ONALASKA — The margin of victory wasn’t the point of emphasis for the Holmen High School girls wrestling team on Thursday.
The most important part of the Vikings being able to match up with Tomah in a dual meet between MVC teams was that the matchup was taking place at all.
Holmen beat Tomah 57-6 in a dual meet that only had forfeit at three weights and was the first-ever between MVC programs.
The historic competition began with an Aini Anderson pin at 107 pounds and closed with e Sophia Walter pin at 235. The matches in between were also mostly one-sided, but Holmen coach Carl DeLuca was appreciative of the opportunity.
“I have to give credit for Tomah for getting the numbers for us to do a dual,” DeLuca said. “La Crosse is almost there, too, where we were almost able to do one with them this year, too.
“(Logan/Central) went from something like two to 12 wrestlers, which is great.”
The Timberwolves were able to fill nine weights in Onalaska on Thursday, and senior Lucy Gross was able to break up the shutout with a pin at 185.
Other teams joined in afterward for a scramble that includes matches between wrestlers from Holmen, Tomah, Logan/Central, Onalaska and Aquinas.
The event amounted to plenty of matches for the girls as the postseason approaches.
Peyton Kratochvill (27-10, 120 pounds), Kaina Westlie (20-8, 126), Kaytlynn Lambries (27-9, 132), Celia Drogseth (18-14, 152) and Avalee Euler (23-7, 165) also won by pin for Holmen in the dual against Tomah. Anderson improved to 29-2 and Walter to 25-6 with their pins.
“I couple things I liked from tonight,” DeLuca said. “In the dual, we had three matches where we gave up the first takedown and ended up getting the pin anyway.
“It’s nice to be able to give up points and still feel OK. We also had a match in the scramble where we had somebody come back when she was down 11-4. I like that we are almost never out of a match.”
The competition was the tail end of a long, competitive road for the Vikings since Christmas.
Holmen’s girls competed in the Bi-State Classic, state duals at UW-Stevens Point and the Wausau West Invitational amid a few other dual meets over the past month.
The third-ranked Vikings beat top-ranked Neenah in Stevens Point and lost to second-ranked Bay Port in a dual that immediately followed the win over the Rockets.
“Neenah, I felt confident in because of the matchups, but Bay Port was a fun one,” DeLuca said. “We had to pull at least one upset to win that dual, and we almost did. We were right there, and we were second (in the tournament).”
They crowned their first Bi-State champion in Anderson and have seven wrestlers with at least 20 wins. The Vikings have two invitationals, one quadrangular and a multi-dual remaining before WIAA regionals on Feb. 13.
DeLuca said the team will focus on recovery and focus the rest of the way to make sure they are ready for the postseason.
“Our practices get shorter, and we’re in there for an hour, maybe an hour-and-a-half tops,” DeLuca said. “We’re still trying to get better but recover at the same time.”
