Monticello's Taylor punches ticket to state

Monticello senior Izzy Taylor will once again wrestle in Coralville after winning the 170-pound bracket at the Iowa Class 1A Region 8 state-qualifying meet last week.

Taylor (29-9) began her quest at the meet in Williamsburg with two byes. In the quarterfinal, she pinned Johnelle Gliem (25-15), of Baxter, in 42 seconds. The semifinal pitted her against Center Point-Urbana’s Tara Crowley (33-16), who put up a fight but was ultimately pinned by Taylor in 3:12.

In the 170-pound final, Taylor faced off against Megyn Hollinsgworth (42-8), of BCLUW-SH, and also won via pin in 1:39.

This marks Taylor’s third-straight trip to the girls state wrestling meet. Last year she finished as the 2A runner up in the 170-pound bracket.

Taylor will wrestle as the 11th-seeded 170-pounder at the state meet. She hits the mat on the morning of Friday, Feb. 6 and will face sixth-seeded Kayma Burleson (39-7), of Clear Lake.

Fellow Monticello wrestlers Meghan Besler and Lily Hall did not advance through the regional meet.

In the 155-pound bracket, Besler received two byes before losing to Lilly Ness (34-12) of Williamsburg by fall (3:00). In the consolation round, Besler lost to Breegan Ellison (28-18), of Moravia, via fall in 3:34.

Monticello’s Lily Hall was also did not advance. Hall lost via fall in 46 seconds to Sami Harms, of Iowa Falls-Alden in the second round and then fell in the consolation bracket to BCLUW-SH’s Tateana Fikes (8-24) via a pin in 4:52.