Utterback Stays Unblemished, Wehr Wins First and Clarahan Stands on the Podium at the SICL Meet

THORNBURG—On January 22, the Sigourney-Keota girls headed to Tri-County high school for the 2024 girls SICL Conference meet. The team finished in sixth place with an aggregate score of 46, despite the fact that they only have four wrestlers on roster.

Junior Reanah Utterback continued her dominant season, as she pushed to 40-0 with three consecutive pins to win the conference title in the 115 weight class.

 Utterback spoke on the accomplishments with, “It is a great feeling to come out on top again. It is good to get mat time before regionals on Friday (January 26). I am just glad it didn’t get canceled like the rest of them and that we get to be out here wrestling.”

She went on to expound on her goals for the season as, “The main goal is to get to the state tournament, but the biggest goal is to not give up a single point. I have not given up a point yet this year, and I plan to keep it that way.”

Throughout the year, Utterback has breezed her way to victory in every match she has participated in. When asked about how she continues to motivate herself to continue her dominance, she responded with, “I have a great support system. Everybody is here to coach me, to cheer me on and support me for what I do. That is the biggest thing: knowing I have everyone behind me, supporting me.”

Throughout the duration of the season, Utterback has not only been the star wrestler for the SK girls team, she has been a de facto assistant coach to Head Coach Trevor Weeks. She explained how she has stepped up, “As a leader, when we have two girls on the mat, or I am not on the mat, I am always in the corner trying to coach them. With how much I know, and how most of these girls are new to wrestling, I want to help them get better by coaching them or showing them. This could be during a match or even during practice, I just want to expand their knowledge of the sport of wrestling.”

As for some of the other SK wrestlers on the team, sophomore Jolie Wehr earned a conference title in the 105 weight class. Wehr earned the title via byes, as there were no other 105 wrestlers in the SICL conference. 

Freshman Sadie Clarahan clawed her way to third place finish in the 125 weight class. Clarahan lost her two matches to Macie Little of North Mahaska and Arlo Stock of Colfax-Mingo. In the match to determine third place, Clarahan showed no discouragement from her previous two losses. She fought hard to secure a pin over Tayla Sincox of BGM in 3:18.

The SK girls wrestling team will return to action on January 26, when they head to Hyvee Hall in Des Moines for the 2024 Super Regional Tournament.