Marshalltown girls’ wrestling coach Isaiah Cox looked at what he thought was possible and what the outcome was.

Now the Bobcats have to close the gap between the two, and they don’t have a lot of time left to do it this season.

Marshalltown was unable to crown its first Iowa Alliance Conference girls’ wrestling champion on Tuesday night at the Roundhouse, going 0-for-3 in the final round. Senior Madylin McDonald and sophomores Ella DeMonte and Nevaeh Gonzales each were pinned in their championship matches in the Bobcats’ quest to climb to the top of the podium for the first time since joining the Alliance.

McDonald was on the cusp of a conference title at 145 pounds, narrowly missing the second-period pin over Danielliz Rosa of Ames. McDonald scored a takedown to start the second period and had two nearfall points before Rosa rolled through and pinned her in 3 minutes, 27 seconds.

“I wanted her to be our first conference champ right there,” Cox said. “She could have had it, but I told her ‘don’t worry about this.’ This is not what we want — we want that regionals, we want to make it to state, and she’s picking up that vibe.”

McDonald (16-10) was seeded second and finished there, but she’ll use the finals loss to drive her toward the postseason in pursuit of something greater than a conference crown.

“I should have won that match, that was my match,” she said. “I was a little too high when I was pinning her, and then I got rolled, and that’s where I went wrong and I got pinned.

“I’ll just go back into the (wrestling) room, this is what I need to focus on, and I drill it and I drill it and I drill it just so that I don’t make that same mistake again.”

The Bobcats close out Alliance dual meet action on Thursday at Fort Dodge, and the Class 2A regional tournament is Friday, Jan. 30, at South Tama High School. The state meet is Feb. 5-6 at Xtream Arena in Iowa City.

Cox was pleased to see his team fully understanding that Tuesday’s conference tournament wasn’t the end-all, but he still wanted more from his squad.

“It wasn’t all bad today,” he said, “but we’ve still got to grow. We’re still so young. But they understood because of last year, but it still hurts, and I want it to hurt. Use that fire, use it as fire. We need those challenges, and that’s only going to make us better.”

Marshalltown’s trio of finalists represented a rough go in the final round for all Bobcats, as MHS wrestlers were 2-8 in their last trip to the Roundhouse mats on Tuesday. Natalie Nickey (100) and Faith Sommerlot (125) both won their third-place matches, but those were the only placewinner bouts to go to the Bobcats.

“We’ve just got to have a little bit more fight,” said Cox. “We were right there, but we stopped wrestling at times and it costs us big matches. And when you wrestle good girls, you’ve gotta execute at a high level.”

Marshalltown was the only one of six teams at the conference meet unable to crown a champion. Ames claimed the Alliance title with 211 points, followed by Mason City (203.5), Ottumwa (196), Fort Dodge (175), the Bobcats and Des Moines Public Schools (89).

Mason City had four champions; Ames, Ottumwa and Fort Dodge had three gold medalists; and Des Moines put one atop the podium.

“It’s definitely sad,” McDonald said, “but it’s just something you’ve got to have to keep pushing. It makes me learn — I know these little losses are just something I have to fix. I know I can beat thse girls.”

McDonald pinned Rey Lacina of Fort Dodge in her semifinal match, while DeMonte (20-8) pinned AK Nolin of Ames in the 155 semifinals. Mason City’s Trista Pike took control of her championship match with DeMonte, pinning her in 1:28.

Gonzales (22-7), who qualified for state a year ago, pinned Mason City’s Londyn Snow in the semifinals before falling to second-seeded Ava Potter of Fort Dodge in the finals in 3:44.

Gonzales was whistled for stalling three times in the first period but got the only takedown, and she trailed 5-3 at the first break. Gonzales deferred the choice and Potter took the top position, but the Bobcat sophomore scored a point for locked hands and then escaped to draw even at 5-5.

Potter scored a takedown with 30 seconds left in the period and turned Gonzales for the pin, spoiling the Bobcats’ chances at an Alliance title.

Nickey (9-6) went 2-1 on the day with two pins, while Sommerlot (11-9) was 2-1 with a pin and a technical fall over Greyson Hinds of Fort Dodge in the third-place match, 17-0.

“Natalie took a tough loss but she battled back for third, so it was good to see that,” Cox said. “I was so proud of Faith today. She’s turned it on.”

Erandy Ibarra (105) and Olivia Wise (190) both finished in fourth place, while Maelee Corona (110), Shailynn Sadie (115) and Charlotte Reyes (140) each placed fifth. Patricia Mateo Merida (120), Leah Graves (135) and Donae Garth (170) all settled for sixth.

“It’s crunch time now,” Cox said. “Regionals is next week. We’ve got to fine-tune a lot of our technique. A lot of things are just sloppy right now. If we fix some of those things, man, we can be so good. It’s there.

“But like I said: we’re young, so I’m OK with this right now. We’re still in a developing stage, so we’re OK.”