Brooke Giboney wanted to be a state wrestler since she started in the sport.

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North Callaway’s first ever girls grappler became the school’s first ever girl state qualifier on Saturday at the Class 1 District 2 tournament at St. Charles West. Giboney finished the two days 2-2 in the 105-pound bracket to take fourth place and earn one of the coveted four spots to the Class 1 meet beginning Feb. 21 at Mizzou Arena in Columbia.

“My plan was to be the first girl to make it to state for North Callaway,” Giboney said. “I was glad to do that as that was my only goal this year.”

Giboney officially clinched a state spot when she pinned Blair Oaks’ Annie Stewart in the blood round of the consolation bracket. She said she was patient and took the opportunities presented themselves during the match to come away with the key victory.

Head coach Ronnie Kimbley has noticed that improvement from Giboney this season, and it’s for that reason that the Ladybirds’ first wrestler a year ago gave the young program another milestone.

“Coming over here to St. Louis in this district is pretty tough because we don’t get to see a lot of these girls — kind of the unknown coming into this,” Kimbley said. “She wrestled well. We just wrestled positions and wrestled smart and took shots when she needed to.”

Giboney said she took a shot last year and is glad she took it. Before she became involved with wrestling, her cousin and Fulton wrestler Olivia Weaver recommended that she try it and the rest was history for North Callaway.

“She was a freshman and told me to try it out because she figured I would like it, and I was stronger than her,” Giboney said. “I just found passion in the sport, and I really liked it. I figured I would continue going, especially with my supportive coaches.”

Giboney said she is grateful for Weaver’s assessment of her physical strength and is proud of herself that she has shown good mental strength as well, even after missing state by one match a season ago. This applies during the matches as well, including her bouts at districts this past weekend.

Her first loss happened in the semifinals against eventual district runner-up Madison Teeter, of Marceline, on a pinfall. The fall happened in the third period after minutes of Giboney wrestling to a close margin. 

In then what seemed the latest meeting of a long series, Giboney lost the third-place match 7-1 to California’s Camryn Wingate, who is considered one of the top girls in the state after posting at least 40 wins this season.

“I just want to continue looking to score points and wrestle tough through the matches and not give up,” Giboney said. “One of my main goals is to not get pinned.”

Kimbley said Giboney has improved on the mat over time, as evidenced by her history against Wingate. Giboney’s loss against her this time was a better showing than their meeting that ended in a pinfall at North Callaway.

He admitted that Giboney defeated Teeter 6-4 at the Battle at the Katy Trail tournament this season only to lose to her this weekend, but the impressive part is how she responded.

“You look to score points,” Giboney said. “When you look to just win matches, you overdo things from time to time. That’s what we didn’t see. We just saw her wrestle smart.”

Kimbley said North Callaway’s district wrestler, Addie Fansler at 125, is in her first year but has improved as well. He said Fansler encountered a “loaded” bracket and had her first match against eventual third-place medalist Yoo Lee, of Chillicothe, which ended in a pinfall like her other match against another 30-match winner Marshall’s Amaiya McClinton.

“It was definitely an uphill battle,” Kimbley said. “She had a rough year, but she never gave up.”

Weaver just fell short in the 110-pound first-place match on Saturday but is going to state with Giboney. 

“I just want to continue wrestling not to give up and have a good mindset going into it,” Giboney said.