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HARTINGTON — Evie Freeman knew at an early age that she’d always be around wrestling.
“I think it’s just always been a part of my life,” she said after earning her fourth pin of the day Saturday to claim the District wrestling title to advance to next week’s State Class B Wrestling Tournament.
She’s known about double leg takedowns and doublechicken wing pinning moves since she was a kindergartener, wrestling in the Hartington youth wrestling program that her dad, John Freeman, helped start.
At first it was just something fun to do with her dad, a former high school wrestler at Laurel-Concord High School. But in fourth grade, something clicked and wrestling became a passion as she started dominating her mat foes.
She’s been dominating the competition ever since.
The 110-pound Cedar Catholic freshman breezed through last weekend’s District Tournament to improve t0 28-2 on the year. Of those 28 wins, 26 were by pin. Her other two victories came from technical falls.
Coach Justin Bartling was not at all surprised by he District performance.
“Evie is a stud. She has had a great year so far and even battled through the flu this past week and still pinned her way to win her district,” Bartling said.
Her district title and impressive record earned her the second seed in next week’s State Wrestling Tournament at the CHI Center in Omaha.
Even with such an impressive season under her belt, earning gold on Saturday did not come easily. She’d been battling a virus for several days prior to the event and wsn’t at full strength.
“Getting through the match and getting off the mat, I’d feel sick, but I got through it,” she said.
She did more than just ‘get through it,’ as she didn’t allow any opponent to make it into the third period during the tournament.
In fact, that’s one of the things she’s known for. She hasn’t wrestled into the third period once this year.
Even though she hasn’t had to spend a lot of time on the mat during her competitions, she’s not worried about going three periods if the situation calls for it.
“Stamina isn’t a problem,” she said. “Morgan (Kuchta) pushes me pretty hard in practice. She really works on me in practice.”
Freeman credits her Cedar Catholic teammate and her coaches for helping her to advance so far in the sport.
“I’m really grateful for coaches, my dad and my mom, and teammates for helping me this season and for God giving me the talent to do this.”
While modesty keeps her from talking about her chances at bringing home Cedar Catholic’s first-ever state championship medal, her record speaks for itself.
She will not have to face either of the girls at State that were able to put a blemish on her record this season. Ella Reeves of Battle Creek moved up to the 120-pound division and won the B4 District title. Her other loss came at the hands of a Class A wrestler.
Coach Bartling said she has the ability to bring back some hardware from State.
“I really like her bracket for state and that could really set us up well for her to get a medal,” he said.
Next week’s Girls State Tournament begins Tuesday, Feb. 18 with championship matches set for Feb. 19.
District B3
Round 1 - Evelyn Freeman (Cedar) over Kaitlyn Mahaney (NEN Girls) (Fall 0:19) Quarterfinals - Evelyn Freeman (Cedar) over Erica Chicaj Pol (Wakefield) (Fall 1:42) Semifinals - Evelyn Freeman (Cedar) over Teegen Hasebroock (Elkhorn Valley) (Fall 2:33)
