Photo courtesy of Marshall Area Wrestling Association An official raises Marshall wrestler Hannah Ratajczak’s (left) hand after she defeated Chatfield’s Grace Finley in the section tournament semifinals at Redwood Valley on Saturday. The win clinched Ratajczak’s spot in the state tournament, which will begin on March 1 in St. Paul.

“Grow women’s wrestling,” said Hailey Bahr when asked for one last quote for her senior wrestling season. Bahr would know as well as anyone how women’s wrestling has grown since she first started at the age of 3.

The growth was on display on Friday and Saturday in Redwood Falls as seven Marshall wrestlers traveled to Redwood Falls to take part in the Minnesota girls individual section tournament for sections 1 and 3. Tattyana Rykhus, Sequoia Thomton, Traeh Siekmannn-Adams, Sierra Bahr, Hannah Ratajczak, Esther Say and Haley Bahr all took the mat for the Tigers. Ratajczak became Marshall’s second-ever girls state qualifier with a second-place finish. In addition to the junior Ratajczak’s silver, Sierra Bahr and Say placed fourth and Hailey Bahr placed fifth.

“When I first moved here I wanted to keep training for jiu-jitsu but there were no places to train nearby so the next best thing was wrestling,” Ratajczak said. “Wrestling was really different last year as I struggled a lot more. It was hard for me. I didn’t know any of the moves and wasn’t used to losing.”

After her experience last year, Ratajczak wasn’t sure if she was going to continue to compete. Luckily for her and the team, as the season drew near, she realized that she missed it.

Ratajczak came into the tournament as the top seed at 142 pounds out of the thirteen girls in her bracket. Despite being the top seed, she was full of nerves.

“I was freaking out the night before. I couldn’t sleep so I prayed to God for the strength and confidence to do it,” Ratajczak said.

Ratajczak’s path to the state tournament started on Friday with two matches, both of which ended with a first-period pin for the Tiger. In her first match, she pinned Stewartville’s Emily Nelson in just 25 seconds. In her second match, she picked up a pin against Monette Otterness from Cannon Falls in 1:25 to move her into Saturday’s semifinal round. Going into the semifinals Ratajczak once again had to deal with her nerves.

“After talking to the other girls, I had a boost of confidence,” Ratajczak said. “Sierra [Bahr] had faced her earlier in the year and said she knew I would win.”

In the semifinals, Ratajczak would take the mat against Chatfield’s Grace Finley and once again pick up the win with a pin, this time in the second period. In the finals, Ratajczak’s quest for the championship would be thwarted by Owatonna’s Aliah Fischer, who earned the victory with a takedown and pin in the first period.

The loss then put Ratajczak in the stressful position of seeing if she would have another match, as she needed Otterness to place third to prevent a true second match. Fortunately, Otterness pinned her opponent ensuring Ratajczak’s trip to the Xcel Energy Center for state.

“I was not happy and I was scared that I was going to have a true second match,” Ratajczak said. “When she won, my heart was so happy because I was going (to state).”

Ratajczak’s practice partner, freshman Sierra Bahr, placed fourth in the tournament at 136 pounds. On Friday, Bahr pinned her Stewartville opponent to earn a spot in Saturday’s semifinal round. In the semifinals, Bahr was defeated by Diann Smith, a senior from Grand Meadow. Bahr bounced back in her next match with a 57-second pin against her Park opponent. In her third-place match, Bahr lost to another senior Grace Gerlach from Hastings.

Esther Say was Marshall’s other fourth-place finisher on Saturday with her performance at 170 pounds. Say, Marshall Girl’s first state entrant and place-winner last year, began her tournament with two quick pins on Friday. In her semifinal matchup, Say fell by pin to Viker from Rochester Mayo. Say rebounded to win her semifinal wrestleback match before falling in her third-place match.

Hailey Bahr, the lone senior on the team, placed fifth. Hailey began her tournament with a pin against Deashia Richardson from Eagan. In her semifinal match, Bahr squared off against Byron’s Madi Hamilton. After a scoreless first period, Bahr chose top in the second period. Using her trademark butcher move, Bahr was able to turn Hamilton to her back for three near-fall points.

Unfortunately for Bahr, Hamilton fought off her back and avoided being pinned, and the match continued into the third period. In the third period, Hamilton chose the top position for herself to start the period and quickly began applying pressure. An illegal hold call against Hamilton further extended Bahr’s lead to 4-1, but that lead narrowed as Bahr took three stall calls to make the score 4-3 in favor of Bahr. With just a few seconds remaining it appeared as if Bahr was on her way to finals, but a desperate Hamilton was able to pry Bahr over to her back with just three seconds left to earn a two-point near-fall and a 5-4 victory.

Hailey would fall in her semifinal wrestle-back match to a Hastings opponent before ending her trailblazing career on a high note with a pin over Rochester Century’s Miya Ebling to finish in fifth place.

Bahr will go down as one of the main pioneers of girls wrestling in Marshall. Hailey began wrestling at the age of 3, following in the footsteps of her older brother Jaiden.

In her youth career, Bahr participated as a member of the boys K-6 teams. Bahr also won a state title in youth, competing against mostly boys.

Going into seventh grade, Hailey continued her wrestling journey before a concussion derailed it. Hailey took the next few years off before the Minnesota State High School League added girls wrestling an officially sanctioned sport during her sophomore year.

At first, Bahr was unsure about returning to the mat and did not come back for that inaugural season. That changed her junior year when she decided that she missed it and wanted a chance to be teammates with her younger sister Sierra.

Bahr described her return to the mat as spooky, saying that she had to get out of her comfort zone, but that it was an overall positive experience.

“It was amazing (wrestling with the other girls), It made me cherish the team more,” Bahr said. “It showed me how good wrestling can be when you have that type of support”

At 112 pounds Tattyana Rykhus battled hard but fell short in both of her matches. At 124 pounds, Sequoia Thomton went 0-2.

Traeh Siekmann-Adams went 1-2 in the tournament at 130 pounds. Siekmann-Adams opened her tournament with a technical fall win over Klara Schmidt from La Cresent before falling in her next two matches.

Ratajczak’s wrestling journey will continue on March 1 when she competes at the state wrestling tournament.