As the temperature dipped outside Monday, the Blair girls wrestling team won the Ralston Invite inside the Rams' warm gym.
Coach Terry Bellamy's Bears scored 179.5 points, besting the second-place home team — and the rest of the eight-team tournament field — by 41 points. Two BHS wrestlers, Madi James and Kara Rodriguez, won their weight class brackets as 12 overall earned top-four results.
James was 2-0 at 145 pounds with two pins. The 33-3 Bear secured first with a 39-second pin of teammate Appelynn Berryman — who went 1-1 with a pin — in the finals.
Rodriguez, meanwhile, secured first at 155 pounds with two pins and a 20-3 technical fall victory. In the first-place match, she pinned Ralston's Ashlee Cavender in 3:09.
In addition to Berryman, five more Blair wrestlers reached the finals and finished second. Emma Himes was 2-1 at 100 pounds, securing a pair of pins before losing to Papillion-La Vista South's Raelyn Kaimikaua in the championship match.
BHS' Siena Smith was 2-1 Monday, too, earning her title match with a 4-1 decision win against Nebraska City's Ali Bohl. Nebraska City's Leah Clark edged her in the finals, though, 9-7.
Bianca Morena wrestled two matches at 110 pounds in Ralston, going 1-1 to finish second. She pinned Nebraska City's Layla Dovel before coming up short against Ralston's Karen Djibom in the finals.
Emma Belnog lost her last match at 130 pounds, but earned second overall after pins of Karlie Stutzka of Ralston and Nebraska City's Jocelyn Davis. The Bear is 34-7 overall this season.
Reata Malmberg, meanwhile, is 15-11 so far this season after a 1-1 showing at 190 pounds. She beat Gretna's Talia Beattie by pin before a loss to unbeaten Nebraska City wrestler Makayla Vasser in the finals.
Blair's Katie Wheeler (115 pounds) and Jo Inget (140) added third-place finishes to their team's first-place effort, too, while both Vivianne Shelton (125) and Madison Hiles (135) claimed fourth in their weight classes. Wheeler was 3-1 overall, pinning her third-place bout opponent in 3:40.
Inget, meanwhile, went 3-1 with a 61-second pin of Ralston's Lesliegh Lovings in her last match of the day. Shelton added two wins for the Bears as well, while Hiles secured one by pin.
Coach Bellamy's team next wrestles 2 p.m. today at Plattsmouth.
RALSTON INVITE
Monday at Ralston High School
Team standings: Blair 179.5 points, Ralston 138.5, Omaha Marian 110, Nebraska City 108, Lincoln North Star 83.5, Papillion-La Vista South 82, Gretna 68, Waverly 44.
Top-6 Blair placers: 1, Madi James, 145 pounds. 1, Kara Rodriguez, 155. 2, Emma Himes, 100. 2, Siena Smith, 105. 2, Bianca Moreno, 110. 2, Emma Belnog, 130. 2, Applelyn Berryman, 145. 2, Reata Malmberg, 190. 3, Katie Wheeler, 115. 3, Jo Inget, 140. 4, Vivianne Shelton, 125. 4, Madison Hiles, 135.
