The postseason began Saturday in Manly, Iowa, and Lake Mills captured its first section title since 2003.

The Bulldogs racked up 222 points behind the strength of all 14 wrestlers to place in the top five. “Today was a total team effort, and I couldn’t be more proud of our team,” said Lake Mills coach Alex Brandenburg. “I am really pleased with our kids who are moving onto districts, but I am equally as proud of all our kids who got beat but came back and wrestled hard to help score team points.”

With the section win, the seventh-ranked Bulldogs will host three other teams for regional duals on Tuesday.

“We are excited about Tuesday night because we have a balanced line-up, which has made us very competitive in duals,” Brandenburg said. “Our approach will be the same it has been all season. Our kids will go out and be aggressive and give all they have for their teammates win or lose.”

Five Bulldogs advanced to districts. Three of the five were champions: Michael Olsen, Spencer Jensen and Slade Sifuentes. Olsen won the 145-pound title by pinning seventh-ranked Dylan Mueller of Central Springs. Jensen’s title comes in only his third year of wrestling. Second-ranked Sifuentes continued his dominance on the season by wrestling a total of 31 seconds on the day. The two wrestlers who punched their district ticket by finishing runner-up were freshman Kyle Beery and sophomore Alex Martinson. Both wrestlers came in as third seeds but avenged losses from last weekend.

“The three champs’ titles were all special in their own way,” said Brandenburg. “I was really excited that Kyle and Alex beat kids who had beaten them pretty handily at conference.”

Districts will be Saturday at NIACC. The Manly sectional will meet up with the one from Hudson, and the top two wrestlers at each weight will advance to the state tournament.