Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
‘PENT-UP’ POWELL claims state championship.
Irelan Powell didn’t have time to stop and chat with a reporter after pinning Mountain Home’s Amelia Adams in the 116-pound title match. The Batesville Southside senior had rounds to make.
Powell sprinted to the bottom of the stairs, finding her parents for a lengthy embrace. She then galloped up the bleachers, celebrating with others — including her older brother, who got her into wrestling when she was a sixth-grader.
By the time Powell hustled back down to the floor of the Jack Stephens Center, she was out of breath.
“There are no words that can really describe it,” Powell said of her individual crown. “As hard as I’ve worked, this feels really good to have.”
Powell had been in this building for a state tournament twice before — it was just while competing against the boys. As a freshman at Mountain View, she finished fourth at 113 pounds in Class 1A-5A. A year later, she jumped up to third at the same weight in Class 4A.
When she transferred to Batesville Southside, Powell was ruled ineligible to compete, so she didn’t get the chance to collect a state title in Arkansas’ first year of girls wrestling last year.
That led to plenty of “pent-up energy,” as Coach Brian Reardon put it.
Despite having to wait an extra two weeks after this year’s state tournament was delayed due to snow, Powell was more than ready to put on a show Wednesday. After a first-round bye, Powell logged a first-period fall in each of her four matches, with the fastest coming in 57 seconds.
“That energy really stems from my last two years at my old school and not being able to wrestle last year,” she said. “I thought I could’ve been better when I placed in the boys. [Those first-period falls] were kind of a goal.”
Repeat not easy
Although six of last year’s state champions returned to the mat to go for a second consecutive individual title, just three reached the championship match with an opportunity to complete the back-toback feat.
Only one, Maumelle’s Ember Smith, made history.
Smith registered a 14-9 decision over Bentonville’s Ashlin Jones at 108 pounds to become the lone two-time state champion in Arkansas girls wrestling history. The senior was dominant through her first three matches — pinning her opponents in each, including two wins in less than one minute — but had to tough it out for all six minutes to earn her spot atop the podium.
“It feels amazing, but I owe it all to my coaches,” Smith said. “This is only my third year wrestling, and now I’m a two-time state champ. I never felt like I could do this.”
The other two returning winners to reach their title bouts, Beebe’s Suravieve Robertson and Van Buren’s Addison Loney, each fell to upstarts.
Robertson, who won at 132 pounds a year ago, was knocked off by Springdale freshman Skylur Lewis in the 140-pound final. Although Robertson led 2-0 at the end of the first period, Lewis seized control and closed on an 11-2 run to take the decision and title.
Loney, who dropped all the way from 140 down to 124, looked to be in control against Fayetteville’s Katie Palmer, who flipped the match on its head in the closing seconds to pin Loney at 5:58.
Southwest surging
Little Rock Southwest didn’t compete in the first Arkansas girls wrestling state tournament a year ago for good reason. It hadn’t even opened its doors to students.
But with Little Rock Fair finishing third in 2020 and most of Fair’s students headed to Southwest, it wasn’t hard to envision the Lady Gryphons making a strong showing in their wrestling debut.
Despite finishing just ninth as a team, Southwest sent four wrestlers to the podium and came up just short of its first individual state title when Springdale Har-Ber’s Archer Jones pinned Southwest senior Leelah McKenzie at 5:58 of the 165-pound championship match.
First-year Coach Christy Strong, who is brand new to wrestling herself, said she has been learning from her girls throughout the year.
“Having those girls with that experience [from Fair] to come in and help out, it really made a big difference,” Strong said. “There are not too many female coaches out here, so I’m really excited that we’re still here today. I’m just proud of them.”
Growing sport
Last year’s girls competition featured 137 wrestlers representing 27 schools in the first state championship sanctioned by the Arkansas Activities Association.
That number grew to 157 girls from 33 programs this year, and tournament director Pat Smith believes it could’ve been even greater if not for covid-19, which limited recruiting from programs statewide.
Smith’s expectations for 2022 is there could be as many as 200 wrestlers from 40 schools for the third state tournament.
He expects the level of competition to rise.
“It’s amazing how much better these girls have gotten as far as their skill level and their determination to win,” Smith said. “It’s really impressive, and it’s really neat to see how the sport is growing with these girls so rapidly.”