Michels, Hall back for more
By Kristi Nixon
DECORAH — Following up an unsanctioned consolation runner-up finish as a St. Ansgar Saint, Mariah Michels will be seeking a higher place as a part of the inaugural sanctioned girls state wrestling meet as a member of the North Central Trailblazers.
The 100-pound sophomore pinned Anamosa’s Emily Fritz in 1 minute, 59 seconds to win the Region 7 title in her weight class, becoming just one of two members of the Trailblazers to earn a spot at state in the historical first official season.
“Definitely going to work hard this week,” Michels said, “and get back and get even higher this year.”
She will be making the trip with fellow St. Ansgar wrestler Emma Hall, who made it to the blood round last year before she was eliminated.
Hall finished runner-up at 110 pounds, pinning Tripoli’s Riley Bremmer in the quarterfinal in only 0:15 and then earned a fall over AP-GC’s Lia Hovenga in 2:34 before falling in the final to Oelwein’s Ryley Hartman in 1:59.
Good thing both Michels and Hall are practice partners.
“She’s a really good help,” Michels said of Hall. “We practice hard together; we know how to help each other with what we need. That’s always a good thing.”
Michels is ranked eighth at 100 pounds, behind Region 8 champion Gable Hemann of Osage, who won a close state semifinal over Michels last year. A new wrestler presents a challenge for both of them as unbeaten Katie Biscoglia of Raccoon River goes in undefeated and is the top seed, including a decision over Hemann a few weeks ago.
“There is definitely (good competition) from several schools,” Michels said. “There is going to be some tough competition, but I know if I work hard I can beat anybody.
“There is (also a freshman) from Raccoon River, Katie Biscoglia – I know she’ll be a tough one, too.”
North Central Trailblazers coach Terry Lowe said he was hoping for more wrestlers than Michels and Hall, but is still happy to get them through in the first year of the program.
“I had hopes of getting three to four people there and fell a bit short of my personal goal,” Lowe said. “With a couple of different matches on the back side of the brackets we could have very well sent five or six. All in all, what a fantastic day of girls wrestling.
“All Trailblazers performed to the best of their abilities that day and some fell short. Mariah and Emma had the turnout they wanted. I couldn’t be more proud to have two participants in the program going to the state wrestling tournament in the first year of sanction and the first year of our shared co-op program. All the chips fell into the right places for these two wonderful athletes on this day.”
Michels is the four seed at 100 while Hall is the 14th seed at 110.
“Emma and Mariah have a bright future to look forward to,” Lowe said. “Emma has one more year to get back to state and Mariah has two more shots at it. I thought both girls wrestled well and I’m excited to see where they stand in history on Friday after the dust settles. We’ll go back to practice on Monday and Tuesday, fine tune a couple things and be ready for Thursday and Friday.”
