TLDR (Too Long Didn’t Read)
Juniors WFS: Team Wisconsin placed 6th overall with six All Americans: 1st - Kylie Welker (164); 2nd - Hanna Errthum (132); 5th - Kylie Rule (127); 5th - Faith Bartoszek (144); 7th - Alex Hofrichter (152); 8th - Larissa Kaz (127)
16U Greco: Seven wrestlers earned All-American status and will wrestle on the second day of 16U Greco competition: Haakon Peterson (88), Brett Back (145) and Koy Hopke (220) are in the semifinals. Rhett Koenig (126), Zachary Eliszewski (152), Dave Malin (170) and Ian Smith (182) are in the consi of 4.

Good evening from Fargo, day 5! Junior women’s freestyle wrestled through finals and the 16U Greco team has set the semifinals for tomorrow morning. 

Wisconsin added six more All-Americans to the 2021 season tally, bringing the count to 28 after four of six finals have been contested. 

Junior National Champion Kylie Welker joined Team Wisconsin at Fargo as a competitor for the first time this year. “I wanted to come out here and try it out, “she said after the finals. “I’ve been coming here since 6th grade, so I wanted to live out my fantasy.” Welker has always had conflicts since she’s been age-eligible: knee surgery, Cadet Worlds (where she earned a bronze medal), and then Covid. 

Welker has been in the spotlight since her runner-up performance at Trials. She says the goal and vision is to be the next generation at 76kg—to be an Olympic and World gold medalist. She wants to go to Paris. Over the last several months Welker has been to three separate ten-day Olympic team camps—in Georgia, Colorado, and Indiana.

In the upcoming months, she’ll wrestle at the Junior World Championships in August, Senior World Team Trials in September, U23 World Championships in November and the Junior Pan Am Games in December—all during her senior year of high school. 

Welker is the third National champion for Team Wisconsin at Fargo so far this season, joining Koy Hopke (16U) and Ben Kawczynski (Junior MFS). 

Taking second and earning double All-American honors for the week is Hanna Errthum (3rd in 16U WFS). She just turned 16 this spring, but punched her ticket to the 132-pound Junior finals with four technical superiorities and then an 8-6 decision in the semis over Utah’s Esther Han. Errthum met No. 1 ranked King commit London Houston in the finals. 

Yesterday, All-American Matt Bianchi appropriately labeled this tournament, “a grind.”  

Kylie Rule wrestled eight matches to earn 5th place All-American. Rule opened the tournament with two quick technical superiorities over opponents from Connecticut and Minnesota before running up against New York’s No. 2 Sofia Macaluso in the quarters. The match was close—Rule went up 6-0 in the first period, but wasn’t able to ward off Macaluso’s offense in the second. She was able to secure two takedown in the consolation semis against 16U Champion Skylar Little Soldier. Rule secured the 5th place All-American spot in the medal round with a win over Idaho’s Alyssa Randles. 

Faith Bartoszek (5th) also earned repeat All-American honors, battling through a similar eight matches. The freshman's only losses were to No. 3 Katerina Lange, a senior from Minnesota, and No. 3 Destiny Rodriguez (OR).

Antigo’s Alex Hofrichter closed out her debut trip to Fargo with a statement. She threw her opponent from Colorado in the second period of the 7th place All-American match and picked up the fall. She said her confidence in throws comes from the work she’s done with her throwing coach who has shown her the ropes. “I chose to throw and I’ve never looked back once, I love it,” she said. It’s taking someone your weight and throwing them around—it’s fun.” Hofrichter got to wrestle seven matches. 

8th place All-American Larissa Kaz (127) wrestled nine matches. She had six consecutive wins after a first round loss to No. 4 ranked Sarah Savidge (CO) in the opening round to land in the consolation semis versus Alyssa Randles (ID). Kaz got to her offense, but lost the match 16-8. Kaz wrestled Savidge again in the All-American round.

Marisa Roth (138) and Caitlyn Kelley (112) put together impressive 4-2 tournament performances. Rose Ann Marshall went 2-2 at 112, Katelyn Lewis went 2-2 at 164 and Emma Gruenhagen went 2-2 at 127. Brooke Crawley had a win over Lauren Mills (MO) before running into Iowa’s No. 15 Ella Schmit and Pennsylvania’s Edwards at 117. Aevri Ciha (138) and AJ Pennington (106) also wrestled in the opening day of WFS competition. 

The 16U Greco team advanced seven to the second day of competition, earning All-American status. 

Haakon Peterson (88), Brett Back (145) and Koy Hopke (220) advanced to the semifinals. Back is 5-0, Peterson is 3-0, and Hopke is 3-0. Hopke is in contention for the Triple Crown. 

Rhett Koenig (126), Zachary Eliszewski (152), Dave Malin (170) and Ian Smith (182) are wrestling in the consi of 4. Malin and Eliszewski both had first round losses and have wrestled back with 6 wins to make the consi of 4. Smith is wrestling back from a loss in the quarters.  

Wisconsin’s Junior Greco team—the final division to compete—is weighed in and ready to rock in the morning. 16U semis, consolations and Junior Greco begins at 8:30 Thursday morning. 

Thursday’s Schedule (Day 6)
8:30am - 12pm: 16U Greco Semis & Consolations
8:30am - 1pm: Junior Greco Prelims & Consolations
2pm - 4pm: 16U Greco Finals, Medal Matches & Awards
4:30 - 8:30: Junior Greco 1/8 Championships, Quarters & Consolations

Follow the WWF on Twitter @WIWrestlingFed and like us on Facebook @ Wisconsin Wrestling Federation