By Marisa Dawson
Bennington sophomore Mia Anderson captured the Class A 110-pound state championship tonight at the NSAA Girls State Wrestling Championships, overcoming significant season challenges to claim the title for the second year in a row.
In a post-match interview, Anderson reflected on stepping onto the mat for the finals against an opponent she had faced before. “I’ve wrestled her before, so I just knew overall how she wrestles, so I just tried to prepare for that, and she went out and tried to wrestle my style instead of hers,” she said.
Mentally, Anderson kept things low-key leading up to the big moment. “I tried not to think about it until it was close because I’d get really anxious if I think about it too much,” she explained. She was quick to share that her biggest support came from close relationships, “Probably my siblings and all my friends.”
Anderson highlighted the unseen grind and what others may not see behind her success. “There’s a lot of back stuff. Like last week, I had pneumonia for the whole week- I lost ten pounds… Stuff people don’t see, and I still came back and wrestled,” she noted.
The victory felt like the culmination of her efforts as she shared the feeling of having her hand raised after the pin. “It feels great- that’s what I’ve worked for all year,” she said.
Coach Craig Pokorny praised Anderson’s resilience amid a tough season. “As she mentioned, she’s really been battling a lot this season. The shoulder… she’s been sick two weeks straight. She was able to get back, get healthy enough, get through that and then her health has gotten better over the past week,” he said. “It was probably a lot harder this year just to even be out.”
He highlighted her composure in the finals as well. “She was just kind of calm and cool, collected the whole time. She didn’t look too nervous,” Pokorny observed. “But you know she had seen this girl before early in the season and we knew what she’d want to do from the get go.”
Pokorny noted how much Anderson has grown throughout the season. “I think a lot mentally as far as going off and taking it one match at a time. I think earlier in the season she was thinking a lot about how she hadn’t lost the year before and… she did take a loss earlier in the season. I think that helped take that off her back and just go through wrestling,” he said.
For the Bennington program, the win carries big implications. “It means a lot- we had Maycee [Peacher] as a three timer, now she’s a two timer… There are a lot of girls that look up to her and it’s just growing the team. We’ve had more girls out last year than we did the year before and this year again more than last year. So it just keeps growing and growing here,” Pokorny said.
Teammate Maren McIlnay (pictured below), also from Bennington, competed strongly in the consolation rounds today after earlier setbacks. While consolation match details from today show challenges, including losses that impacted her path, she put up a solid effort throughout the tournament and represented Bennington well in the competitive Class A field at 145 pounds.
Anderson’s championship adds to Bennington’s growing legacy in girls wrestling, inspiring younger athletes and highlighting the grit required at the highest level. Congratulations to both wrestlers on strong showings at state!
