Lena's Whiting, Pulaski's Skenandore capture WIAA state girls wrestling championships as sport continues to grow
MADISON – There were history-making wins and heartbreaking losses, but local stars competing at the WIAA girls state wrestling tournament Saturday at the Kohl Center sent a clear message by the end of the night: This is only the start.
Girls wrestling is one of the fastest growing sports in the nation, so perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising it has exploded in this area.
“They have worked really hard,” said Pulaski boys coach Nathan Preslaski, who was in the corner of Red Raiders sophomore Ava Peters in the 107-pound girls championship. “They put in a lot of time. They go to clubs just like the boys. They wrestle year-round just like the boys. It’s fun to watch.
“They are getting really good. It’s good for the sport, and it’s good for them.”
Five local girls competed for a state championship in one of the 12 weight classes, more than the combined four in each of the first two years of the tournament.
There were 14 wrestlers who qualified for state this season. Two won championships and a record nine earned podium finishes.
“The girls are getting so technically sound,” Pulaski girls coach Terry Manning said. “They are so serious about it. They are just digging in. The improvement is phenomenal. I mean, for example, (freshman) Dakotah Athey from Bay Port. Oh my, golly. She has improved leaps and bounds from a year ago.
“There are opportunities for these girls now. For me, one of the beautiful things about it is the way the wrestling community has opened their arms and embraced this. Come one, come all. That’s really neat. That’s really a cool thing. It’s beautiful. The girls are getting phenomenally tough.”
That never was more evident than on the big stage.
Lena's Whiting earns another championship
Lena sophomore Taylor Whiting won her second straight state title at 107 pounds, getting halfway to her goal of matching the four her older brother, Clayton, won during his career at Oconto Falls.
Whiting jumped into her brother’s arms after her first win last season. This time, it was her mother.
The victory was even more noteworthy because it was the first time in the short history of the girls state tournament that two locals faced off in a title match.
Whiting (12-0) defeated another rising star in Peters (18-1) in a 3-2 decision.
“I just wanted to focus on getting to my own ties, and I struggled a little bit,” Whiting said. “But once I figured out how to open her up, it was really good for me. I’m happy with it. … Obviously, the nerves are always there. But the people and the environment was so normal to me. Especially being here for my brother all the time. It was more just focusing on myself and focusing on my own wrestling, not anyone else.”
Whiting won her first state championship at Oconto Falls during her freshman year but made the switch to Lena this year.
Different school, same dominant results.
“Lena is like a family,” Whiting said. “We’ve always lived there, just never went to school there. Everyone is so amazing and supportive of what I do. Especially going to practice and everything, they are awesome.”
Skenandore makes history for Pulaski
Harlow Skenandore is another example of the emerging local talent.
She capped a memorable freshman season with a 5-1 decision over Turner junior Sydney Andrews in the 145-pound title match.
Skenandore (28-1) was in control throughout, putting everything she has learned while at Pulaski and Askren Wrestling Academy on full display.
She is the first athlete from Pulaski to win a girls state wrestling championship.
“It’s awesome,” Skenandore said. “I don’t know how to put it into words yet. It’s still kind of hitting me now.”
Skenandore has been dealing with torn ligaments and muscles in her hands, so much that she wasn’t even sure she was going to be able to compete at state.
The night before the tournament, she decided to give it a go.
It turned out to be a good choice.
Skenandore entered as the No. 8 seed but left little doubt she was as good as any of the other 15 wrestlers in her bracket.
Her most notable win on the way to a championship came in the quarterfinals Thursday when she beat No. 1 seed Madalyn Sokolski of Bonduel in a 12-6 decision before taking out No. 4 seed TaHonesty Donnell of Milwaukee Reagan with a 7-2 decision in a semifinal Friday.
It was enough to make her coach cry.
“The kid works really hard,” Manning said. “Just wanted to see that kid achieve what she deserved to get. She has worked really, really hard over the years. She had a heck of a tournament. She had a loss to the returning state champ early in the season and used that to motivate her. Just really happy for her. It’s a shot in the arm for our girls program.”
Difficult night for De Pere's Corrigan
De Pere junior Brooke Corrigan will forever be one of the pioneers of girls state, becoming the first to win a state championship when she pulled off the feat as a freshman in the 100-pound title match two years ago. She was the first to repeat when she kicked off the tournament as a sophomore with another victory at 100 pounds.
She had a goal of winning four by the time she was done and was the favorite at 100 pounds entering the tournament this year, but that dream ended Saturday.
Corrigan lost a 17-4 major decision to Marshfield junior Ava Gardner.
The match started exactly the way observers would have expected, with Corrigan getting a takedown in the opening seconds of the first round.
Nothing went right after that.
It was the first loss of her three-year career at De Pere while competing against girls.
Corrigan was visibly upset walking off the mat and jogging into the tunnel afterward.
“I just need to work harder and want it more,” Corrigan said. “I guess focus on the thing I like to do, which is more freestyle. So, I feel like she wanted it more in that match. I need to want it more.”
Corrigan’s work ethic has never been questioned, so there is a good chance she was being a bit hard on herself.
She didn’t achieve her ultimate goal, but she also might have learned a lesson that will help make her even better as a senior next season.
“I was looking for that four (titles) way ahead of time,” Corrigan said. “I should have been more focused on the match right in front of me, obviously.”
Notable finishes
Sturgeon Bay/Sevastopol sophomore Tiani LeMieux finished second at 138 pounds. She was pinned in 59 seconds in the title match by Badger sophomore Carley Ceshker, who capped a perfect 22-0 season.
It was a successful tournament for several other local girls.
Athey (27-7) finished third at 114 pounds, pinning Westosha Central senior Margaret Gillmore in 43 seconds in the third-place match.
Peshtigo sophomore Addisen Olson (35-8) placed fourth at 126 pounds, Southern Door senior Hailey Veeser (33-7) fourth at 152, and Luxemburg-Casco sophomore Kiley Georgel (22-7) fourth at 235.
Bright future for girls state wrestling
Whiting always dreamed there would be a stage for girls wrestlers to have all their own.
But?
“I never thought it would be in this big of an arena,” Whiting said of competing at the Kohl Center. “I think knowing that girls was going to grow really fast was something that was always in the back of my mind. The fact that it’s like this now is even bigger than I ever imagined.”
Manning applauds the girls for pushing all this, showing not only the desire to compete in a combat sport but thrive in it. He saw girls realize the sport wasn’t just for the boys but for them, too.
“And there is more to come,” he said. “I think there are some really good things coming down the road for girls. It’s not going to be long before we have two qualifiers out of a sectional. When you have one coming out of sectionals, that’s tough.
“They are really looking at some things they are going to reconfigure. That is going to help the competitive aspect of the sport, to get two spots out of each sectional. If there are two spots, then girls aren’t ducking one another.”
The sport only is getting stronger, and to think it all started with Corrigan winning that 100-pound title at the La Crosse Center a few years ago.
“It kind of helped to get more girls tournaments going,” Corrigan said. “It kind of showed Wisconsin that there are girls wrestling. To get us down here to the Kohl Center is really big. A lot of girls look up to wrestling at big events like this. It helps grow the sport.”
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Green Bay area girls wrestlers shine at WIAA state wrestling meet
