Meet Katie Biscoglia, a star freshman for the Raccoon River-Northwest girls wrestling team

It is easy to watch Katie Biscoglia wrestle and immediately think of her older brother, Kyle. They move similarly on the mat. Hit a lot of the same moves, too. They’re both lanky lightweights who just crush their competition.

Kyle Biscoglia, of course, was a three-time state champ and All-American talent for Waukee who’s since become an NCAA qualifier for Northern Iowa. Katie is only a high school freshman but is already writing the preamble for her own stellar wrestling career.

Katie’s latest performance came Saturday, at the Northwest Girls Invite. She went 4-0 for first place at 100 pounds. She outscored her four opponents 22-0, with three first-period pins and a 14-0 major decision in the semifinals.

“I don’t really think it’s a coincidence,” Katie said afterward when asked about the comparisons between her and Kyle. “I’ve watched him for a long time and picked up on the stuff he does.”

Katie Biscoglia was one of two champs for the Raccoon River girls wrestling team, a consolidated program comprised of four Dallas County schools: Waukee, Waukee Northwest, Van Meter, and ADM. Calista Rodish, another freshman, won at 120.

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Raccoon River finished fifth in this 18-team tournament with 140 team points. Behind Biscoglia and Rodish, five others finished fifth or better at their respective weights. Cedar Falls ran away with the team crown with 221.5 points. More on that in a minute.

James Biscoglia, Katie and Kyle’s dad, coaches Raccoon River. He, too, sees the similarities — and it’s even cooler, he explains, when you consider that Kyle is the one who urged James to get Katie started in wrestling.

When Kyle was in high school, he spent time at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. While there, he worked with some of USA Wrestling’s top women’s freestyle wrestlers as they prepared for the 2016 U.S. Olympic Trials.

Kyle returned home and immediately told James about it — and suggested he gauge Katie’s interest.

“He came back and was like, ‘Why doesn’t Katie do this?’” recalled James, who coached Kyle growing up, “and I said, ‘I don’t know.’ Kyle is the one who really talked me into getting her into wrestling.

“So the first time Kate got on the mat, she’s doing stuff that she saw Kyle do — and I’m like, ‘Well, I know how to coach that.’”

Katie quickly became a force on Iowa’s youth wrestling scene, racking up local, statewide, and even national awards. Last May, she took third at the 15U women’s freestyle national championships and fourth at the 15U Pan-American team trials. She has previously been included in USA Wrestling’s national high school rankings.

After Saturday, Katie Biscoglia is now 32-0 this season with 25 pins. She is ranked No. 3 at 100 pounds in IAWrestle’s latest girls state rankings. She will be among the favorites at next month’s state championships at Xtream Arena in Coralville.

She’s done all of this by emulating her brother’s super successful style. Kyle Biscoglia finished his high school career 191-11 with 115 career pins. He’s currently ranked No. 12 nationally at 133 pounds by InterMat.

“He definitely taught me to stay in good position,” Katie said of what she learned from watching Kyle. “I like that 2-on-1 that he does, but mostly, just staying in good position and making sure everything I do is precise.”

The scary part? James Biscoglia believes certain aspects of Katie’s style could be even better. Kyle is more calculated offensively. Katie is more aggressive and versatile in her attacks. She is apt to take chances to score points, allowing her natural athleticism to help her in times when her technique may not be perfect.

So far, the early returns suggest Katie Biscoglia, like her brother, will be a mainstay at the top of Iowa’s high school wrestling pecking order for the next few years. That's only the start of this story. Katie Biscoglia will decide how far and high it goes.

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Cedar Falls wins Northwest Girls Invite team title

In an 18-team field, Cedar Falls emerged the team champs, with 221.5 points, well ahead of Ames and Dallas Center-Grimes, who tied for second with 164 points each. Bettendorf took fourth with 147, followed by Raccoon River at 140.

The Tigers rolled largely on their depth and firepower, with 11 wrestlers finishing fourth or better. Only one Cedar Falls wrestler won a title: Hope Chiattello, who went 3-0 to win at 110 pounds. The Tigers also finished with a tournament-best 26 pins.

Consider Cedar Falls one of the teams to watch at next month’s state championships. They have finished first or second at every team tournament that’s kept team scores this season. That includes winning the girls division at the Battle of Waterloo last month and winning this tournament here on Saturday.

Not all tournaments are created equal, but the Tigers have shown time and again that they’re not only winners, but pinners. Those bonus points will be crucial in how next month’s state tournament team race will be decided.

This is not to say Cedar Falls is the favorite. There are others: Osage, Waverly-Shell Rock, Ankeny, Decorah, Southeast Polk, Charles City, Spencer, Iowa Valley, even Lewis Central, who the Tigers outscored on Saturday. The Titans, ranked No. 1 in IAWrestle's girls team poll, led all teams at Northwest with three champs.

But Cedar Falls is battle-tested and up for the challenge, evidenced by Saturday’s results and literally every other tournament at which they've competed this season. Regional competitions are just two weeks away. There’s no reason to believe the Tigers won’t show up again when it matters most.

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Highlight performances from Northwest Girls Invite

Lewis Central’s three champs — Maya Humlicek (105), Sophie Barnes (125), Mahri Manz (140) — combined for 10 of the Titans’ 16 total pins on Saturday. Ava McNeal, who finished second to Biscoglia, added another and gave Lewis Central four finalists.

Manz won the most notable matchup of the day. In the finals, she beat Centerville’s Sarah Lewis, 7-6, in a battle between the No. 1- and 2-ranked wrestlers in the state, per IAWrestle. Top-ranked Manz scored two takedowns in the first period for a 4-1 lead, then Lewis countered with a pair of reversals to lead 6-4 after two, then Manz scored a pair of penalty points and an escape at the gun to win.

Ames finished without an individual champ, but did have three finalists, in Lexa Rozevink (120), Leah Stagg (145), and Alison Matschke (170), and nine total wrestlers finish fifth or better. Dallas Center-Grimes matched their team-point output thanks to two champs, in Maya Fritz (170) and Halley Beaudet (190). Fritz recorded three falls.

Bettendorf had three finalists but just one champ, in Alexys Petersen. She recorded four first-period pins to win at 130 pounds. She wrestled a grand total of 2 minutes and 46 seconds on Saturday. She is now 25-4 this season has not lost a match since the second round of the Dan Gable Donnybrook, which was held back on Dec. 1-2.

Missouri Valley matched Raccoon River and Dallas Center-Grimes with two individual champs, in Nicole Olson (155) and Jocelyn Buffum (235). Olson went 3-0 with three pins and outscored her opponents 25-4. She scored nine takedowns and allowed none. Buffum also recorded three pins. In the finals, she actually trailed Boone’s Clara Carpenter 4-2 when she locked up the fall in the second period.

Treynor’s Adalyn Minahan won at 115 pounds thanks to two come-from-behind wins. In the semifinals, she rallied from down 3-2 to win 5-3 over Cedar Falls’ Jasmine Oleson. In the finals, she trailed 6-2 when she reversed Bettendorf’s Lauren Rogalla in the second period and ran an arm-bar to pin her in 3:52.

Fort Dodge’s Alexis Ross, the state’s No. 1-ranked wrestler at 135 pounds and a returning state champ, breezed to first place with three first-period falls. She’s now 29-2 this season.

Williamsburg’s Phoenix Gryp, the champ at 170 pounds, actually matched Ross with a 12-second fall. That was the third-fastest pin of the day. Williamsburg’s Mariana Stevenson had the fastest, in 4 seconds, followed by Raccoon River’s Quincy Cooper, who had a 10-second pin.

Cody Goodwin covers wrestling and high school sports for the Des Moines Register. Follow him on Twitter at @codygoodwin.

2023 Northwest Girls Invite

Final Team Scores

1. Cedar Falls, 221.5

2. Ames, 164

3. Dallas Center-Grimes, 164

4. Bettendorf, 147

5. Raccoon River-NW, 140

Finals Results

• 100: #3 Katie Biscoglia (Raccoon River) pinned #4 Ava McNeal (Lewis Central) in 1:40

• 105: #2 Maya Humlicek (Lewis Central) pinned #3 Taylor Strief (Bettendorf) in 1:31

• 110: #5 Hope Chiattello (Cedar Falls) pinned Sophia Harris (Humboldt) in 3:36

• 115: Adalyn Minahan (Treynor) pinned Lauren Rogalla (Bettendorf) in 3:52

• 120: #8 Calista Rodish (Raccoon River) pinned Lexa Rozevink (Ames) in 1:50

• 125: #3 Sophie Barnes (Lewis Central) pinned Apryl Halsor (Cedar Falls) in 5:05

• 130: #3 Alexys Petersen (Bettendorf) pinned Asia Jahangir (Dallas Center-Grimes) in 1:12

• 135: #1 Alexis Ross (Fort Dodge) pinned Lainey Schreck (Cedar Falls) in 1:52

• 140: #1 Mahri Manz (Lewis Central) dec. #2 Sarah Lewis (Centerville), 7-6

• 145: Phoenix Gryp (Williamsburg) pinned Leah Stagg (Ames) in 3:46

• 155: #4 Nicole Olson (MO Valley) pinned #5 Lauren Nicholas (Cedar Falls) in 5:15

• 170: Maya Fritz (Dallas Center-Grimes) pinned Alison Matschke (Ames) in 1:50

• 190: Halley Beaudet (Dallas Center-Grimes) dec. Cadence Heggen (Boone), 5-2

• 235: #3 Jocelyn Buffum (MO Valley) pinned Clara Carpenter (Boone) in 3:54

  • Rankings from IAWrestle.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Raccoon River freshman Katie Biscoglia is one of Iowa's top wrestlers