CEDAR RAPIDS — Three Lady Spartans made school history last week and in doing so are now forever a part of girls sports in the state of Iowa. McKenna Rogers, Kara VeDepo, and Olivia Bonnema qualified for the first Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s State Wrestling Tournament with their performances in a Super Regional state qualifying tournament Friday, Jan. 27 at the Aliant Energy PowerHouse in Cedar Rapids.
Rogers (33-1), a freshman, won at 105 pounds after receiving three byes, pinning East Buchanan’s Valeria Torres (29-23) in 3:26 in the semifinals, and pinning Waverly-Shell Rock’s Macy Tiedt (28-15) in 1:51 in the championship match. She also won the WaMaC Conference Tournament January 23 by pinning Sarah Greiner of Independence in 2:54.
VeDepo (27-15), a sophomore, qualified with a third-place finish at 110 pounds. She had a first round bye, pinned Waverly Shell-Rock’s Abby Doyle (14-15) in 2:45 in the second round, and pinned Louisa-Muscatine’s Lexi Eaton (17-9) in 5:02 in the quarterfinal round. However, Vinton-Shellsburg’s Bree Swenson (41-4) threatened to derail VeDepo’s State aspirations with a win by fall in 2:10 in the semifinals, which moved her to the consolation bracket. VeDepo bounced back though and pinned Clinton’s Akemah McClendon (14-10) in 2:28 in the consolation semifinals to advance to the third place match where she pinned Clear Creek Amana’s Marlie McBride (18-10) in 1:35. VeDepo placed fifth in the WaMaC tourney.
Bonnema (28-20), also a sophomore, qualified with a third-place finish at 135 pounds. After a first round bye she only needed 34 seconds to pin Muscatine’s Kaylynn Huot (2-21) in the second round. Bonnema pinned Central DeWitt’s Mia Braddock (21-9) in 3:40 in the quarterfinals but fell to Wilton’s Kiley Langley in the semifinals. An 8-2 decision over Prairie, Cedar Rapids’ Madison Childers (25-12) in the consolation semifinals kept her alive and advanced her to the third place match where she pinned Pekin’s Lila Miller (24-12) in 2:58. Bonnema placed sixth in the WaMaC tourney.
The top-four place winners in each weight class advanced to the State Tourney.
Alannah Mahoney (15-20), a freshman, came up just short with a fifth-place finish at 125 pounds. A fall in round two sent her to the consolation brackets where she pinned Liberty High’s Alex Sharp (6-19) in 44 seconds in the third consolation round and pinned Iowa City West’s Sylvia Broffitt (18-17) in 22 seconds in the fourth consolation round. Mahoney got another quick pin with a 49-second win by fall over Vinton-Shellsburg’s Eryca Martin in the fifth consolation round before falling in the consolation semifinals to Waverly-Shell Rock’s Eva Heise. She moved to the fifth place match where she took a 10-7 decision from Louisa-Muscatine’s Tori Hansen (17-13) and advanced to the fourth place match where Muscatine’s Kily Castillo (15-11) ended her season with a 2-1 decision. Mahoney had a fourth place finish at the WaMaC tourney.
Addison Burden (32-12), a senior, placed fifth at 145 pounds with a first round bye and a win by fall over Central DeWitt’s Allison Kallemeyn (9-18) in 2:17 in the second round. She pinned Prairie’s Claire Hynek (28-10) in 2:38 in the quarterfinals but fell to Iowa Valley, Marengo’s Emma Peach in the semifinals, which sent her to the consolation brackets. A loss to Liberty’s Evelyn Eggleston in the consolation semifinals led to a fifth place match win by fall in 4:51 over Hynek (Prairie). Eggleston (Liberty) won the fourth place match by no contest over Burden, who was the runner-up in the WaMaC tourney.
Adlie Miller (12-31), a freshman, placed sixth at 190 pounds and had an eighth place finish in the WaMaC tourney.
Abby Gregory (10-18, 115-pound freshman), Eleanor Gnida (13-20, 130-pound senior), Alexis Anderson (15-28, 140-pound freshman), Audrey Howell (11-17, 155-pound freshman), and Kendall Jensen (21-24, 170-pound junior) did not place. Anderson placed fifth at the WaMaC tourney while Howell placed fifth, and Jensen placed sixth.
“Coach (Kaitlin) Hatcher and I were pleased with how our team wrestled,” said Head Coach Jake Munson. We went into regionals not focused on outcomes but about leaving our best on the mat, and we feel like the girls really stepped up and did that as we had our strongest showing of the season as a team. We are excited to have three girls qualify for the State Meet but are equally proud of the girls who fought hard for placing points and bonus points with falls. As a team we finished fifth (out of 21 teams) in a Super Regional with several of the top-ranked teams in the state.”
Munson added, “I can’t say enough positive things about how the girls have competed this year. They’ve worked extremely hard in the practice room and on the mat in competition. We’ve got great girls who’ve risen to the occasion all season and have been an awesome group of athletes to work with. They’ve set a high bar for Lady Spartan Wrestling moving forward.”
Lady Spartans make wrestling history
February 2, 2023

Bailey Madura • Contributed Photo
The Solon Lady Spartans wrestling team poses before the start of their Super Regional meet Friday, Jan. 27 at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse arena in Cedar Rapids.
Bailey Madura • Contributed Photo
Kara VeDepo hugs Coach Kaitlin Hatcher after securing a berth in the Girls State Wrestling Tournament.