NAMPA − Keanna Conrad has never been one to make things easy — on her opponents or on the people watching.

Saturday was no exception.

“Something about finals, I guess,” the Blackfoot junior said with a laugh.

She needed overtime again, but still claimed her third consecutive state title. Conrad beat Post Falls’ Kahli Brown 5-2 in the girls 135-pound final at the Idaho High School State Wrestling Championships inside the Ford Idaho Center.

“There’s such a big target on her back and so much weight on her shoulders, and the way she can handle that is impressive to me,” said Blackfoot assistant coach Lana Hunt.

Like most of her career, Conrad had been nearly untouchable heading into the finals, pinning all three opponents in a combined 3 minutes, 56 seconds. But Brown came in with a plan.

She had studied Conrad’s film, knew her tendencies and techniques and pushed the pace in a way Conrad rarely sees from Idaho competition.

It worked.

“She kind of knew my every move,” Conrad said. “Her hands were in my face the whole time.”

So much so that it caused Conrad to deal with a bloody nose that wouldn’t stop for much of the match.

Conrad couldn’t get anything going in a scoreless first period. She hit a reversal 21 seconds into the second to take a 2-0 lead, but gave back both points after being called for a full-nelson penalty and allowing a rare escape just before the period ended, knotting the score at 2-2.

“I was stressed. Let’s just say everyone was surprised my baby didn’t pop out,” Hunt said with a laugh.

So Conrad now had to hold Brown for two whole minutes.

No problem.

Brown barely even made it to her feet in another scoreless period to force overtime.

But Conrad had been there before.

She needed extra time to beat Century’s Kyler Scott after three scoreless periods in last year’s 132-pound final. Conrad walked it off with a blast double just eight seconds in.

History repeated itself Saturday.

The only difference was Conrad needed a few extra seconds. She hit another blast double 17 seconds into overtime, leaving absolutely no doubt who the best still is.

“I was like, I’m not stopping until I get this takedown,” Conrad said.

Her emotions immediately boiled over afterward.

Conrad let out a scream, nearly knocked down her opponent before racing across the mat to embrace Hunt and her mother, who was in her corner for the first time in a state championship match.

“She’s always there for me, even through the hardest times,” Conrad said. “It felt really nice to have her there and celebrate with me.”

Hunt has coached Conrad for the past three years, but their connection goes back even further. She remembers watching Conrad wrestle as a 7-year-old — back when girls had no choice but to compete against boys.

“She has just pure love for that sport,” Hunt said. “To see a girl really embrace the toughness and the grind, and be able to smile through it every time — it was emotional for both of us, for sure.”

The victory made Conrad the first girl in Blackfoot history to win three consecutive state titles and just the third wrestler overall to win three titles. She now joins Mack Mauger, the program’s only four-time state champion who now wrestles for Missouri, and Jose Garcia.

Conrad moves to 126-1 in her high school career.

The lone blemish came on Dec. 22 at the Reno Tournament of Champions, where she fell 9-3 to Texas’ Kailin Sebert in the semifinals — ending a 96-match winning streak to open her career.

But the loss didn’t faze her. If anything, it only motivated her to get even better.

“She’s really good at finding something to learn about any match she wrestles in, even if she wins it,” Hunt said. “I think that loss in Reno really helped her. She was able to take it and learn from it.”

Conrad has no plans to slow down, either.

She plans to compete at the Folkstyle Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa, on March 12-15 and will continue wrestling through the summer.

As for next year?

“I’ll come back next year and earn my fourth title,” she said. “I know girls are coming to try and take that from me.”

Hunt also has no doubt.

“I have no doubt she’ll four-peat next year,” Hunt said. “She always finds something to improve on.”

Unstoppable: Williams finishes unbeaten, claims first state title

Kinzie Williams had been here before — twice, in fact.

But Saturday felt different.

The American Falls junior won her first state title, beating Rocky Mountain’s Talea Nichols 5-0 in the girls 115-pound final.

“I knew I was gonna win the match the whole time,” Williams said. “I never felt frustrated. She was getting frustrated. I wasn’t gonna force anything — that was my big thing. Don’t force it when it’s not there.”

Which wasn’t always the case.

Williams placed third at 114 pounds her freshman year after losing in the quarterfinals via a first-round pin. Ironically, Nichols won the title that year. Williams then made the 114-pound final last year, only to fall to Lewiston’s Joely Slyter 7-3, digging herself a 7-1 hole in the second period and never recovering.

“That one was really tough,” Williams said. “Joely and I wrestled a lot during the season, and she’s always been the person who pushed me to get better. I think I owe my state title this year to her in a way.”

That ended up being the last time she lost a high school match.

“I didn’t just want to win,” Williams said. “I wanted to dominate. I wanted to be very dominant in the way I was winning my matches, especially in neutral.”

So much so that nobody scored on her from the neutral position all year.

“It was a big goal of mine to not let anyone score on me in neutral, and no one did this year,” Williams said. “I didn’t even realize it until I was like, God, I’m actually doing it.”

She rolled into Saturday’s final after two pins and a tech fall. And while Williams didn’t get either against Nichols, she was still dominant.

Nichols never really threatened.

After a scoreless first period, Williams scored an escape just eight seconds into the second. She added a stalling penalty point later in the period, then fittingly closed out her unbeaten season (38-0) on a takedown with just two seconds left in the match.

“She just bought into the work, bought into being coachable, bought into just working her tail off,” American Falls head coach Nate Gugelman said. “She’s earned everything she got this year. Incredible grit. She’s never complacent.”

Williams joins Courtney Hunt, a four-time state placer who took fifth at 130 pounds Saturday, as just the second girls state champion in program history. But Williams is the first to finish a season unbeaten — one of only three girls in the state this season to do so, along with Buhl’s Roxy Sheen and Tri-Valley’s Charlee Noah.

“We’re so good at wrestling here — our boys program, Courtney Hunt, everything that’s come before us,” Williams said. “To just keep making that name for American Falls girls is really cool.”

She’s not done yet.

Williams will compete at the Folkstyle Nationals in Des Moines, Iowa, on March 12-15, where she took third a year ago. This time, she has bigger plans.

“I want to go win it, and I know I can do it,” she said. “That’s where I’m at now.”

With another year to go, she’ll have a chance to further cement her legacy. No girls has ever won multiple or back-to-back state championships at American Falls.