GMG’s Brooklyn Mitchell has her hand raised by the official during the Class 2A state wrestling qualifier held at South Tama County High School last Friday, Jan. 31. Mitchell competes as a member of the STC Trojan squad. She took silver in the 130-pound bracket at regionals, punching her ticket for the first time to the state tournament which was set to take place this past Thursday and Friday in Coralville. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

TAMA — When Abigail Chyma started with South Tama girls wrestling as a freshman, there were only two girls total on the roster.

Now, Chyma will be part of the Trojans’ biggest group yet going to this week’s state tournament, qualifying five grapplers – including a teammate who hails from Green Mountain-Garwin (GMG), Brooklyn Mitchell – from a Class 2A qualifier in the home gym at South Tama County High School last Friday night.

Chyma and Autumn Elsbury qualified as regional champions at 155 and 170 pounds, respectively; Jayva Gomez (105), Mitchell (130), Kinley Jimenez (235) all punched their tickets as runners-up.

“I was pretty nervous going into this,” said Chyma. “I’ve been to state the past couple of years and I wanted to make it again in my senior year. I was just trying to boost my confidence, knowing that I’ve beaten ranked girls before, I’ve beat undefeated girls before, so I can beat the girls in this tournament, too.”

Chyma topped the podium in style with pinfall victories over Pella’s Abbi Lemke in 17 seconds and a pin of Southeast Polk’s Teryn Vander Beek in the first period to secure the regional title.

GMG wrestler Brooklyn Mitchell, second from right, pictured wearing her state qualifier medal and displaying her state ticket while standing on the second place tier of the regional championship podium last Friday at South Tama High School. PHOTO COURTESY OF BRINTLEY ELSBURY

In her past two trips to the IGHSAU state tournament, Chyma’s yet to walk away from Xtream Arena with a victory.

“The goal is definitely to win, but I’m also four wins away from 100 for my career, so I definitely want to try and get that. … I’ve been there before, so I know what it’s kinda gonna be like, so I don’t have to be really nervous for anything. I don’t have anything to lose, I’m just going to go out there and let it all hang out.”

Chyma was the only senior to wrestle on Friday for the Trojans, and will be joined by a couple of underclassmen newcomers in Gomez and Mitchell, as well as Jimenez returning to state in her sophomore campaign.

While not every Trojan had the storybook ending of the five state qualifiers, it’ll serve as fuel for an impressive team that recently dominated the WaMaC tournament.

“It’s fun to see the sport growing,” Chyma said. “I’m really excited for all of them.”

After finishing as state runner-up last year, Elsbury has been on a path of reckoning through the competition this year, improving to 41-0 with two first-period pins, including a win in 90 seconds against second-ranked Jazelle Smith of Indianola.

Only one opponent has gone the full six minutes with Elsbury this year, and most of those wins have been similar to Elsbury’s dominance on Friday.

“I just went into my matches confident,” Elsbury said, “I’m a lot more confident this year, I know what I’m capable of.”

At last year’s state tournament, Elsbury was runner-up to Decorah’s Naomi Simon, who now wrestles for the University of Iowa after winning four state titles in high school.

“I felt like some girls ran from Naomi Simon because she was well-known, but I didn’t want to run from her,” Elsbury said. “I wanted to see where I stood with her. And now I feel like I’ve taken over her spot — girls look at me the way they looked at Naomi, and it just boosts my confidence.”

Gomez upset top-seeded Kylee Adams of Newton with a 9-6 decision in the semifinal, which helped clinch her spot after losing by fall to Nora Ohnemus of Indianola in the final. Jimenez also did not have to wrestle back for true second, winning her semifinal over third-placer Riley Hockins of Carlisle by fall, then coming up short in a pinfall loss to Ottumwa’s Delilah Subsin.

Mitchell won her wrestleback for true second place, pinning Ottumwa’s Breanna Griffiths in the final moments of the first period to clinch her state debut.

Four Trojans finished third, just missing the state meet — Ava Hendricks and Paisley Bro won their third-place matches but did not receive a wrestleback; while Ava Perkins and Maylee Rucker both dropped their wrestleback matches.

South Tama was second in the team standings with 176 points, trailing Southeast Polk with 218 points. Ottumwa was third with 139 points.

The Class 2A session begins at 10 a.m. Thursday, Feb. 6 at the Xtream Arena in Coralville.

The Sun Courier will feature coverage from the state tournament of GMG’s Mitchell in next week’s edition.