Hard work pays off for Liberty seniors, team as MVC girls wrestling champions

CEDAR RAPIDS — Four years ago, Iowa City Liberty’s Taylor Cavanh and Evelyn Eggleston took a risk in going out for a new sport — wrestling.

On Saturday, Jan. 24, they found out that sometimes, risk can lead to reward.

Their reward was Liberty’s first-ever Mississippi Valley Conference (MVC) team title, as the two seniors used their individual championships to propel their team to the top. The Lightning dethroned back-to-back champion Cedar Falls with 238 team points.

“We pulled off the win, and it’s really exciting,” Cavanh said. “It’s a testament to how hard all of us work every day. The countless hours every single girl and coach have put into this — it’s just really showing on the mat.”

Eggleston agrees that her team’s work ethic helped the Lightning come out on top of the MVC conference.

“It’s amazing,” Eggleston said. “We are in the room, grinding it out. It’s great to see all of that hard work pay off.”

Liberty head coach Derek Coorough witnessed Cavanh and Eggleston’s wrestling careers come full circle at the MVC tournament.

It’s a reflection of their work ethic and belief in Liberty’s girls wrestling program, as this was the first group that went all four years through the program.

“This is the inaugural senior class for Liberty girls wrestling,” Coorough said. “They started four years ago and took a risk on the sport with nine girls on the team. Now, here we are with 40 girls on the team. We were ranked third at one point and now fifth.

“We just won the MVC.”

Pushing the Lightning to the top was Cavanh and Eggleston’s back-to-back individual titles, repeating as conference champs. It was just last season when the duo won Liberty’s first MVC individual girls wrestling titles.

In her 105-pound championship bout, Cavanh faced Cedar Rapids Prairie’s Marie Burns. Cavanh ultimately pinned her way through the tournament, getting the fall over Burns in 3:19 during the title match.

As a senior and in her final regular tournament of the season, Cavanh was proud of the effort and put everything out there.

“It all came down to this,” Cavanh said. “This was my last regular tournament ever, since I’m not planning on wrestling in college and postseason starts next week. I was ready to let it fly. I wanted to get some takedowns and turns on top — just wrestle.”

As for Eggleston, who competes on a team with her sister and freshman, Kate, she was excited to bring home another individual girls wrestling title back to Liberty.

She did it by defeating Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s Meredith Kaump by a 6-0 decision and doing it alongside her Liberty teammates.

“It feels awesome to win it two years in a row,” Eggleston said. “I knew I was up there with the best. It feels good to win it with this team, because everyone is so supportive.”

Just as Eggleston was grateful to win titles with her Liberty teammates, Coorough knows winning the team title took everyone on their lineup.

It didn’t matter if it was wrestling for first or seventh — all Bolts were needed to win it all, led by Cavanh and Eggleston.

“They (Cavanh and Eggleston) are leaders,” Coorough said. “The championship wasn’t won on the finalists or the champions. It was won on the girls that came back for third, fourth, or other places. What they accomplished is bringing it all together as a team.”

Knowing it was a team effort on Saturday, Cavanh is quick to admit that another group played an important role in winning the MVC title — Liberty’s coaching staff.

“We have a really good coaching staff at Liberty,” Cavanh said. “You can have good coaches, but when you have coaches that believe in you, it really elevates our team. We want everyone to do well. That takes a lot of pressure off. When we go out there, we see us dominating, because we aren’t scared to lose.”

As for what’s next, the Bolts will charge up for Friday’s Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) Regional. Liberty heads to South Tama for their Class 2A state qualifying meet.

Cavanh isn’t forgetting about being a conference champ anytime soon.

Instead, she’s hoping to use the individual and team conference titles as motivation for what’s to come.

“Hopefully, I am going to take this high and keep riding it,” Cavanh said. “At the end of the day, a match can change in a second. Nothing is ever guaranteed. I am just going to continue to let it fly.”