Northfield wrestler Ella Pagel savors one last go — and another title — at Xcel Energy Center

Ella Pagel winced as she walked off her mat after her semifinal match. Her right elbow was thickly wrapped, and her left shoulder sported a small brace under some tape of its own. None of it had stopped her from handily taking her semifinal match with a fall, but it was still on her mind.

But Pagel, two years ago the Star Tribune’s All-Metro Female Athlete of the Year would never let that slow her down at the state tournament — she’s fought too hard to make it back to this stage.

“I’m just soaking it all in, one last time,” the Northfield senior said. “It’s good to be back.”

Last time around, the two-time state champion was relegated to the sidelines of the chaotic action on the Xcel Energy Center mats — she had to take an entire season off after having surgery for a torn labrum in her left shoulder.

“I didn’t even have a floor pass,” she said. “I couldn’t get down there, it was kind of crazy. It’s good to be back this year.”

She is very back, and it was still a battle. The elbow wrap this year is for an assumed ulnar collateral ligament strain, which she said she will have looked at once the season ends.

After her semifinal win, she gripped a bag of ice and said she’s just trying to “get my body to recover now.”

And it was a quick recovery. Just a few hours later, the senior took the mat for her 190-pound championship match — and, a long year after she had to sit out competition at the X, she tallied her third state title. But to hear Pagel tell it, the championship was never her goal this season.

In her eyes, having made it back to the X is a prize in itself. She admits it’s “bittersweet” to have lost the opportunity to be a four-peater after missing last season, but she took the pressure off herself this time around.

“I feel like I am able to enjoy it more this year because I’m not expected to win anything coming back,” she said. “This year, it’s more to just enjoy the sport and have a fun time my senior year.”

Assistant coach Jacob Ventura said it was “never a question” that Pagel would make a comeback this season.

“The way that she is fighting injuries, fighting the hardships and just enjoying her time has been fun to be a part of,” he said.