Shawano, Bonduel girls wrestlers rack up 5 1st-place finishes

Area high school girls wrestlers put their talents on display and turned in positive results against some of the state’s best during the Shawano Round Robin on Jan. 27 in Shawano.

In an effort to get wrestlers three matches each, weight classes were limited to four wrestlers max and filled out by girls at the closest weights. That meant wrestlers went up against others that might not otherwise be at their weight class, creating some big-time matchups along the way.

Shawano, Bonduel, Oconto Falls, Suring/Gillett and Lena all had at least one wrestler in action. Shawano and Bonduel combined for five of the 13 overall first-place finishers.

Shawano

Jenna Moede, Caitlyn Moede, Macey Nelson and Hatty Fritz all placed first for Shawano on the night.

Nelson turned in arguably the best performance of any wrestler in attendance, pinning her three opponents at the 126-128 weight class in a total time of 1 minute, 39 seconds. The next closest mark was three pins in 3:17.

Her night began with a 51-second pin before ending on 19- and 29-second pins. Nelson, ranked as an honorable mention at 132 pounds in the latest state girls rankings by www.wisconsingrappler.com, had three of the top-15 fastest pins on the night.

“It always feels good to win but it’s an even better feeling to go 3-0,” said Nelson. “Having these wins after tonight is a real confidence booster, which hopefully will carry on through the next couple weeks.

“With the postseason around the corner in the next couple weeks is huge, and having the confidence and knowing what I can do will make it that much easier to do my best. For it being my first year wrestling, I’m happy with how it has been going and I’d like to thank my coach and teammates that having helped and supported me in starting a new sport. With it being only my freshman year I am excited to grow my skills and see the wrestler and athlete I become in the next three years.”

Caitlyn Moede, ranked 10th at 126 pounds, had three pins in her 118-128 weight class.

Her night began with a hard-fought pin in 5:04. She then pinned her second opponent in 1:31 and final opponent in 1:11.

“Well, a lot of the success we had tonight goes back to the practice room,” said Caitlyn Moede. “Especially my first match, against Emily McCarthy from Kimberly, I was really able to maintain control in difficult situations and was able to walk away with a win in the books.

“The matches I wrestled tonight are serving as a baseline — I was able to find things to improve on as well as things I had success with. I hope to continue building on those skills as the season winds down, and hopefully continue to have success. I plan to continue working on techniques throughout the postseason to continue making progress in my wrestling.”

Jenna Moede competed in the 105-114 weight class, with all three of her wins by pin as well.

She opened the night with a pin in 4:42. It took Jenna Moede just 15 seconds to earn her second pin before a tough pin in 5:01 in her final match of the night.

Fritz only had one other wrestler with her in the 180-202 class. She needed just 21 seconds to win that match and finish atop the class.

Shawano’s Hallie Wondra competed against two other wrestlers in the 100-105 weight class. Wondra was pinned in the third period of both her matches.

Onna Hermann went 0-3 in a tough 118-122 weight class. Her night began with a late rally, but she was topped 9-7 in the sudden victory situation. She was defeated by technical fall in round two before being pinned in her final match.

In another tough weight class, Courtney Schenk went 0-3 against her 138-152 weight class opponents. She was pinned in her first and third matches and dropped a 9-2 decision in the second.

Vivian Waldburger took fourth in the 143-156 weight class. She was pinned in her first two matches before a tough 5-3 decision loss in her final match.

Bonduel

Maddy Sokolski continued an impressive sophomore season for Bonduel with a first-place finish in the 138-152 weight class.

Sokolski, the top-ranked 138 wrestler in the state, pinned her first opponent in 2:28. After a tough 3-0 win in round two, she pinned her final opponent in 54 seconds to complete a perfect night.

“After weigh-ins, seeing I was bumping up two weight classes told me I needed to be strong today,” said Sokolski. “It was a good experience to utilize moves that I don’t do often.

“My first match I got the pin, and I knew my second match would be tough. I came out on top with the win 3-0 and got a pin my last match. I’m grateful all the boys on my team came to support, they really help keep the energy flowing.”

Hailey Berg was the second-place finisher in the 118-122 class after going 2-1.

Berg, the sixth-ranked wrestler at 120 pounds, was pinned by second-ranked Caitlyn Kelley of Florence/Niagara in round one. Berg bounced back with a 17-1 technical fall win and 7-4 decision win to top off the night.

Kaitlyn Kroening was part of a three-wrestler 90-100 class, going 1-1 to take second. Both her matches ended in pin, with her win coming in 1:35 in her final match of the evening.

Oconto Falls

Three Oconto Falls girls competed at the round robin, with Taylor Whiting earning two of the team’s three wins on the night.

Whiting, the top-ranked wrestler at 107 pounds, finished 2-1 to take second at the 108-117 weight class.

Whiting opened the night with an 8-2 decision win before a 13-1 major decision win in round two. Whiting was pinned in her third match by the sixth-ranked wrestler at 114 pounds.

Jocelin Martinez made up the other half of the 180-202 weight class. She was pinned in her lone match.

Faith Thurman was the third Panther in action, taking third at 118-128 pounds. All three of her matches ended in pin, with her win coming in 1:39 in round one.

Suring/Gillett

Parker Zahn and Shylah Hisey each wrestled for the Suring/Gillett co-op and came away with third-place finishes.

Zahn, the eighth-ranked wrestler at 152 pounds, was pinned in both her losses in the 138-152 weight class, while her win came in a 9-2 decision.

Zahn said she wasn’t expecting to face the wrestlers she did but trusted what her coaches told her, which was to “work my shots and setups.”

Zahn is hoping to use the experience to improve as the season winds down.

“Wrestling people that have more experience but sticking with them will help me by identifying my strengths and weaknesses I need to work on, to get down to state,” said Zahn.

Hisey was part of a three-wrestler 159-163 weight class, going 0-2. She dropped a 19-8 major decision in round one and 18-2 technical fall in round three.

Lena

Miriam Alberts represented Lena well, finishing 2-1 in the 143-156 weight class to take second.

After being pinned in the second period in her first match, she won by injury default in round two before claiming a 5-3 win in the third round.

More photos from the round robin can be found on the NEW Media Inc. Sports Facebook page at www.facebook.com/NewMediaIncSports, while full results can be found on www.trackwrestling.com.

sports@newmedia-wi.com