Northfield had two girls compete at the section wrestling tournament Friday and Saturday in Redwood Falls. For this event, section three and section one combined to form a super section as only eight girls per weight class go to the state tournament which takes place February 29 through March 2 at the Xcel Energy Center.
Lainey Houts and Rowan Seeley with their coaches, at left, Coach Jules Doliscar and at right, Josten Coleman.
Lainey Houts won five matches on her way to her first place finish. The seventh ranked wrestler in the state according to The Guillotine won her first four matches by fall in just over 3:30 seconds combined. In Houts’ finals match, she faced off against the third ranked wrestler in the state, Chatfield’s Chloe Berg. Lainey got taken down by Berg in the first period, but she quickly got an escape, a takedown, and three point near fall putting her up 6-2 going into the second period. Berg chose down in the second period, and she quickly scored a reversal. However, Houts reversed her right back. Lainey also scored two more nearfall before the middle period came to an end. Northfield’s wrestler led 10-4 going into the final period where she scored a second takedown and went on to win the Section title 12-5 after a late escape by Berg.
Rowan Seeley battled back to take third place. Seeley won her first match by fall over Violet Ettore. Seeley, the eighth seed in the bracket, upset the number one seed in the bracket 8-3 to advance into the semifinals match. Seeley fought hard but lost to the fourth seed in the bracket. Seeley bounced back with a fall in the consolation semifinal match which advanced her into the third place match. Seeley already beat her once earlier in the tournament, but she had the number one seed again. Seeley came out strong defeating the number one seed once again 7-3. Seeley finished the tournament strong by taking third place as the eight seed in the bracket.