Port, Grafton each send one girl to state mats

Two local girls will be competing in this week’s individual state wrestling meet.

Port Washington freshman Cora Stewart (42-4) at 120 pounds pinned Brynn Justman (21-11) of Columbus in 1 minute, 27 seconds, and in the final pinned Bella Firari (26-11) of Dodgeland in 1:19.

“We wrestled since we were around 7. We know each other very well,” Stewart said of Firari.

“It was nerve-racking a little, but fun. You can turn nerves into excitement.”

Stewart got a 4 seed in the tournament and wrestles 13-seeded Olivia Saftig (33-6) of Mukwonago on Thursday, Feb. 26.

Grafton senior Audrey Hanson (45-4) won the 138-pound bracket at the Beaver Dam Sectional last Friday.

She beat Waupun’s Markiya Uherka (26-12) in a 12-4 major decision, Horicon’s Hailey Firari (45-9) in a 15-6 major decision and in the final pinned Abigail Harris (44-10) of Deforest in 3:39.

“I was just trying to have fun and have fun with my teammates,” Hanson said of her approach.

“Audrey wrestled great all night in a tough bracket beating some pretty tough girls. It was well-earned,” coach Mike Dodge said.

Hanson returns to state after going 0-1 as a freshman.

“I’m just excited. We’ll see what happens,” she said.

Hanson got a 7 seed and wrestles 10-seeded Madelynn Lee (27-6) of Wausau West in the first round on Thursday, Feb. 26.

Hanson’s partner in the century win club, senior Ellie Federl (34-12) – both reached the milestone this season – was pinned by Waupun’s Candyce Engel (38-13) in 2:49 at 126 pounds at sectionals and didn’t advance. She had qualified for state twice in her career.

“Reflecting back, I’m just grateful for everything. I’m grateful for the experience that I got to wrestle boys my first two years. I feel like that really did help me my past two years, wrestling only girls,” Federl said. “I feel like the strength barrier there prepared me more for girls.”

Maddie Hatfield (29-9) at 132 pounds went 2-1 and finished third. She won the third-place match by pinning Kewaskum’s Sadie Fonte in 3:18.

“Maddie and Ellie had some tough matches,” Dodge said.

Port’s Ava Knitt (11-20) at 145 pounds and Aubrey Rickard (8-14) at 235 pounds lost their first-round matches and didn’t advance.

Ozaukee’s Ruby Torres (20-8) at 100 pounds and Juliette Stielow (15-14) at 114 pounds lost their first-round matches and didn’t advance.