Southwest Valley’s Kenzie Maeder is heading to state! Maeder finished as the regional champ with a perfect 3-0 record and is going to state with an overall record of 51-3. She is making her second appearance at the state tournament and is the lone girl’s wrestler from Southwest Valley moving on. Maeder will enter Coralville as the number 3 seed in the 145 division. It took Kenzie a while to even begin as a wrestler, but Coach Derek Maeder is impressed in how she adapted to the sport and continues to improve.

Despite missing her freshman year, Maeder has grown into a great “lead by example” wrestler. While not being the most outspoken girl on the team, Coach Maeder praises Kenzie on her ability to let her game do the talking and being an inspiration for other girls on the team:

State Tournament’s in any sport can make or break an athlete. The win or go home scenario puts a lot of pressure on the coach and wrestler, but Coach Maeder doesn’t think that Kenzie has to approach the state tournament with any different mindset than she has all season.

As far as how Coach Derek Maeder sees things from the sideline, he doesn’t think he needs to do anything extra as a coach to get Kenzie prepared for what his one of the biggest wrestling matches of her High School career.

Kenzie Maeder will face off against Addie Koenig of Pleasantville High School in the first round on February 5th to begin her journey to a State Title.