SALINA — Preordained and following the script verbatim, Chanute’s Kiley Dillow brought home her second straight state wrestling title on Saturday at the KSHSAA 4A Girls Championships.
Dillow, wrestling at 170 pounds, pinned Tonganoxie’s Grace Stean in the first period, dominating the bout throughout.
“She’s super excited to win another state title,” Chanute head coach Nick Nothern said. “It isn’t a small feat. Her goals are at a national level, so she expects to dominate at the state level. But there is no question that it’s a big win.”
Aggressive off the rip, Dillow took Stean down multiple times in the first 30 seconds.
“Nick told me to get a takedown in the first 10 seconds and I said, ‘OK.’ The same shot was open three times and I didn’t pass it up,” Dillow said. “I wanted to put pressure on her. She made a mistake on bottom and I capitalized.”
The state title bout was a rematch of the regional championship, where Dillow won by technical fall.
“Last time we wrestled that girl, they hand-fought a lot in the first minute,” Nothern said. “Kiley ended up getting a tech fall, but she wanted a pin tonight. We talked about attacking and getting to a takedown in the first five seconds, and that’s exactly what she did. Starting off like that with some quick takedowns and building momentum, it mentally broke her opponent.”
Ranked No. 10 nationally in her weight class by USA Wrestling, the state title for Dillow seemed like a forgone conclusion.
“Competing at the national level has boosted my confidence,” Dillow said. “I know I can get wins in Kansas and be a champion.”
That hasn’t alleviated the butterflies for one of the state’s most dominant athletes.
“Kiley still gets nervous before every match, and that shows she doesn’t overlook anybody,” Nothern said. “Nervousness is OK if you channel it to positive energy. Some people get anxious and freeze up. Kiley does the opposite. She’s better when she’s nervous. She’s not looking past anybody, she’s just focused on whatever match is in front of her. That’s a recipe for success.”
A junior who hasn’t lost a high school match since her freshman campaign, Dillow says losses in national competition leave wounds she still carries.
“I hate being the ‘what if’ person, but I’m not willing to let hard work go to waste,” Dillow said. “I learn more from losing than winning — it’s weird when I’ve won 90 straight matches. But there’s a reason I haven’t lost since freshman year. I’m scarred from losing and I don’t let those things happen again.”
Going into her senior season, Dillow is expected to be the top-ranked wrestler in Kansas among all weight classes.
“It’s fun to have everybody root against me,” Dillow said. “Everybody will want me to lose, so I’ll make everybody mad.”
Dillow pinned all of her opponents in the first period at state — Lauren Nix of Hugoton, Carly McAtee of Girard and Stefania Aranguiz of Rose Hill. In the semifinals, the public address announcer was still listing off Dillow’s accolades as part of an introduction as Dillow pinned Aranguiz.
Jarynn Hockett, wrestling at 105 pounds for Chanute, earned a podium spot by finishing sixth.
Hockett lost her first match to Mercedes Lewis before battling back with three straight wins on the back side.
“She was dominating her first match but got caught in a bad position,” Nothern said. “We went to the back room and I told her that three wins gets her on the podium. She went out and got some good wins. She gutted it out.”
Hockett lost to Zoey Owens of El Dorado in the fifth place match — Nothern has high aspirations for Hockett next winter.
“I’m hoping her eye is on winning a state title,” Nothern said.
Every wrestler that went to state for the Chanute girls won at least one match — Riverlee Allen went 1-2 at 100 pounds, Kyli Baylor 1-2 at 190 pounds and senior Madison Dutro 1-2 at 235 pounds.
“Winning a match here proves to them that they can compete at this level,” Nothern said. “They think I’m full of it, but hopefully now they know they can compete at the state level. Now, the goal for them is to get on the podium. I think we’ll have a great team.”
Chanute finished 12th as a team with 49 points — Tonganoxie won the team state title with 104 points while Fort Scott, which Chanute upset for the SEK League title, took second with 87 points.
“We had five qualifiers and four are back next year including both our placers,” Nothern said. “We have some good eighth graders coming up and some girls that almost made state. This was kind of a rebuilding year for us. I think we underperformed my expectations as a team, but it wasn’t for lack of effort. Every loss was a learning opportunity and we’re going to get better.”
Dillow hopes to inherit more leadership responsibilities.
“This year was a growing year,” Dillow said. “I had to learn to step into that role, and I want to be better next year. I want to help girls believe in themselves. That’s something we can all work on. I want to pound it into everybody’s brains. I know I can be a better leader.”
