LA CROSSE — Holmen High School junior Aini Anderson has become accustomed to ending wrestling matches early.
So when Cannon Falls/Randolph seventh-grader Alaina Williams fought Anderson’s early shots at takedowns and kept their 100-pound Bi-State Classic championship match scoreless through much of the first period, persistence became the focus.
Anderson didn’t register her first takedown of Williams until 22 seconds remained in the first, but she rolled after that first taste of success and posted a 15-2 victory Tuesday at the La Crosse Center to give Holmen’s girls their first individual champion at the tournament.
“It feels amazing,” Anderson said after pushing her record to 16-1. “It feels like I’m dreaming right now, and I’m a little euphoric.
“I did just wrestle a 6-minute match, and my brain is spinning a hundred ways, but one thing I know about that match is that I am a champion now, and I won that match.”
Williams (5-1) was unseeded and advanced to the title bout after knocking off the second and third seeds. While she made Anderson work harder than she did in other tournament matches, she eventually succumbed to Anderson’s offense.
“She was definitely defending my shots really well,” Anderson said of the first 90-some seconds. “She was fast, but I’m fast, too, and that can lead to a tiring and full match.”
Anderson was able to reverse out of bottom position to start the second period, and another takedown gave her an 8-1 lead to take to the third period.
She escaped to start the third and took Williams down two more times to put an exclamation point on the victory.
“I don’t think there was ever a time in that match where she was out of position,” Holmen coach Carl DeLuca said of Anderson, who placed fourth at Bi-State last season and is in her third year in the sport. “She’s always in her tie, in her stance with her hands out.
“I wrestle with her all the time, and I can’t stay tied up with her. She’s always in the position she wants to be in, so the other girl can’t be in the position she wants to be in.”
Anderson won her first three Bi-State matches by pin, and the longest of those bouts lasted 1 minute, 38 seconds.
Williams certainly wasn’t on the radar after wrestling just one match prior to the tournament.
“She was very tough and hard to turn,” Anderson said of Williams. “She was strong and had a strong mindset, but I had a strong mindset, too.”
