by Derek White
On March 14, USA Wrestling held their annual 16U and Junior Folkstyle National Championship in West Des Moines, Iowa. The tournament which holds great prestige, was set to host 1374 wrestlers at the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex. The event lasted for three days and showcased the best high school wrestlers in the country. Northwest Kansas brought a small group kids who were chomping at the bit to show their mettle. While they weren’t there as a group, there was a sense of comradery between them as the tournament went on as three girls hit the podium.
Oakley brought four kids, senior Carter Krier, junior Cali Wagoner, sophomores Abbygayl Jackson and Kylee Hodges. Norton took three with senior Brennen Pfannenstiel, and the two stellar freshmen Kaison Miller and Halle Pfannenstiel. Both girls won Kansas kids state wrestling titles on Friday, then traveled nearly four hours to compete at nationals on Saturday afternoon. Colby only brought sophomore Vance Dempewolf, but was set to bring three prior to Julian Salcido and Ryder Dempewolf suffering torn pectoral muscles during the state high school tournament.
Halle placed the best out of the group ending her day in fourth at 140 pounds for junior girls. Starting in the quarterfinals she put on an offensive clinic taking down Naomi Miller from North Dakota four times before earning the technical fall winning 20-5. In the semifinals, Halle suffered defeat from Damiyah Williams of Iowa by fall in the second period. On the backside of the bracket, she earned a fall over Ava Perkins from Iowa to earn a spot in the consolation finals. Halle then battled Rylee Dearwester of Ohio, but lost by fall to secure the fourth place plaque.
Kaison started out her tournament winning by fall over Brooke Jamieson from Montana, then ended up getting pinned by the eventual National champion Aubree Gutierrez from California. On the backside she won two in a row defeating Chloe Chaisson from California by fall and Jaylyn Lazzerini from Oklahoma by decision 9-8, to earn a trip to the consolation semifinal. Kaison suffered one more loss to Mia Anderson from Nebraska by fall, but she kept grinding to win fifth place over Allison McDaniel by fall from Colorado.
Kylee was given a first round bye before beating Gabriell Price from Nebraska by fall in the second round. In the quarter finals, she suffered a loss by fall to Kenadee McDowell from Missouri. Working up the back side she pulled off two wins a row against Kaina Trudell from Idaho by decision 9-4, and Temperance Lowe from Missouri by decision 6-1. In the consolation semifinals Kylee was beat by Trista Gessler from Minnesota by technical fall 15-0. Kylee finished the day in fifth place after beating Ramsey Brandenburg from Wisconsin by decision 9-0.
Abbygayle and Cali were beat out of the national tournament after going 1-2, but were given a second chance to compete in the Hard Luck brackets at 140 pounds and 155 pounds respectively. The hard luck brackets are a consolation tournament to ensure that kids are given an opportunity to compete with national talent to continue to grow the sport. Both girls finished the day winning their hard luck bracket going 3-0.
The boys in the group were all competing at 144 pounds, but they wouldn’t make the podium as the field was tough in their 64-man bracket. Carter had some success on the day going 3-2, his first loss came at the hands of two-time national champion Dorian Olivarez from Texas to put him on the backside. Carter won one more match, but ended up getting beat out in the consolation round five.
Brennen finished the day going 2-2 and was beat out of the consolation fourth round, while Vance ended with a 1-2 record to round out the group of Northwest Kansas wrestlers.
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