PdC’s Petsche qualifies for state tournament

By Derick Kelly

Prairie du Chien junior Britney Petsche qualified for her second career state tournament at this past Friday night’s sectional meet at Mineral Point High School with a second place finish at 165 pounds.

Petsche, who placed third at 152 pounds as a River Ridge ninth-grader in 2024, started the evening off with a pin of Stoughton junior Rochelle Metz in 3:08 in her first match before falling to Mount Horeb/Barneveld junior Amelia Soltis in the semifinal round.

Petsche’s loss moved her into the consolation round, where she defeated De Soto ninth grader Nalani Rodgers by fall in 3:39. The win combined with a win by Soltis in the championship match at 165 pounds gave a Petsche a wrestle back match for second place with a spot in the state tournament on the line.

Petsche’s opponent in the second place match turned out to be a familiar foe in Mineral Point junior Emily Heisner, who had just defeated Petsche in the finals of the Girls Clash Conference Tournament a few weeks ago, which occured after a win by Petsche at last month’s Mineral Point Triangular meet.

Heisner qualified for last year’s state meet as a sophomore at 185 pounds, going 2-2 at the meet.

The match saw a scoreless first period by both wrestlers before Petsche managed to take Heisner to her back and collect the pin with 48 seconds remaining in the second period.

Petsche earned the number 12 seed in the 165 pound weight bracket and will take on Natalia Jesberger, a 32-2 junior from Delavan-Darien  in the first round Thursday afternoon at the Kohl Center in Madison.

Coming within two wins of a trip to state was PdC sophomore Hannah Ingham at 126 pounds. 

Ingham defeated Parkview/Albany junior Serenity Pautsch by fall in 4:56 in her match of the afternoon  before falling to River Valley sophomore Makenzie Schulte via pinfall in 1:46 in the semifinal round. The loss put Ingham in a consolation round match against Lancaster senior Alyvia Bahl, who defeated Ingham (22-24) via fall in 48 seconds to end her season just shy of the state tournament.

Also competing at the sectional meet for the Hawks was sophomore Aspen Gelo (35-17) and ninth grader Kylee Langdon (17-16).

Gelo fell to Oregon ninth grader Sophia Soumphonphak via fall in 2;32 in her opening round match at 120 pounds while Langdon was defeated by Edgerton sophomore Charlie Reese via fall in 2:47 in their opening round match at 114 pounds.

Other local athletes competing at the sectional meet included sophomore Ali Jelinek of Boscobel/Wauzeka-Steuben at 100 pounds and junior Harper Gagas of North Crawford/Seneca at 145 pounds. Jelinek (25-13) was defeated 8-6 in the opening round by Evansville sophomore Parker Stuart while Gagas pinned Stoughton sophomore Malia Becker in 0:44 in her opening round match before falling to Lancaster’s Brooklyn Hanke in 0:46 in semifinal round at 145 pounds.

The consolation round had Darlington senior Kaylee Russell pinning Gagas in 1:32 to end her season two wins short of the state tournament and with a final season record of 35-16.

Both co-ops did qualify one wrestler each for this week’s state tournament as Boscobel sophomore Payton Sander (7-1) qualified at 107 pounds while North Crawford senior Adrianna Logue (45-2) won the 185 pound weight class.