The team race was tight the whole tournament! I don’t want to say Bay Port came out of nowhere because they are a good team, but going in, I had defending champions Holmen, Wausau West, Badger, and South St. Paul, MN as the favorites.
| Bi State Team Scores | ||
| 1 | Bay Port | 198 |
| 2 | Badger | 180.5 |
| 3 | Bonduel | 175.5 |
| 4 | Wausau West | 172 |
| 5 | Holmen | 159 |
| 6 | Nekoosa/Assumption/Port Edwards | 154 |
| 7 | Hudson | 143 |
| 8 | Grand Meadow/LeRoy-Ostrander/Southland | 140 |
| 9 | Eau Claire North | 125 |
| 10 | Fort Atkinson | 120.5 |
| 11 | Neenah | 116 |
#1 Bayport put together an amazing tournament and now should find themselves high in the team rankings. They were especially dominate at #185 and #235 where Autumn King (3rd) and Olivia Konshak (1st) combined to lose only one match.
#2 Badger, with champs Brynn Engel (100) and Carley Ceshker (132), and 3rd place Alexa Thomas came in second. Alexa and Brynn are two of the best freshmen in the state, regardless of weight class. Brynn dominated her way through the bracket. Alexa teched two time state place winner, Kylie Klum, in the third place match.
#3 Bonduel doesn’t have high numbers, but they sure have hammers! Five of their seven entries placed in the top eight.
#4 Wausau West is as well-rounded as any team in the state. Their freshman 107, Aaleeh Le, impressed by placing 5th. They also put two in a row in the finals – Lana Borchardt at 152 and Christiana Nordstrom at 165.
#5 Holmen had six girls in the top 12. Last season, Holmen won the tournament with 140.5 points. They actually scored more points this year with 159, came in 5th! All the top teams really improved and brought it this year.
Individual Standouts and Big Matches
#100
- Bryn Engel was my vote for outstanding wrestler. She was dominate and her closest match was a 13-3 match in the semis over #7 at 107 McKenzie Simonson.
#107
- #3 Ava Gardner looked every bit like a returning state champion. Her 10-0 win over Badger’s #1 Alexa Thomas in the semis was especially impressive.
#126
- Marshfield’s #8 Erika Slezinkow pinned or teched her way through the bracket and could have been another good pick for outstanding wrestler.
#132
- This bracket was absolutely stacked and the deepest in the tournament. #1 Carley Ceshker pinned state runner up #4 Natalie Klavetter of Hudson in the finals. Every semi-finalist was a returning state place winner.
#138
- Two state runner-ups from last year met in the finals where #3 (138) Riley Hanrahan from Black River Falls defeated #1 (126) Dealya Collins of Mineral Point in the finals 7-1. Riley took home the outstanding wrestler award.
The top four weights all had a dominant champion who pinned/teched her way through the bracket.
#152
- #2 Madalyn Sokolski of Bonduel had four pins 38s or less.
#165
- #5 Kimura Hutter of Adam’s Friendship defeated #3 (185) Alish Berg of Bonduel in the semis before scoring a pin in the finals in only 25s.
#185
- Unranked Evie Stine of Fort Atkinson pulled some upsets to reach the finals, where she fell to Bayport’s Olivia Konshak by pin.
#235
- State runner-up and #2 Kalie Davis of Belmont/Platteville looks like a contender at state this year. I could see her beating two-time defending state champion Maddie Burns at state!
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