Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Fort Dodge's Alexis Ross grabs Charles City’s Lilly Luft in the third-place match at 132 pounds during the IWOCA state tournament on Saturday in Waverly. For more photos, visit CU.messengernews.net

WAVERLY — Recovering after a setback is sometimes the hardest thing to do in sports, but it can be a building block for future success if handled correctly.

After suffering a loss in her 132-pound state semifinal match Saturday, Fort Dodge freshman Alexis Ross gathered herself, refocused, and took a step up the podium rather than down on the consolation side with a pair of wins.

“I didn’t think at first we were going to get her to forget about (the defeat),” said FDSH coach Jon Koenig. “We didn’t want to allow that loss determine the outcome of the entire tournament.

“Even going out in the consolation semifinals, she was a little frustrated. But there was a fire lit once that whistle blew.”

The third ranked Ross, who was the No. 7 seed, lost by fall to top-ranked and sixth-seed Abby McIntyre (5-0) of Glenwood.

McIntyre, who wrestles for the Cadet Junior freestyle team and is nationally ranked, missed the majority of the season due to a broken foot, which likely affected her seeding. McIntyre pinned top-seed Annika Behrends of Waverly-Shell Rock in the championship match.

“She (McIntyre) has a go-to move that we knew about after looking at the videos,” Koenig said. “We gameplanned to avoid it and we did, which frustrated (Ross) that she couldn’t get her shot in.

“On bottom, we weren’t able to keep our head and shoulders up, and once she stacked Alexis, it was over.”

Ross, who is a two-time AAU girls state champion and five-time Iowa U.S. state girls title-holder, admits it was tough to move on following the disappointing semifinal result.

“After my loss, I couldn’t get it out of my head,” Ross said. “It’s still with me now, but I pushed it to the side a little so I could continue wrestling.

“It was a hard loss to take.”

After recovering and thinking about what was on tap, she was able to turn things around and come away with Fort Dodge’s first-ever girls state medal after placing third at the IWCOA Girls Wrestling Championships.

“I think that it’s a pretty big thing, being the first ever Dodger girl state placewinner ever,” Ross said. “But it will be better when I’m the first ever Dodger girls state champion.”

In her consolation semifinal match, she made quick work of Wilton’s Mea Burkle, pinning her shoulders in 1:56.

In the third-place match, Ross (16-1) was pitted against sixth-rated freshman Lilly Luft of Charles City. Ross controlled the entire match and came away with a 5-0 decision.

“I’m proud of myself for getting third. For most girls, that would be amazing. But it’s not what I wanted, so I will continue working until I’m where I want to be,” Ross said. “I think this tournament was a good experience, and it was really fun and I got a lot of mat time.

“I still have room to improve, and that’s what I intend to do.”

Ross went 5-1 overall, earning four falls and a decision. Three of her falls came in the first period.

She pinned second-seeded Evah Owens of Central City in the quarterfinals, and earned the decision over third-seeded Luft.

“I tried to get her to understand that even though getting third wasn’t what she wanted — it was OK to smile,” Koenig said. “I tried to tell her that if she would have let that get to her and she fell to sixth place, that would have been much worse and haunted her for the rest of her high school career.”