For Mount Vernon girls’ wrestling to win a second straight Class 1A regional title on Friday, Jan. 30, at Midland High School in Wyoming … was pretty great.

To send a program-record seven wrestlers on to the state tournament this Thursday, Feb. 5 and Friday, Feb. 6, at Xtream Arena in Coralville … is even better.

How about junior Maci Stoner making it to state after joining the team mid-season?

“We pried her back out,” Mount Vernon coach Trevor Trende said. “She was like, ‘Coach, I wasn’t even wrestling a month ago, and here I am going to the state tournament!’”

Stoner originally passed on her junior season due to a lingering back injury.

“I just missed the whole bond of the team, and the feeling after practices, feeling so accomplished,” Stoner said. “I thought, I’ve only got two more years … I might as well do it.”

Stoner pinned Savanna Jenks of Lone Tree in the quarterfinals, and beat Cleo Roberts of Wilton, 14-8, in the semifinals. Her finals match at 190 was a strange one.

She lost 2-1 to Chloe Sexton of Highland. All three points were scored on stalling calls.

“I was confident, but we were both sweating so hard,” Stoner said.

“(Maci) rode her the whole two minutes,” Trende said. “It was frustrating.”

But it was enough to earn a state trip.

Several Mustangs smashed their way to state. Kate Martin (105), Kiersten Swart (110) and Gracie Pinckney (170) all pinned their way through the bracket, with Martin and Pinckney recording all first-period pins. (Pinckney also recorded her 150th career win in Wyoming.)

Kaylee Kintzel (155) had two pins and a major decision, and unlike last year, is on track to compete in Coralville (she qualified last year but got hurt at regionals and did not wrestle at state).

Adeline Whisner (145) enjoyed a lot of drama, and a serving of revenge.

She faced off against Addison Hochstetler of North Tama in the 145-pound championship. Hochstetler beat her twice at the 2025 state tournament, once by pin, and then by decision, 6-5.

The match was tied 0-0 late in the third period. The wrestlers reset in the center with 20 seconds left. With about 10 seconds remaining, Whisner attacked Hochstetlers’ legs, took her down, and pinned her with five seconds left.

“I was thinking she’s tired and I’ve got something in me,” Whisner said. “I’ve practiced doubles (double-leg takedowns) over and over and over again. I saw it, went for it, it worked out.”

“That was just heart,” Trende said. “We’ve been wanting that one back.”

The seventh Mustang to qualify was Alexi Glaza at 125. She lost to Camden Erhardt of Vinton-Shellsburg in the finals after a hard-fought 2-0 decision over Shyla VanNevel of BGM in the semifinals.

Trende has done the math. Mount Vernon qualified six last year (really five, since one had to forfeit because of injury). They finished runner-up in 1A.

Now the Mustangs have seven healthy wrestlers.

“We got more to state than we expected,” said Trende, who was named the Ed Thomas Coach of the Week by KGAN, last week. “If our high seeds do their job, and lower seeds do more than expected, it could be a fun week down there.”

Lisbon

Lisbon finished sixth with 88 team points and ended up sending one wrestler on to the state tournament.

The Lions got both extremes of the wrestleback.

Freshman Elli Avila (115) made it to the finals, where she was pinned by Kaelynn Roster of Vinton-Shellsburg in 1:05. She then had to take on Morgan Petersen of Tipton for second place, and lost by fall in 1:24.

“That was kind of a heartbreaker,” Lisbon coach Seth Hall said. “I thought we had one there. Elli had a great season, and had really found her stride late in the season. You saw today what she is capable of.”

Sophomore Emma Dietsch, who qualified for state last year, lost in the semifinals to Adeline Whisner of Mount Vernon but bounced back with a consolation semifinal win over Ashlyn Roling of Cascade (by pin in 29 seconds), and a win in the third-place match over Carsen Michels of Bellevue (by pin in 1:07).

“After I lost, I definitely thought, ok, this could be over,” Dietsch said. “But I’m a lot happier coming back than being okay with it.”

That set up a wrestleback against Addision Hochstetler of North Tama.

Both wrestlers put each other in a headlock, but Dietsch found the leverage to take Hochstetler down and pin her in 1:05.

“That’s a position Emma finds herself in a lot,” Hall said. “That’s kind of her style. We were pretty comfortable that she’d come out of that on top.”

Dietsch studied Hochstetler when she lost to Whisner in the finals.

“I was thinking how can I use this to my advantage,” Dietsch said. “I really wanted to go in and use upper body strength on her. It worked out pretty well.”

Dietsch is Ok being the only Lion in Coralville, because she knows she’ll have an entourage with her at Xtream Arena.