OMAHA — Two area seniors were hoping to cap their high school careers with gold medals.
They had to settle for silver.
Two-time champion Maddelynn Bohnet of South Sioux City and Tri County Northeast’s Kiya Tornez both came up short in their pursuit for state titles during Wednesday’s championship round at the Nebraska Girls State Wrestling Championships Wednesday night at the CHI Center in downtown Omaha.
For Bohnet, who became only the third four-time finalist in the five-year history of girls wrestling, it was a controversial call that allowed Seward’s Lauren Frihauf to come from behind and defeat Bohnet 3-2 in the Class A 105-pound final.
A questionable stall call in the second period came back to haunt Bohnet late in the third period. She nearly ended the match in the closing seconds of the second period when she turned Frihauf to her back for a two-point nearfall to take a 2-0 lead into the final period.
Bohnet was dinged for a second staff and a penalty point, and Frihauf was able to reverse position with 20 seconds left and hung on for dear life as the final seconds ticked off and she claimed the 3-2 win.
“We had a different game plan on our feet,” coach and father Evan Bohnet said after the match, which was a rematch of a match earlier in the season that Frihauf won, 9-1. “We felt like we could ride her, but if they’re going to call stalling, they’ll call it.”
Bohnet said his daughter got her first stall call before the late nearfall, even though she was in control and working for the turn.
“The other girl was flat on her bally and. not working to get out, but they called us,” he said.
Despite the loss, the SSC senior finished with an outstanding career, becoming the third girl in state history to make it to the finals four times. She finished second as a freshman before back-to-back championships in 2024 and 2025.
Tornez, who finished sixth as a junior last year, came through with a surprise semifinal pin to earn her finals shot before losing to Conestoga standout Maggie Feine, who became the second 200-match career winner with her late first-period pin in the Class B 155-pound finals.
Tornez reached the finals with an exciting third period pin of Adams Central’s Zeniah Baca. The match was scoreless in the third period with Tornez on top, and she was able to get a wing and turn her opponent with a pin with :23 seconds left to become the program’s first state finalist.
“It was a pretty special moment and pretty stressful,” coach Jacob Sebade said. “We thought we had chosen down in the second period and there was some confusion, but she was able to ride her in the second period. Then in the third, we were thinking about telling Kiya to (let her go) but then she got that wing and rode it and kept it tight and she was able to avenge one of her losses from earlier in the season."
Tornez was the aggressor early in the finals match and got an early takedown of Feine, but the lead was short-lived as Feine reversed and pinned Tornez, whose only other loss this season was to the Class A 155-pound champion, Adeline Grazer of Omaha Westside.
Complete area coverage of both the girls and boys state tournaments can be found in next week’s edition of the Dakota County Star.
