Iowa state girls wrestling: PV's Meyrer captures state title, ends on 47-match winning streak

CORALVILLE — She has the textbook definition of a poker face. She's on the mat and off the mat quicker than Sonic the Hedgehog.

So when Pleasant Valley High School freshman Abigail Meyrer heard the final buzzer on Friday night after six minutes of hand-fighting and tough rides, she got emotional.

Because that's what happens when a state title is accomplished.

"I'm not going to hide my emotions of me being proud of myself," Meyrer said.

Let it out, kid.

Meyrer capped a magical and dominant season with a 2-0 triumph over Moravia's Layla Ewing in the IGHSAU 120-pound state championship Friday night inside Xtream Arena.

"It is hard to describe," PV coach Tom Isaacson said. "To have those goals and you know going out on that mat, you're going up against the best. You get that sense of pride, you're happy, you're proud of them.

"It always makes me emotional when someone achieves their goals."

Meyrer becomes the second girls state champion in school history, joining Chloe Clemons, who won an IWCOA state title three years ago in the sports' infancy when the state tournament was held at Waverly-Shell Rock High School.

When Meyrer clinched the title, she ran and jumped into her dad's arms. It was a moment Josh Meyrer called "surreal."

"I've worked hard my whole life to get where I am," Abigail said. "Me dreaming it is awesome. Me accomplishing it, feeling it, it is better than I could ever imagine."

It was a scoreless opening period and when Meyrer deferred her choice, Ewing went bottom. For the next two minutes, the Spartans' freshman put on the ride of her life.

It was the type of match Isaacson felt was going to be whoever won control on top would prevail.

"We had a game plan going in, we knew what (Ewing) was good at," he said. "By the time she graduates, she's going to be a fantastic rider. She's already really good."

Meyrer went down in the third and kept her fast pace going and slipped out, reversed Ewing for the only two points of the match and rode her out for the final 60-plus seconds.

Then, the tears started flowing.

"She started out even at a young age with a lot of success," Josh Meyrer said. "She has one thing you can't coach and that's heart."

Meyrer's only loss was her second match of the year against eventual 125 champion Mackenzie Childers of Cedar Rapids Prairie. It was a match Meyrer admitted she wasn't herself and didn't wrestle to her capabilities.

Childers triumphed 8-1.

"I had to have better confidence," Meyrer said. "I wrestled really sloppy and slow. I knew I had to fix that stuff. It taught me that if I want to be a state champ, I had to work better than what I'm capable of."

Meyrer won her final 47 matches to finish 48-1 in her first year of varsity wrestling. She donned a shoulder brace, but never missed mat time. She recorded a second-period pin over North Scott's Khylie Wainwright in the Friday morning session to reach the finals.

"You don't normally see something like that until junior, senior year," Isaacson said.

The target is square on her back now as a state champion and a wrestler with a long winning streak. Too early to think about becoming a four-time IGHSAU champion?

Not to Meyrer.

"Just keep working hard," she said.

Childers ended Wilton's Hannah Rogers' bid for a repeat state title with a pin in 3:18. It was a rematch from the regional final where Childers rallied down 4-0 by sticking Rogers at 1:56 of the first period.

The Beavers junior got to the second period, but still ended on her back.

"Bottom work has always been something that I've practiced a lot and against a tough opponent, she rides a lot like I do," Rogers said. "It is the right way to ride."

To reach the finals, she edged by Ridge View's Tatum Shepherd 9-7 thanks to a headlock that went for two plus three back points and the advantage she needed to win.

Rogers ends the year with a 32-4 record.

"I'm not a headlock girl so if I'm throwing them, it is a situation where you got to go big or go home," Rogers said.

Rogers heads into next winter with a state title and runner-up on her resume. For that, she's grateful.

"I'm extremely grateful at this point in my career," Rogers said. "Not every girl gets to experience something like this."