Milford’s Kayla Batres won her second consecutive Midlands championship this past weekend. (Photo courtesy USA Wrestling Connecticut)
Milford’s Kayla Batres, a sophomore at Greens Farms Academy in Westport, won her second consecutive Midlands championship on Sunday in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.
Batres, a U15 Pan American champion, won in dominating fashion at 110 pounds. She won all four freestyle matches by technical fall and didn’t give up a point in the tournament.
She beat Savannah Millermom of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the quarterfinals, 11-0, beat Madolin Ripley of Wyoming Seminary, 11-0 in the semifinals and beat Alexis Winecke of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, 11-0 in the final.
The Ken Kraft Midlands Championships is primarily known as a collegiate tournament. That was the goal when Hall of Fame coach Ken Kraft of Northwestern University decided to put together a holiday wrestling tournament beginning in 1965.
But one doesn’t have to be in college to enter. High school athletes can compete.
It is the third year that the Midlands have hosted a women’s division.
The tournament was freestyle – which is the style of wrestling at the collegiate level for women.
