By TOMMY REZAC
St. Joseph Post
INDEPENDENCE - When Lexi Petersen first tried wrestling, she said it "wasn't her thing."
Yet, one upperclassman kept pushing Petersen to give it another shot. It was Brooke-Lynn Rush, who took first at state for Benton in 2019, and is now wrestling collegiately at Missouri Valley College.
Two years later, after coming up short at districts in seasons prior, Petersen joins Rush as a state medalist after finishing third at the girls' state wrestling meet in Independence Tuesday.
"Our first medalist is a girl who wrestled her whole life," Benton girls' coach Brad Hubbard said of Rush. "Our second medalist (Petersen) is someone who had to cut her teeth for three years, like many of the girls down here, and I'm proud of her. It's a testament to what we do as a program."
Petersen, along with sophomore Tatum Levendahl, are just the second and third wrestlers from the Benton girls' program to qualify for state.
But with her third place medal, Petersen is just the second female wrestler in Benton, and in St. Joseph city history, to place at the girls' state meet.
"The fact I have now medaled at state, following in Brooke-Lynn's footsteps," Petersen said, "maybe not as champion, but still following in her footsteps, it feels really good. Knowing now that I'm top three in the state in my weight class, it's so exciting. There's so many emotions. When I ran off the mat, I hugged my coaches. They're the reason I got here."
Petersen guaranteed herself a medal early in the day Tuesday, punching her ticket to semifinals. She beat Josey Crisp of Diamond with a second-period pin in the first match, and won quarterfinals with a 6-2 decision over Sarah Bergtholdt of Troy.
Petersen faced Chloe Scheckells of Staley in her semifinal match, but was pinned early in the third period.
Petersen battled back and took a 6-3 decision against Aiva Mayer of Carrollton in the 3rd place medal match, ending her senior year with a 24-11 record.
"I just went out there and left everything on the mat," Petersen said of her final high school match. "I mean, it's my senior year and that was my final match ever in high school, so I just went ahead and let it all go.
I had to take a whole jump just to get here, and the fact that I'm here now is so exciting, and it feels so much better for me to end my senior year with a win."
Full, local results from girls' state wrestling can be found here.
You can follow Tommy on Twitter @TommyKFEQ and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.
