Pair of area girls advance to state wrestling tourney
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LADYSMITH — A pair of Chippewa Falls McDonell Central/Elk Mound girl wrestlers will be competing in the state championships later this week.
Isabella Giza and Hailey Pelkey both earned state berths at the WIAA girls’ individual sectional meet held Friday, February 21 at Ladysmith High School.
Giza finished first in the 165-pound weight class while Pelkey was the runner-up at 185 pounds. The top two finishers in each of the girls’ 12 weight classes advance to the WIAA Individual State Wrestling Championships which commence this Thursday at the Kohl Center in Madison and run through Saturday evening, March 1. The girls’ and boys’ state meets are held simultaneously.
A third member of McDonell/Elk Mound’s sectional triumvirate, McKenzie Simonson, just missed the state cut when she finished in third place at 100 pounds
Colfax freshman Veronika Leavens, the sole member of the Bloomer/Colfax girls to participant in the Ladysmith sectional competition, also saw her season come to an end when she placed fourth at 107 pounds.
Isabella Giza’s march to the 165-pound gold medal was an impressive won. She won all three of her sectional matches with ease. Giza scored a pair of first-period pins in her first two sectional matches and then took just 3:11 to score an 18-3 technical fall over Marissa Miles of Merrill into the championship match.
At 185, Pelkey also won her first two matches via pin falls. But, in the title match, Gracie Jonas of Superior put Pelkey to the mat in just 53 seconds to claim the sectional championship.
Heading into the state tournament, Giza sports a 39-7 record while Pelkey is 23-16. Both will wrestle around mid-afternoon this Thursday, February 27.
McKenzie Simonson saw her impressive 40-win season come to a close following a third place showing in the sectional meet at 100 pounds. After an opening-round bye, Simonson met St. Croix Central’s Ayda Miller in the next round and was beaten 7-3. Simonson rebounded to win a 15-7 major decision over Madlyn Hunter of Merrill in the third-place match. Simonson was able to wrestleback for second but was denied the silver and a state berth when she was pinned by Chippewa Falls’ Lylah Paletta.
Veronika Leavens opened her sectional tournament with a 3:13 pin of Ladysmith’s Briley Burmeister, but was beaten in her next two matches, a 12-3 major decision loss to Hudson’s Katy Simpson and pinned by Payton Waidelich of New Richmond, at 107 pounds. Leavens ended her first-year of high school wrestling with a fourth-place sectional finish and a 25-9 mark.
Although the girls’ do not have an official team competition, Merrill won the sectional tournament with a score of 110.5 points. Hudson took second with 88.5. McDonell/Elk Mound finished fifth with 56.5 points and Bloomer-Colfax tied for 22nd place along with Spooner/Webster after both finished with eight points.