Red Oak grapplers open wrestling season with two quads

The Red Oak girls wrestling team opened its season with a trio of dual losses in a quadrangular in Clarinda last Tuesday.
The Tigers dropped matches to Creston 58-12, Carroll 60-12 and the host Cardinals, 63-18.
“We had a couple veterans out due to illness, and a few new girls who aren’t ready to compete yet,” said Red Oak coach Tiegen Podliska. “Our lineup was missing several pieces, and the dual scores were not as competitive as they should’ve been. The girls battled until the end of each match and that was a focus for some as sometimes you just have to let it fly and let results be what they are.”
Lilly Ford (155 pounds) led the Tigers with a 3-0 night. All of her victories came via fall.
Jlynn Vasquez (110) and Bryleigh Mauer (110/115) were both 1-1 on the day. Jadeyn McAlpin (135) and Torrie McFarland (145) were both 1-2 and Arete Blystone (140) was 0-1.
“We lost to some tough opponents, Bryleigh and Jadeyn did a good job of bouncing back, Lilly has some things to clean up but kept fighting to pick up three falls,” Podliska said. “We have a lot of little things to work on as a result, which is a positive because they’re little things, but a negative because we were little things away from picking up several more wins. We’ve only had 11 practices before this competition, so we’re excited to see the growth every time out.”

Red Oak wrestlers compete at CAM
The Red Oak girls wrestling team dropped matches to SWAT 42-18, Perry 29-24 and Raccoon River 88-0 at a quadrangular held at Cumberland-Anita-Massena High School Thursday.
 Red Oak coach Tiegen Podliska said the lopsided results are “misleading” on how his team played and the level of competition in Anita.
“We went into this quad knowing the competition is going to be some of the best that we will face with RRNW (Raccoon River) being the top team in state and SWAT and Perry having a multitude of state wrestlers,” he said. “On paper we were the underdog in nearly every contested match and that didn’t stop the girls from going toe to line and competing. We improved immensely from Tuesday and implemented the teaching points from those matches.”
Jlynn Vasquez, Elaina Kuipers, Amber Rea, Jadeyn McAlpin, and Lilly Ford all went 1-2 for the Tigers while Arete Blystone went 1-0 and Tori McFarland 1-0. Kuipers, McAlpin and Blystone all registered falls.
 “Elaina wrestled to and through her positions on a way to pinfall,” Podliska said. “Jadeyn continued to tighten up her technique and control her way to a pin. Arete controlled her JV (junior varsity) match and put her away with a tech pin. The goal is to improve every day leading up to the regional tournament and we will continue to do that.”