Kylie Donat wins 142-pound state championship, Maya Schmidt runner-up at 190
Mar. 3—ST. PAUL — A 25-year wait is over for the Bemidji High School wrestling program.
For the first time in a quarter century, the Lumberjacks have produced an individual state champion. The latest entrant to that hallowed pantheon is girls wrestler Kylie Donat, who clinched the 142-pound state title on Saturday at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul.
"I don't even know if you can put that (feeling) into words," Donat said. "It was so much joy, because I've been working for this for the last three years. And also, I had a tough bracket. There were a lot of great girls."
Donat is the first BHS girls wrestler to earn an individual state championship in the program's three seasons of competition. Joining Donat in the championship round was Maya Schmidt, who finished as the runner-up in the 190-pound bracket.
"It was an amazing day for the program, boys and girls," said head coach Rance Bahr. "All 13 of the kids that were down here this weekend had a great, great tournament. Everybody wrestled very well. We were very competitive.
"On the girls side of things, the girls wrestled very, very well. ... (Having) two in the finals and then Kylie Donat ending a 25-year drought for a state champion for Bemidji High School wrestling obviously capped everything off. So it was pretty exciting. A lot of energy, a lot of excitement and overall very proud of our girls and how they've competed all year long and saved their best for last."
Donat is the first state champion for Bemidji in any sport since the boys 4x800-meter relay track team of Cody Roder, Isaac Berg, Alex Vollen and Linaes Whiting topped the field at the 2017 Class AA Track and Field championships.
"It didn't feel real in the moment, and I don't think it still feels real," Donat said. "In a way, it's just like I won another tournament. But I think tomorrow when I wake up, it's going to sink in, like, 'Holy crap. I am the state champion.' But walking out there for my finals match and seeing all the people out there, it's a cool experience."
Five other Lumberjacks competed at the state tournament. Taylor Merschman placed fifth in the 100-pound bracket, as did Brenalen Fredriksen-Holm in the 118-pound field. Kiera Hagman-Nyagaka (0-2, 112); Leah Willard (0-2, 170) and Brie Leeper (0-2, 235) also competed for the Jacks but did not place.
Schmidt placed fourth at the state tournament in 2023. Now having earned a runner-up finish, she's stoked but not yet completely satisfied. The junior hopes to follow the path of Donat, who was a runner-up during her sophomore season before reaching the summit this year.
"It was very exciting," Schmidt said. "Not being able to see her wrestle last year was kind of sad, because she would have done super well. But this year, getting a state tournament champ title (for) her was very exciting, and I'm very proud of what she's accomplished. That's my plan for next year — state champion."
Donat tore her left ulnar collateral ligament and dislocated her left elbow last season, keeping her out of section and state competition entirely. Now fully healed, her high school career has ended at the pinnacle of the sport.
"In the moment, not being able to participate in sections or state last year, it was very sad," she recalled. "No matter if you're out for six months or even two weeks, it takes your body time to go back to where it was, and it takes a lot of work too. So being out for six months, it wasn't only physically draining trying to get back, but also mentally. For a second there, I was worried that I wasn't going to come back, because I had the fear in my head that I was going to hurt myself again."
Donat didn't just make her way back to the mat. She returned better than ever, and better than any other 142-pound high school girls wrestler in the state. Perhaps she was meant to be the wrestler to end Bemidji's 25-year state championship drought.
"It's truly crazy," said Donat of making that history. "I'm beyond grateful that I got to be the one who does it. It's super cool. It's such a blessing."
