Nine local wrestlers advance to girls sectional
A total of nine Trempealeau County girls wrestlers kept their seasons alive last weekend, performing well enough at regionals to advance to sectionals and move just one step away from the state tournament.
Arcadia and Blair-Taylor each are sending three wrestlers to sectionals courtesy of top-two finishes in their respective weight classes at regionals. Whitehall has two sectional qualifiers and Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro is sending one to the next round of competition.
All nine area qualifiers will be part of the field at the sectional meet held at Stevens Point Area High School on Friday, where the first session gets underway at 5 p.m.
The top two finishers in each weight class at each sectional punches their ticket to the following weekend’s state tournament in Madison.
Mondovi regional
The Raiders and the Wildcats each have a trio of wrestlers who advanced their way out of the Mondovi/Eleva-Strum regional last Friday in Mondovi.
Both schools sent sectional qualifiers in the 107-pound weight class, where B-T freshman Jayda Ristey pinned Arcadia junior Madison Mahutga in the lone match. Additionally for the Wildcats, sophomore Maryjane Flynn picked up a pair of pinfall victories to place first at 165 pounds and fellow sophomore McKenzie Killian went 1-1 to take second at 114 pounds.
Arcadia also had a pair of regional champions: junior Kalyce Sobotta earned two wins via pinfall at 120 pounds and junior Elizabeth Bautista pinned Black River Falls sophomore Zoie Scholze in the lone 185-pound bout.
Whitehall sent two wrestlers on to sectionals in uncontested brackets: junior Ivonne Rojas Ortiz and sophomore Lucy Frye.
Holmen regional
G-E-T/Mel-Min junior Payten Craig continued her standout winter by becoming a regional champion and advancing to sectionals.
Craig emerged victorious at 120 pounds at a regional meet this past Friday in Holmen. She defeated La Crosse Logan/Central junior Emylie Vang and Onalaska freshman Mya Foster by pinfall. Sophomore Mikaela Dixon went 1-2 for the Titans to finish fourth at 132 pounds and see her season end.
Holmen Scramble
The Arcadia girls placed fourth in the final tune-up before the start of the postseason push to end the season.
The Raiders registered 234 points to land in fourth in the team standings at the Holmen Scramble last Monday, trailing only the host Vikings (481) in first, Tomah (348) in second and Black River Falls (320.5) in third. Additionally, Blair-Taylor (108) finished in 11th and G-E-T/Mel-Min (45.5) took 15th.
Elizabeth Bautista posted a perfect 3-0 record on the night for Arcadia, while Kalyce Sobotta and Ava Knopps each went 2-1. B-T’s Maryjane Flynn and McKenzie Killian each won a match, and Mikaela Dixon finished 1-1 for the Titans.
