gotten me where I am today.”
 
Her freshman season, Candia got to work out daily with Jadyn Thompson, who shared the girls’ career victory record at the time of her graduation. She was a sponge and soaked in all the knowledge she could and wound up posting a 17-12 record that season. When she came back as a sophomore, she was a force and finished the season with a 37-4 record, taking fourth at state at 130 pounds.
 
Last season, Candia posted a 37-8 record and though she moved up one spot on the medal stand to third, the state showing was a little disappointing as she was upset in the quarterfinals by Phillipsburg’s Isabella Keesee.
 
The road to a title at 130 this year appeared to have some pretty big road blocks before the season started with 2024 runner-up Callyn Devine of Halstead back and Rock Creek’s Brooklyn Burenheide also back after taking second in 2023.
 
But Devine wound up missing the season with an injury and Burenheide moved up to 140, leaving Candia as the favorite.
 

 
While Devine was out, her Halstead teammate Kahlyn Davis filled the void and filled it well as Candia’s top nemeses. The two met twice prior to the state meet with Candia pinning Davis at the Central Kansas League meet and then pinning her again in the regional finals.
 
Candia had a pretty good idea the two might meet again for a state championship, but said a third meeting didn’t really elicit much concern.
 
“A lot of it from me comes from mentality,” she said. “I kept telling myself that she had to get herself to the point where she had to beat me. I believed in myself that I was going to be a finalist and if she wanted to wrestle me, she’d have to get to me. I wrestled her previous years and she definitely improved a lot and it was going to be a good match.”
 
After pinning her way into the finals and seeing Davis have no troubles doing her part to set up the rematch, Candia went to be Friday night preparing for the match. What she wasn’t prepared for was finding out when she arrived at the arena on Saturday morning that her title match would be the first of the championship round with the draw putting the 125-pound match in the final spot with Clay Center’s Gabi Koppes going for her fourth straight undefeated state title.
 
“I found out that morning; Thank god,” Candia said. “I think I actually liked it more than I thought it would. It helped with the nerves being first one up, first one done. It’s never the first one that goes up first. I was kind of nervous about it at first, but was actually really grateful that I was the first one up.”
 
After a scoreless first period, Davis took a 1-0 lead in the second with an escape and held that lead to start the third. But Candia finally found her offense, getting an escape 35 seconds into the final period and taking Davis to her back 10 seconds later.
 
Though she couldn’t secure the pin she’d gotten in their first two meetings, the move was all she needed to come away with a 7-3 victory. The end of the match was a little scary after Davis scored a reversal with 20 seconds left and nearly maneuvered Candia for back points. But Candia fought off the turn and became Pratt’s third girls state champion.
 
“Her being up by one really fueled me more and gave me that adrenaline rush and I just finished that match,” Candia said. “The first two times we wrestled I was feeling her out and this time I just went after it. I emptied that tank and went all out.”
 
The last tie to Pratt’s state championship team, Candia also joined Ava Thompson as the lone girls’ state champions for the program.
 
“It definitely was a goal, but I didn’t feel like I had a lot of pressure,” she said. “We always see a lot of great competition so I thought I could take a loss or two, but knew it would be something to help me out in the long run. It’s great to be able to do that, but it wasn’t my main focus. I just wanted to get that title.
 
“I’m one of the last girls from that state championship team, from that powerhouse and I really wanted to go out and show what I’ve learned the last four years in high school wrestling.
 

NO DOUBT ABOUT IT: MCPHERSON’S RAWSON WRAPS MIND AROUND CHAMPIONSHIP MENTALITY
 
A season-changing message McPherson assistant coach Jerry Bowen had for senior Ciara Rawson seemed to be one that was already an unspoken truth.
 
“Coach Bowen told me every time I step out on the mat I should make the person on the other side of the line not want to step out on the mat with me again,” Rawson said.
 
Which, to anyone who’s ever come across Rawson, would find somewhat obvious. Standing 6-foot-1, Rawson has been a commanding physical presence ever since she arrived at McPherson as a freshman in 2021-22.
 
But while Rawson’s physical appearance has always been an intimidating one, she admitted that she didn’t always have the confidence in her ability to match it. 
 
“I just have had a lot of self-doubt for some reason,” she said. “When Bowen said that, it kind of changed the way I looked at it. I had a different mindset then and that helped me out a lot this season.”
 
Enough so that Rawson finally claimed the state championship that had eluded her for the first three years of her high school career. The No. 1-ranked wrestler at 235 all season in Class 4A, Rawson punctuated her run for a state title with a dominant showing at this year’s state meet. 
 
Rawson scored first-period pins in all four of her state matches, including a buzzer-beating one of Perry-Lecompton’s Meaa Allen in the championship match. She finished the season with a 20-1 record.
 
That lone loss came to Class 5A state champion Alexa Castillo of Emporia in the finals of the Newton Tournament of Champions and was a loss that Rawson didn’t take well. And it also drew another season-changing message, this time from Bullpup head coach Mike Davison.
 
“I was really mad for a couple weeks after that loss,” Rawson said. “But Coach Davison told me, ‘You can either let that match ruin your season or you can go be the meanest person out there.’ After that, I refused to lose.”
 
Rawson burst onto the scene as a freshman and nearly made the state finals that year. She suffered a heart-breaking overtime loss to Scott City’s Mackayla Miller in the semifinals that year with Miller going on to win the state championship. Rawson bounced back to take third and finish 26-6.
 
Despite posting a better record as a sophomore with a 28-4 mark, Rawson dipped to fifth-place finish at state, falling in the quarterfinals to Baldwin’s Madi Hargett and then losing to Paola’s Kena Leonard in the consolation semifinals. She ran into Leonard again at last year’s state tournament, this time in the state championship match and once again Leonard came away with the victory, taking an 8-1 decision.
 
That loss forced Rawson to do a little bit of self-assessment during the offseason.
 
“It made me hungry and it made me work and do everything I could to not feel that way again,” she said. “I think I just beat myself in my head before I even stepped on the mat. It was more of a mind game than a technique thing.”
 

 
After ramping up her summer work as well, Bowen – her practice partner in the McPherson wrestling room with a lack of comparable teammates to challenge her – began to strengthen her mental game as he honed her physical skills.
 
A changed Rawson needed one more change to get her title though. In easily working her way to the finals, Rawson was able to keep an eye on the other side of the bracket and saw how Allen worked on the mat.
 
After watching the first-year Kaw pin her first two foes and survive an overtime semifinal with Nickerson’s Elizabeth Dick, Rawson knew a different strategy than normal was going to have to be put into action.
 
“It did concern me a little bit watching how she wrestled because she’s pretty heavy on the head, kind of like I am,” Rawson said. “My main move is a snap down. I knew I wasn’t going to be able to get her head down, so I had to change the way I wrestle. I don’t shoot very often and it kind of threw me off a bit at the start.”
 
She did start out the title match trying to be heavy on Allen’s head, but when she got nowhere with it, Rawson dipped out of her comfort zone and went for a single-leg takedown. The move caught Allen off guard and Rawson immediately got in deep and took Allen to her back, working the pin with 2 seconds left in the period.
 
“I just had the mindset that I wasn’t going to lose,” she said. “I didn’t care who it was, I wasn’t going to lose. It just means everything finally paid off. All of the heartbreak of losing in the championship last year, cutting weight, all the long nights of practice. It was all worth it.”
 
Rawson also became McPherson’s first-ever girls state champion. The program was one of the trailblazing programs for girls wrestling under former coach Doug Kretzer, whose daughter Mya won three state titles before the girls’ state championship became KSHSAA sanctioned, and Rawson said adding to that tradition meant the world to her.
 
“It was an honor to bring home a state championship for the program,” she said. “I hope a lot of the younger girls see that and look up to that and want to go do that too.”