Three area girls claim state wrestling titles

Three area girls brought home first-place titles from the the 81st annual WIAA Individual Wrestling Tournament and the third Girls Individual Wrestling Tournament held in conjunction Feb. 22-24 at the Kohl Center on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Winning titles were Brooke Hoffman of Wittenberg-Birnamwood at 185 pounds, Harlow Skenandore of Pulaski at 145 pounds and Taylor Whiting of Lena at 107 pounds. It was Whiting’s second consecutive title.

Hoffman’s string of victories started with a pin of Sophie Walter of Holmen in 47 seconds. Next, she pinned Mercedes Kohlmann of New Holstein in 1:07.

Her semifinal match featured another pin, this time in 1:44 over Adrianna Logue of Richland Center.

For the championship, Hoffman notched a fourth straight pin, this one coming in 1:19 over Ella Creighton from Lake Geneva.

Skenandore opened the tournament with a 9-3 decision over Matilda Burns of Ashland, followed by a 12-6 decision over Madalyn Sokolski of Bonduel.

In her semifinal match, Skenandore pinned TaHonesty Donnell of Milwaukee Ronald Reagan/Salem in 43 seconds. She won the title on a 5-1 decision over Sydney Andrews of Beloit.

Whiting began her return to the title spot with a pin over Sarah Mrazek of Oshkosh West in 48 seconds. That was followed by a 12-7 decision over Megan Schuenemann of Plymouth and then a 10-0 major decision over Cailyn Whittier from Waukesha.

In the title match, she defeated Pulaski’s Ava Peters 3-2.

As for Peters, she first pinned Cathy Zhang of Arrowhead in 20 seconds, then pinned Kaytlynn Lambries of Holmen in 1:50. Her third match ended in her pinning Brooklyn Lull of Fennimore in 1:49.

Sokolski advanced to the championship final in each of the past two tournaments, winning the title at 138 in 2023 and finishing runner-up at 132 in 2022.

This year, she initially pinned Adaimee Lemus of Waukesha West in 46 seconds, then lost a 12-6 decision to Harlow Skenandore of Pulaski.

In her quest for third place, she pinned Burns of Ashland in 4:02, then pinned Tessa Felter of Muskego in 2:08, followed by another pin at 1:42 against Shelly Bullman of Eau Claire North.

In her final match, she won 6-4 over TaHonesty Donnell of Milwaukee Ronald Reagan/Salem.

At 138 pounds, Bonduel’s Hailey Berg finished in third place.

She opened with a pin of Myia Cobbs of Whitewater in 4:43. That was followed by a 7-0 decision over Leah Kapla of Pulaski. She was pinned in 40 seconds by Tiani LeMieux of Sturgeon Bay.

Wrestling in the consolation bracket, Berg won 11-3 over Emily Anderson of Bangor. For the third-place finish, she pinned Macki Kaz of Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau/Melrose-Mindoro.

Alisha Berg of Bonduel, wrestling at 165, placed fourth.

Berg opened with a pin of Lauryn Robert of Menasha in 1:15, then pinned Gwen Breckheimer of Chilton/Herbert in 1:08. Getting pinned by Katie Davis of Belmont/Platteville in 5:59 sent her to the consolation bracket.

She defeated Amerrah Kayon of Shoreland Lutheran 9-8, then lost the third-place match when she was pinned in 24 seconds by Sophia Bassino of Sun Prairie.

Kapla pinned Hailey Firari of Hustisford in 2:53 before losing to Bonduel’s Hailey Berg. She would go on to pin Whitewater’s Cobbs in 3:41, then lost 3-0 to Natalia Poplawski of New Berlin.

At 100 pounds, Bonduel’s Kaitlyn Kroening pinned Daisy Altmann of Nicolet in 5:16. Next, against Kylie Klum of Westby, she was pinned in 2:45. In her final match, she was pinned in 2:58 by Clara Jauch of Milton.