Three Owatonna girls place at state

In order to be the best, you have to beat the best, and no local program had a better showing against Minnesota’s top competition at the MSHSL state wrestling tournament than Owatonna’s girls wrestlers.

The trio of Aliah Fischer, Kayla Pastika and Lucinda Ornelas put aside injuries and inexperience to all three finish as state placers, with the former two earning fourth and the latter taking fifth.

“Just getting that first win at state for two of them was huge. Aliah came out again and did what does so well, but for Kayla and Lucinda to get their first wins at state was an amazing feeling to see them accomplish what they came to do,” said Owatonna head assistant and girls coach Gabe Hovden.

Fischer is no stranger to the state tournament having qualified in each of her first four seasons as a member of Owatonna’s wrestling team, but her counterparts, Ornelas and Pastika, were making their much-anticipated state debuts.

Pastika kicked off the tournament for the Huskies at 100 pounds where the 17-9 sophomore quickly amassed a 2-0 record behind some dominant performances.

She scored a second period pin in the opening round of competition over Paynesville Area’s Brooklyn Binsfeld and followed it with a win by fall in the first period against Apple Valley’s Madilyn Trottier.

Pastika was a mere point away from a trip to the state finals in her semifinal match against Zimmerman’s Teagan Earley, but a late takedown by Earley secured her the 12-11 decision.

The heart-breaking loss ended Pastika’s chances at becoming a state champion, but did not break her spirit heading into Saturday.

Instead, the wrestler affectionately referred to as the “Terminator” in the Huskies’ wrestling room came back stronger to pin Mahtomedi’s Elizabeth Carlson in the first period to advance to the third-place match.

Pastika was bested via a 6-2 decision by Kasson-Mantorville’s Eliana O’Donoghue for third, but she could still be seen with a smile on her face after the match, recognizing an overall successful weekend of wrestling.

“It was really weird to even make it [to state] in the first place, that was my goal for this season. To know that I was going to place no matter what was really amazing,” said Pastika.

Ornelas spent most of her tournament wrestling at the same time as her training partner, Pastika, and found herself on a similar path to the podium.

The 18-12 junior started her tournament with a 7-5 decision win over Sauk Rapids-Rice’s Baylee Ness before a daunting matchup with Bemidji’s Taylor Merschman (41-4) loomed in the quarterfinal round.

Records proved meaningless on the mat when Ornelas out-wrestled Merschman to a 10-5 decision and the right to compete in the semifinal round.

A 3-1 decision loss to Forest Lake’s Annica Blasko in the semifinals sent Ornelas to the backside of the bracket where she suffered another 13-9 decision loss to Monticello’s Phoebe Morris to land in the fifth-place match.

Despite the two setbacks, the junior showed tremendous heart to win a gutsy 3-1 decision over Chatfield’s Emily Bova for fifth.

“I was ready for her to throw a big-old headlock in at the end. When she was not doing anything, I was like, ‘I’ve got this in the bag.’ I was so ecstatic… It’s an amazing feeling knowing that all the hard work – the cutting, the hard practices, the crying, sweating, tears – it was all worth it,” said Ornelas.

According to Owatonna head coach Derek Johnson, the performances by both Pastika and Ornelas both left plenty of reasons to be excited about their futures.

“For both Lucinda and Kayla, it was their first trip here and yet they stayed poised. They were each within a takedown of the state finals, which is incredible. The semifinal round, as heart-breaking as it was, proved positive letting us know that they’re right there,” said Johnson.

Owatonna’s Fischer was the final Huskies’ girl to take the mat and quickly scored a 2-0 record herself to guarantee a place on the podium.

The 21-2 sophomore pinned both of her first two opponents in under 50 seconds to hit the semifinal round without wrestling more than one combined period.

However, Bertha-Hewitt-Verndale-Park’s Elora Wagner played spoiler to Fischer’s run by winning a 10-4 decision in the next match to send the latter to the consolation bracket.

Fischer spent the early part of her season battling back from a gruesome hip dislocation, and the loss to Wagner showed signs of a potential flare-up of her injuries following the loss.

As has been the case all season for the talented sophomore, her decision was to continue wrestling despite the pain.

She went on to win her first match on the backside of the bracket by a 7-3 decision over Forest Lake’s Bella Carlson, but had he run stopped by an 18-2 technical fall loss to Buffalo’s Courtney Kotish in the third-place match.

The trio of Pastika, Ornelas and Fischer were all recognized on their respective podiums during brief intermissions between state finals matches.