LA CROSSE — Sophia Walter and Alexa Szak have missed significant time this wrestling season for different reasons.
Walter, who was out with a concussion, returned to the lineup during the Bi-State Classic the final week of December. Szak, who had her appendix removed, made her debut Friday during the first day of The Clash National Duals at the La Crosse Center.
Both made up for lost opportunity this weekend with important wins for Holmen High School as it earned second place in Division 2 after splitting four dual meets during the two-day competition.
Walter, a junior, pinned two opponents on Friday and two more on Saturday while wrestling three times at 190 pounds and once at 235. She pushed her season record to 10-3 with a breakthrough performance amid elite competition.
“She wrestled a couple of times early this year, but Bi-State was her return, and something just seemed a little off for her,” Holmen coach Carl DeLuca said of Walter. “She was awesome this weekend and beat a ranked girl from Minnesota. I think she has found her style.
“She was very patient and is good at staying in position.”
Walter finished two of her opponents in the first period and the other two in the second.
They helped the Vikings during a weekend that included a 36-35 win over Hastings (Minn.) in pool play and a 42-36 victory over St. Michael/Albertville in the placement match on Saturday. Holmen also lost duals to Andrew (Ill.) and Central Cass (N.D.).
Walter’s performance was nearly matched by sophomore Kaytlynn Lambries, who recorded three pins — two at 106 and one at 112 — in the three matches she wrestled. Lambries (10-3) finished two of her matches in the second period, but her longest bout last 3 minutes, 26 seconds.
Sophomore Aini Anderson (16-3, 100) and senior Hayley Dezelske (12-6, 112, 118) also won three matches apiece for Holmen. Anderson’s only loss came on an 3-2 ultimate tiebreak to Andrew’s Jade Hardee.
Two of the more exciting matches for the Vikings over the weekend included a Jozie Collins pin at 130 in the final match of the win over Hastings on Friday and Peyton Kratochvill’s pin at 130 in the dual loss to Central Cass.
Collins needed to pin Hastings’ Olivia Levine for the dual win and did so in 3:06. That avenged a loss to Levin earlier this season.
“She hit a three-quarter nelson, and it’s something she practices all the time,” DeLuca said. “I don’t know if I’ve been in a dual where we needed a pin in the last match to win and got it, and she did.”
Kratochvill needed a takedown to come back from a 4-2 third-period deficit against Central Cass’ Lake Kapaun but pinned her instead.
“That’s an example of everything we talk about,” DeLuca said. “We needed to win to stay in the dual, and she kept going and going until she got it.”
Kratochvill also fought off her back as Kapaun tried to open up a much bigger lead earlier in the match. Kratochvill withstood that attack until she got one of her own.
The performance by Szak (2-2) was important for another reason. Splitting four matches at 136 against the competition she faced made for a positive return to the lineup, according to DeLuca.
One of Szak’s victories came by pin in a match she was losing, and its points were crucial in the victory over Hastings. She also had a chance to win the dual against Central Cass and had a good early attack before getting pinned in the second period.
The Vikings next travel to Decorah before a dual tournament at UW-Stevens Point on Friday.
“It’s kind of the unofficial dual state tournament,” DeLuca said of the 15-team invitational.
He said his Vikings are ready for the competition.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said. “We’ve already had eight duals this year, and every single one has been against a team ranked in its state.
“There’s a reason that we schedule a bunch of those.”
The Vikings are ranked fourth by Wisconsin Grappler. Top-ranked Wausau West, second-ranked Lake Geneva Badger, third-ranked Menasha and fifth-ranked Bay Port will all be there.
