SK girls stack up podium finishes at Ottumwa Utterback wins bracket, Montgomery finishes second, Sadie Clarahan takes third

OTTUMWA – Sometimes it is all about how you respond to things. 

On Thursday night at the Ottumwa wrestling tournament the Sigourney-Keota girls wrestling team proved that they are very good at responding to some situations. All four of the SK wrestlers placed in the meet, and the Savages finished fifth in the team standings with 50 points. points. Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont won the meet with 208.5 points. 

For two of the wrestlers they proved how much they’ve been taking in since the start of the new calendar year. 

“Kia (Montgomery) put together a couple of great matches, which is exactly what we wanted to see from her,” said Trevor Weeks, the head coach of the Sigourney girls. “Sadie (Clarahan) had one match that didn’t go our way, but she brow beat that girl, she just didn’t get the win. Reanah, she wrestled her way and it worked out. Maddie Clarahan wrestled extremely well, including her last match of the night. If she wrestles like that the rest of the year she’s going to do well.”

Utterback remained undefeated on the season as she won all four of her matches via a first period pin. 

The 115-pound senior needed just 1:14 in her first match to gain the win. Her second match was two seconds longer before she was able to pin her Centerville opponent. 

In the third round Utterback pinned a Clarke opponent in 1:10. In the final match Utterback pinned her Ottumwa opponent in 48 seconds. 

“Tonight was very good, I was able to get to my setups and was taking my shots like I wanted to. I was also scoring points as usual,” Utterback said after the tournament. “It was a good night overall.”

Utterback moved to a perfect 30-0 on the season after her four wins on Thursday night. 

“I just wanted to go out there and score as many points as early as I can,” Utterback said. “Once I get to so many points then I start to look for pins. I just look for my turns and stuff like that. Tonight it just happened to end up in pins.”

Kia Montgomery would finish second in the 130-pound bracket. Montgomery pinned her first first two opponents in the first period. First she pinned an Ottumwa wrestler in 47 seconds. She then pinned  a Keokuk opponent in 44 seconds. In the third round Montgomery pinned her Moravia opponent in 1:12. 

In a battle in the championship match Montgomery held a brief lead, but was ultimately pinned in 1:48. 

Sadie Clarahan was able to finish third overall in the 125-pound bracket. She won her first round match with a 10-1 major decision win. 

Despite falling in the second round, Clarahan scored 10 points in a 13-10 match against EBF’s Kendra Krause. 

Clarahan responded with a pin in 2:32 in her next match. She then pinned another EBF opponent in 1:55 to take third overall. 

“It has been kind of a grind the last two weeks, but we are trying to get to the State tournament,” Weeks said. “We are trying to simulate it as much as possible and fine tune everything we can for that tournament.”

Madison Clarahan finished sixth overall. After being pinned in the first period of her first match, Madison came close to getting a pin in the second match before she was pinned in the first period. 

In the final match Clarahan battled well and led after the first period, but wasn’t able to keep up the scoring pace as she fell by major decision 15-4 in her final match. 

On Saturday the girls wrestlers were back in action as they traveled to State Center for another tournament.

Utterback won the 115-pound bracket with three first period pins again. She needed 1:15 to pin her West Marshall opponent. In the semifinals Utterback pinned a Woodward-Granger opponent in 1:11. 

In the championship match Utterback pinned a Carroll opponent in 1:38. 

Sadie Clarahan finished second. The 120-pound wrestler started off her day with a pin over an Ames opponent in 1:30. In the semifinals she pinned a Raccoon River-Northwest opponent in 3:19. 

In the championship Sadie was pinned late in the third period by another Raccoon River-Northwest opponent. 

Montgomery finished third in the 130-pound bracket. She pinned a West Marshall opponent in 53 seconds. After being pinned in the next round, Montgomery would win her next three matches by early pins. 

In the third place match Montgomery won because of a medical forfeit. 

Madison Clarahan finished the meet with a 1-2 record. After being pinned by a Waterloo West opponent, Madison was able to pin a Woodward-Granger opponent in 5:59. In the next match Madison was pinned late in the second period finishing her tournament.  

Photos by Mark Schafer