The last time Riley Hanrahan wrestled competitively, she won a pretty prestigious tournament but injured her elbow while doing it.
The Black River Falls High School sophomore had officially been on the shelf since October, although safe workouts while recovering from the injured ulnar collateral ligament persisted.
Hanrahan was back in the saddle again Friday at the Bi-State Classic for the first time since winning the Super 32 138-pound championship in Greensboro, North Carolina on Oct. 12 and responded with a technical fall and two pins during matches in the South Hall of the La Crosse Center to earn a spot in Saturday morning’s semifinal round at 138 pounds.
“It felt good,” Hanrahan said after pinning Prairie du Chien’s Irelynd Cejka in 2 minutes, 33 seconds in a quarterfinal bout. “I was a little gassed. I wasn’t supposed to be back until April, but I got lucky and it healed faster.”
Hanrahan, who was the 132-pound WIAA state runner-up as a freshman, followed up a first-round bye with a 19-4 technical fall over River Valley’s Makenzie Schulte before pinning Waunakee’s Katelyn Ottosen in 2:31 to qualify for the match against Cejka.
Hanrahan, who said her elbow caused no issues on Friday, matches up with Medford sophomore Avery Losiewicz (11-2) in Saturday morning’s semifinal round.
“I’d been training non-stop even though I was on the break,” Hanrahan said. “I felt good right away in the first match.”
ALL-LOCAL SEMIFINAL: Hanrahan’s senior teammate Katelyn Nosbisch (8-3) is also a semifinalist and will meet up with Aquinas senior Sophia Paulson (13-2) in a 145-pound semifinal.
Paulson dominated three opponents during the first day and finished all of those matches by pin.
She first pinned Ithaca/Weston’s Briella Granger in 38 seconds before ending a second-round match against West Salem/Bangor’s Lily Kasinger in 39 seconds. She needed 3:53 to take care of New Lisbon’s Gracey O’Brien in the quarterfinal round.
Nosbisch finished two of her matches by pin, while a second-round matchup with Stoughton’s Kylee Soderling ended with a medical forfeit. Nosbisch pinned Holmen’s Natalie Markos in 1:29 during the first round and River Valley’s Montana Joles in 1:42 in a quarterfinal.
KLUM STILL UNBEATEN: Westby junior Kylie Klum, a two-time WIAA state medalist with finishes of fourth and sixth place, pushed her season record to 10-0 by winning three matches and becoming a semifinalist at 107.
Klum pinned Lancaster’s Lily Vesperman in 46 seconds before an injury default ended her second-round match in 18 seconds. Klum then handed Grand Meadow/Leroy-Ostrander’s Paisley Schlee (9-3) a 6-1 quarterfinal defeat.
She earned a semifinal match against Zumbrota-Mazeppa’s Macy Schaefer (11-4) in Saturday morning’s semifinals.
HOLMEN SIXTH AFTER ONE DAY: Holmen scored 117 points on Friday and sits in sixth place in a competition led by Bay Port (145).
The Vikings still have Aini Anderson (9-1, 100), Kaytlynn Lambries (6-2, 107) and Haley Dezelske (7-4, 114) still alive for third-place finishes.
