Gaining four wrestlers this year, the Yutan girls wrestling team came into the season with high expectations—and they met almost all of them, including winning state as a team.

“It was probably one of the most successful sports seasons we’ve ever had in Yutan. The girls won or got second in almost every meet where we were full strength—and winning state championship girls. You know, they just wrestled well all year,” wrestling head coach Dan Krajicek said.
The successes did not come without hard work in practice.
“Practice was a challenge for them every day because they had to wrestle all their practice partners who are really good, so the biggest challenge for me was making sure that nobody got hurt and they didn’t just beat each other up so bad that they couldn’t wrestle at the tournaments,” Krajicek said.
Contributing to the state championship win were five individual medalists. One of these medalists was returning state champion junior Jordyn Campbell, who successfully defended her championship in the 130-pound weight class. To get to that point, she had to hit smaller goals along the way.
“Some goals I accomplished this year were staying healthy through the season, winning state and beating high-quality opponents that I may have lost to in the past years,” Campbell said.
Not only did achieving Campbell’s goals feel good, but so did winning state again.
“It felt good and satisfying because it gave me reassurance that it wasn’t a fluke thing the first time and I actually did deserve to be there,” Campbell said.
Another returning state champion was senior Aubrie Pehrson in the 125-pound weight class. She won her freshman and sophomore years but finished in third place at state with Skutt last season and then returned to the top of the podium in her final year with a total of 204 wins throughout her high school career.

“I accomplished so many of my goals at state, which I am super proud of. I won my third state title and our team made history for Yutan by winning the class B girls state title,” Aubrie Pehrson said.
Aubrie was able to accomplish her goals with a strong mindset and the help of her team and coaches.
“I also had a lot more confidence in myself this year because I trusted in my training and had an amazing team and coaches by my side,” Aubrie Pehrson said.

Sophomore Addy Darling was the team’s other state champion, in the 110-pound weight class. Winning state was Darling’s 49th win, ending her season with a 48-1 record.
“My season ended well and state was an amazing experience, and I’m so glad I got to win an individual and team title…I made it to state finals and won it and only lost one match this season,” Darling said.
Also contributing to the team score was senior Alexis Pehrson, who placed third in the 135-pound weight class. Although she did not accomplish her goal of winning her weight class, she accomplished many other goals and still felt good about her final season.
“Winning state as a team during the season, and I also got 150 wins…I was the second girl to get 150 wins after Aubrie,” Alexis Pehrson said. “I’m satisfied with [the season] because I like to look at the big picture, and that is that we won state as a team. I think that’s just really historic because it’s the first ever Class B girls state title, and Yutan won that.” Pehrson said.
The final Chieftain to place at state was sophomore Amalea Vaughn-Lantzer, who placed fourth in the 155-pound bracket, which was further than she had gone before.
“My main goal was to make it to state this year, compared to last year when I didn’t make it out of sub-districts…I wanted to show people I could make a lot further than I did last year and feel like I did that,” Vaughn-Lantzer said.

With the team’s success at state and hard work throughout the season, Krajicek ended the year feeling inspired as a coach.

“It wasn’t even the winning. It was watching the kids practice every day and watching how hard they worked every day. It was probably one of the most inspiring things I saw. You know, as a coach, when kids come in and they just work their butts off, it makes it a whole lot of fun to coach, regardless of if they’re going to be good or not. If I’d have just been to practice and we would have lost every match, that part would have been disappointing,” Krajicek said. “But for me, getting to watch them in practice, getting to watch them get better and work and go after each other, all season. That was definitely one of the coolest sports seasons I’ve had.”