MILTON — Janesville Craig stole Milton’s WIAA Division 1 girls wrestling regional title on Friday in enemy territory. In the Red Hawks’ gym, the Cougars collected 204 points to win the title. Milton placed second with a score of 171 and Janesville Parker took third with 143 points.
Cougars senior Nadia Fuentes helped Craig secure the win by claiming a regional championship of her own at 114 pounds.
Fuentes recorded two pins on the day. The first came over Azaria Davis of Beloit Turner at one minute and 10 seconds. In the championship match, Fuentes defeated Parker’s Addison Friedriches with a pin at 1:40.
“I was pretty nervous going into it,” said Fuentes. “I’ve wrestled with Addison before, [she’s] a really good wrestler. I know she wrestles a lot like me because we used to do jiu jitsu when we were little, so we have similar wrestling styles. But I felt it was a pretty good match.
“I’ve been taking second for like the past three years, so taking first feels nice.”
The Cougars had three second-place finishers: Niah Holmes (120), Kylie Cunningham (165) and Jalynn Burton (185).
“Most of our girls are first or second year wrestlers. So to come out and be as competitive as they have against some of these girls that have been wrestling seven, eight, nine, 10 years — It’s a huge improvement from the beginning of the season to where we are now. To be that competitive, imagine what we’re going to be like for the next year,” said Cougars coach Jason Vogt.
The Red Hawks finished with five champions as a part of their dominant showing: Dilynn Albrecht at 100, Clara Jauch at 107, Devlynn Albrecht at 120, Madi Peach at 126, and Jessie Demarasse at 132. Milton’s sixth wrestler, Kenzie Usher, finished second in the 138 weight class.
“It’s fun to watch them dominate again — that’s really fun. But at this tournament I did expect this. I expected that we would at least be in the hunt for five, six titles. And so I would say it’s more of an expectation,” said coach Pat Jauch.
Sisters Dilynn Albrecht and Devlynn Albrecht have both been around wrestling since they were young. That experience has been on display all year and Friday was no exception.
Dilynn, a freshman, kicked off the first-place matches with a pin over Janesville Parker’s Teana Anderson at one minute.
Shortly later, Devlynn Albrecht secured her regional championship with a pin over Beloit Memorial’s Melissa Abarca-Cozme at 2:21.
“It feels pretty nice because I know it’s a pretty stacked region, but it’s going to be even more stacked when it comes to sectionals,” said Devlynn on being the 120 regional champion.”
“Dilynn and Devlynn have been dominant all year. You know they have a combined three losses. They’re just doing what they do,” said coach Jauch.
In between Dilynn and Devlynn’s first-place matches, Clara Jauch, a niece of coach Jauch, bounced back after getting pinned in the finals match of the Badger Conference tournament with a pin over Raven Ringhand of Oregon at 2:18.
“It was nice to see her comeback and have a dominant performance,” said coach Jauch.
Peach, who competed after Devlynn, won in the championship match over Niah Holmes of Janesville Craig with a tech fall at 2:20.
“She’s undefeated, she’s dominant, she’s an absolute animal,” said coach Jauch of Peach.
Milton’s streak of champions’ continued with Demarasse who won via major decision over Janesville Parker’s Payten Kent, 14-1.
She’s strong [and] aggressive. She’s also a hockey player, so you see that a lot in her matches. I thought she had a great day as well.”
Usher finished in second place in the 138 weight class and went 2-0 in her two matches, each being won via pins.
“Kenzie had a really great day. She’s really looking forward to working hard to get a return trip to the state tournament,” said coach Jauch.
Parker’s Katie Kent (185) claimed a regional championship after pinning Burton at 1:42 in the first-place match.
The Vikings’ Anderson, Friedriches, and Payten Kent finished second. Cierra White (165) took third and Vitaly Harvey (107) finished in fourth.
WIAA DIVISION 1 GIRLS WRESTLING REGIONAL
TEAM SCORES
Janesville Craig 204, Milton 171, Janesville Parker 143, Turner 112, Oregon 105, Stoughton 64, Beloit Memorial 49.5, Parkview/Albany 42, Brodhead/Juda 39, Madison La Follette 38, Waterloo 33, Lake Mills 32, Monroe 30, Edgerton 23, Sun Prairie West 19, Johnson Creek 16.5, Evansville 11, Sun Prairie East 9, Cambridge 0, Deerfield 0, Lakeside Lutheran 0, Marshall 0.
