Wisconsin High School Wrasslin'
Posted: Tue Mar 01, 2016 4:02 pm
I guess it's kind of a big deal in small town Wisconsin. But of course all of the kids here are obese so it's hard to find enough competitors at the 106 lb class. Hence, one of the state semifinals featured a girl against a black kid with no hands or feet (he finished the season 37-2). The girl won a close match, though she went on to lose in the title match to a white boy with two hands and two feet. But she is only a freshman.
MATCH OF THE DAY: The way Macey Kilty and Zack Anglin saw it, all they were doing was wrestling. But a loud, appreciative crowd at the Kohl Center Friday evening saw their battle as one of the most thrilling and inspirational matches in WIAA state tournament history.
Kilty, a freshman from Stratford, started on top in the ultimate tiebreaker and rode out Anglin, a junior from Bayfield/Washburn, to score a 5-4 victory in a Division 3 semifinal at 106 pounds.
“I’m just really happy right now that I could pull it off,” Kilty said. “I’m really anxious to be in the final. … I knew if he got out (during the tiebreaker), he’d win, and if I held him, I’d win.”
The victory made Kilty (28-4) the second girl in state history (and first freshman) to make it to a WIAA state final. The first was current Olympics hopeful Alyssa Lampe, a three-time qualifier who lost the 2006 Division 2 final at 103 pounds to Thane Antczak of Chetek/Prairie Farm, 6-3.
Kilty will meet Clear Lake’s Ryan Anderson (40-1) in the final tonight.
The quick, muscular Anglin (37-2) also was inspirational as he worked against the technical expertise of Kilty.
Anglin was born without the lower portions of his arms and legs, but he placed sixth at state last year and had been ranked No. 1 at some points of this season (Kilty has been ranked as high as No. 3).
The result was a battle that had the crowd roaring.
“I tried blocking them out. I could hear them,” Kilty said.