Mount Vernon girls wrestling coach Trevor Trende had to remind himself …

“There is no crying in wrestling.”

It was hard not to get a little teary-eyed Thursday, Jan. 22. The Mustangs celebrated five seniors, the first group to wrestle all four years, and then two of them reached a career milestone.

Both Addi Whisner and Kaylee Kintzel recorded their 100th career win in a 59-15 dual win by No. 2 Mount Vernon over Solon inside their home gym.

“It is super crazy it worked out that way,” Whisner said. “I didn’t notice the number, it is just cool that I got to experience that here in front of our home crowd on Senior Night.”

Whisner (140) pinned Kendall Koss in 1:38 for her 100th win. Kintzel got a forfeit at 155. Seniors Kiersten Swart (110) and Gracie Pinckney (170) also recorded pins, and Carly Elliott lost a tough 11-5 decision at 115.

“I’m super grateful for these five girls,” Trende said. “They have ramrodded and trailblazed for this program.”

Trende pointed out that this group keeps improving. On Monday, Jan. 19, the Mustangs went 2-2 at the Corridor Duals in Solon. They beat the Spartans that night, 54-21.

“To come back and beat them by even more just shows that within a week we’ve already had a lot of growth and improvement,” Trende said.

In the other duals Monday, Mount Vernon beat Iowa City High 48-23, and lost duals to Iowa City Liberty (48-33) and Cedar Rapids Prairie (42-36).

The Mustangs closed the week at the WaMaC Championships on Friday, Jan. 23, at Vinton-Shellsburg High School.

Mount Vernon finished second to South Tama, 254 team points to 177.5, and crowned two champions – sophomore Kate Martin at 105 and Swart at 110.

Whisner (140), Kintzel (155), Pinckney (170) and junior Maci Stoner (190) all finished runner-up.