Wrestling: Lindner ready for her state moment

It’s incredible to think how far Rhinelander High School junior Cassidy Lindner has come in the sport of wrestling in less than a year in a half. Fifteen months ago, Lindner was trying the sport for the first time and now she is in Madison, competing on the state’s biggest high school stage.

Lindner is taking part in the fifth annual WIAA individual girls’ state wrestling tournament at the Kohl Center. Her tournament run began yesterday afternoon and will continue at least through today, and hopefully tomorrow, as she tries to earn a spot on the podium. 

Lindner is only the second girl in school history to make the state wrestling tournament. She joins Abby Swanson, who was a place winner in the first two years of the tournament in 2022 and 2023. 

It would have never happened if Lindner hadn’t decided to give the sport a try as a bridge gap between her primary sports — volleyball and softball.

“I originally wanted to come out for wrestling to get better at my other two sports, just to kind of stay in shape in the offseason,” she said. “But, after my first tournament, I went 3-2, and I realized that I could actually win a couple matches, and that this is pretty fun.”

A couple of matches turned 24 wins as a sophomore and a third-place finish at sectionals, one spot away from qualifying for state. She turned that into 50 wins this year and a trip to Madison. 

“Right away we were able to recognize we’ve got something special here,” Hodag girls’ wrestling coach Caleb Radtke said. “She’s extremely hard working, very dedicated, quick learner. You can tell her one thing, and she’ll pick up on it, and she never makes a mistake twice. We knew right away that we had something special, and that’s what you’re seeing here a year and a half later.”

    Rhinelander coaches, from left to right, Jaedon Heintz, Scottie Arneson and Caleb Radtke celebrate as Cassidy Lindner pins Stanley-Boyd’s Lillian Fitzl during a WIAA girls’ wrestling sectional tournament at D.C. Everest High School in Weston Friday, Feb. 20. (Brett LaBore/Lakeland Times)
  

Even though girls’ wrestling is still in its relative infancy as a high school sport in Wisconsin, Radtke said Lindner’s meteoric rise is something almost unheard of in a sport where experience is king. 

“It’s just very impressive what she’s done over the past year and a half. I would say probably all these girls that are in this bracket have probably been wrestling for 10-plus years, and she was able to do it in a year and a half,” he said. “Kudos to her, I think it speaks to her hard work, and determination to get there.”

Lindner said last year, when she was pinned one win away from the state meet, served as motivation to double down her efforts in the sport. 

“It just really fueled me to try to get better in the offseason. I wasn’t gonna put myself in that same situation. I was gonna do whatever it took to get there,” she said.

Despite a 50-6 record on the season, Lindner was seeded 14th in the 16-girl bracket at 120 pounds for the state tournament, and drew a familiar foe right out of the gate against Bay Port’s Dakotah Athey (45-5) in the first round. Athey pinned Lindner in the championship match at sectionals last week. Lindner said she learned a lot from the first meeting and was ready for the rematch, which concluded after press time for today’s edition. 

“I learned that you’ve got to kind of keep the pace high right off the beginning, and got to make the first move and not let her do that,” she said. 

“I think it’s to our advantage, seeing her again,” Radtke added. “I mean, we know what she’s gonna come out and do, and we’re gonna work on that in practice this week, and I’m excited to see a rematch of it on Thursday night.”

Regardless of the outcome of that match, Lindner had a chance to compete again, either in the quarterfinals Thursday night or the consolation round Friday morning, where she could wrestle back to fifth. 

Radtke said, despite the low seed, Lindner has the ability to shock some of her opponents and vie for a spot on the podium.

“There’s not a doubt in my mind that she can go down there and, you know, I can visualize it in my head right now, taking pictures on the podium of her standing up there. She can do it. She can be on the podium,” he said. “For her, it’s just small adjustments. I think she thinks it’s probably big adjustments, but they’re not. Just small, little things, and clean up some of our mistakes from Friday, and we’ll be ready to go.”

Lindner said making it to state was the hard part and she’s playing with house money, so to speak.

“I think going into this big tournament, there’s no pressure right now, so I think that I can just go out there and do my thing right off the bat and not be worried about the outcome,” she said. 

Regardless of what happens, both Lindner and Radtke said they hope the experience helps grow the girls’ wrestling program in Rhinelander. The team had five wrestlers finish out the season, up from three a season ago.

“I’m really trying to get a bunch of the younger grades. I got a couple older girls out, and I think that having those older girls will really try to influence more girls,” Lindner said. “I think that it’ll just grow exponentially. If we get a few, then we’ll just get a lot.”

Added Radtke, “I think it gives something for little girls in Rhinelander to look up to. When they see her, and they see the state shirts going around the schools, and then they see her wrestling at state, I think it’s gonna inspire a lot of young girls to come out for the sport of wrestling. I think it’s gonna grow our girls’ program here in Rhinelander.”

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].