CARBONDALE — Iola High’s Zoie Hesse and Addilyn Wacker are picking the perfect time to put forth their best wrestling performances of the season.
Hesse made it 2-for-2 Thursday, capturing her second straight Pioneer League girls wrestling championship.
Hesse improved to 24-2 on the season while pinning both of her opponents to win the 190-pound division.
Wacker, meanwhile, narrowly missed out on making it an Iola sweep. She went 2-1 to take second place in the 130-pound division.
The league competition wraps up the regular season for Iola’s girls, who will travel to Paola Feb. 14-15 for the Class 4A Regional Meet, with a berth in the state meet in Salina on the line.
“They’re both hitting their stride pretty well right now,” Mustang wrestling coach John Taylor said. “What makes them special is they take every moment as a learning experience. They want to know what happened and why, and they’ll work on those things specifically over the next week. They both take instruction and coaching very well.”
Hesse got things going quickly, pinning Kaitlynn Charlton of Burlington in 13 seconds in her first match of the day.
The de facto championship match, against Santa Fe Trail’s Sky Kelly went almost as quickly.
After ceding a penalty point to Kelly in the opening portions of the first round. Hesse quickly took control, getting a quick takedown and pin at the 59-second mark.
“Everybody thinks it’s about strength with Zoie, but she’s probably the lightest girl in her class,” Taylor noted. “It’s her technique and speed. She’s quicker and more aggressive. Her opponents know when she gets on the mat, she’s going to leave it all out there.”
WACKER also opened strong with a pin of Marlee Hollon of Anderson County near the end of the first period.
But she ran into trouble after another quick start against Prairie View’s Lexi Freeman.
Wacker earned an early takedown and held a 3-0 lead going into the second period.
“She got caught out of position,” Taylor said, leading to Freeman seizing control and getting the pin.
Undaunted, Wacker responded with a wallop, shutting out Wellsville’s Morgan Mietchen, 8-0, to secure the silver.
“Addie was the best wrestler in that bracket,” Taylor said. “She just made one mistake. It was a learning moment.”
