The Kohl Center in Madison hosted the 82nd WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament this past week. It was a buffet for the senses both on the mat and behind the scenes in the half-moon concrete hallway serving as the warm-up and wait area for the wrestlers and coaches.

The differences were stout. From buzz cuts with polka dots to flowing mains to braids, the tournament featured not only 392 wrestlers in 14 weight classes for three divisions; it also doubled in size with 192 female participants this year. Some singlets were brandished in solid colors with simple school logos; others in pin stripes or fancy lightning bolts.

Speaking of electricity, the Kohl Center was flowing with it on Friday night for the tournament semi-finals at a near capacity crowd.

Wrestling teams can be described as a family like no other sport. Not many outside their family circle truly understand the commitment. The discipline of diet rears its head in-season during Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners when actual extended family members don't understand it.

You can smell wrestling on the mat in any practice room. The scrapes, the bruises, the blood, and sweat, it's all engrained in the room like a big mixing bowl of combined effort whether physically or symbolically. During the four-month season, Wisconsin state qualifying wrestlers live in the doing. It's present tense doing, a perseverance of single days. It's not just a lifestyle of doing everything possible to beat your opponent, it's a lifestyle and a culture good wrestling coaches command of their family members. Good family members don't let each other down.

No matter the singlet color or the density of muscle mass, the look in a high school wrestler’s eyes immediately following a defeat at the state tournament is eerily similar. The mind is trained for discipline, but after defeat, it's not about the head; it's about the heart. A wrestler’s eyes are a window to their soul.

Each wrestler is also fighting for his family member teammates that didn't make it. They don't want to let their family members down. Matches are finished most times in less than six minutes. The head is disciplined enough to stay in shock, walking on a mission back to the concrete cinder block hallway waiting area. There, surrounded by wrestling family members, the heart has no choice but to rids itself of the pain through its two oval shaped windows. The emotion detonates out of sight from the arena and in the arms of their family members, as it should be, because those are the people who understand the head and the heart of wrestling. 

This is, conversely, why victory is so sweet.

The Pierce County area sent 11 boys and one girl to the state tournament this year, six from River Falls, four from Ellsworth, and two from Spring Valley/Elmwood.

Ellsworth's Austin Peterson received the seventh seed heading into the Division 2 106-pound class. Peterson pinned Osceola's Malakai Barker at 5:39 to advance to Thursday's quarterfinal match against second seeded Parker Owens from Coleman. Peterson won by decision 9-3 to advance to the championship semi-final match against St. Croix Central's third seeded Trennon Holzer.

Because of their proximity to each other, Holzer and Peterson have wrestled numerous times in the past. The match was deadlocked for the entire six minutes with Holzer receiving one point for one escape and that was the final.

"That's why it was 1-0 because you had two tough kids that have wrestled each other so many times and they each knew what to do," said Ellsworth Head Coach Carson Huppert. “It's easier to counter when you know what the other does."

Peterson wrestled for third place on Saturday but fell to Chilton/Hilbert's Greg Hellendrung by major decision 13-4. The fourth-place finish by Peterson was the best in the Pierce County area and something Coach Huppert said he was proud of: "Austin wrestled really, really well, he just didn't get the one takedown he needed, but one of the goals was getting on that wall and Austin accomplished that. I'm very proud of him for sure."

Ellsworth's 120-pound Noah Walker placed sixth overall after a Saturday 10-7 win by decision over St. Croix Central's Garrett DeLong. Walker dropped the fifth-place match to Ethan Hady of Richland Center in a major decision 10-0.

Ellsworth's Blake Nelson made it to the consolation semi-finals in one of the more entertaining matches in what's termed the "blood round wrestle back" rounds. Nelson beat Porter Klotz from Campbellsport 12-11 nearing the final buzzer to make it into the place rounds, but Nelson was defeated by Jacob Hoppe from Abbottsford/Colby in a major decision 12-2.

Spring Valley/Elmwood's Sam Schmitt was given the 11th seed in the Division 3 138-pound class. Schmitt dropped his first-round match to Karrsen Bussan from Pardeeville by fall at 1:52. His round one consolation match against Oconto's Ethan Wusterbarth was action packed, as both wrestlers were flying around the mat. Schmitt dropped a heartbreaker by decision 4-3.

Spring Valley/Elmwood's 215-pound Jack Steinmeyer came into the state tournament with a record of 43-11. Steinmeyer had a big win by fall at 4:22 over Sawyer Swiggum of North Crawford/Seneca. Steinmeyer lost in the consolation round to Deerfield's Sam Haines by fall at 4:46. Injury may have played a part in the fall, as Steinmeyer was lying down on the mat for close to 30 seconds after the finish. Swiggum, who Steinmeyer pinned in the first match, came all the way back through the consolation bracket to win fifth place after pinning Haines.

"You can't get much better than 8-0," said River Falls Head Coach Cam Loomis of his Wildcats’ record on Friday in the consolation round. "Those kids have had to grit their teeth and grind for everything they earned and I'm proud of them. When the dream of being state champ gets taken away, it can be hard to come back, but they all put the hammer down."

River Falls' Olivia Luther was the lone girl qualifying for the state tournament in Pierce County. Last year, the Wildcats had one girl wrestling in Jenna Lawrence, who also qualified for state. This year, the Wildcats quadrupled their female wrestling numbers to four. Wrestling is the fastest growing female sport in the U.S. according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. In 2018, there were six states with sanctioned state high school girls’ wrestling tournaments. In 2025, that number has increased to 45. Nationwide, there are over 50,000 girls participating in wrestling, up 60% from one year ago.

Luther won two matches in the 100-pound class in Friday's consolation round. Her second match started out slow with Winneconne's Paityn Fritchen. Fritchen seemed to dominate in the first period and it looked to be the end of the road for Luther.

"I got into the second and third period and I realized I could change things," said Luther. "I honed in on the things I know I'm good at."

Luther came back and won by a major decision 14-6. Luther dropped her consolation semi-final match on Saturday to Ayda Miller of St. Croix Central by technical fall.

River Falls senior Vinny Costabilo came in 44-7 and seeded ninth in the 144-pound class. Costabilo won by technical fall over Racine St. Catherine's Daire Hankins on Thursday. Costabilo lost in the quarterfinal match against top-seeded and eventual state champion Kellen Wolbert from Oconomowoc by fall at 1:46, but battled back and dominated Reedsburg's Hudson Jablonski with a 13-2 major decision.

"I was just trying to get to the legs, score points, and have fun," said Costabilo. "It is such a good atmosphere here. I love it."

Fellow Wildcat senior Jonas Longsdorf was also in domination mode in consolation round number two. Longsdorf pinned Kenosha Bradford's Rojelio Garcia at :48, barely enough time to secure media photographs.

"I was doing well on top, so that's where I tried to stay," said Longsdorf.

River Falls- 190-pound Jacob Hutchins was making his first trip to the state tournament and the ultra-strong sophomore said, "I've been doing a good job of getting the leg. People at 190 (pounds) are really strong and if I can get their leg up, I try to trip them."

Hutchins did just that against Luke Rux from Monona Grove/McFarland scoring on the leg sweep takedown enroute to a major decision 14-4 win.

Fellow Wildcat sophomore Waylon Deaton also qualified for the conference semi-finals with a 9-0 major decision win over Franklin's Gavin Seay on Friday.

"I came to watch last year," said Deaton, "but being an athlete participating this year in the tournament is just awesome."

Five of the six River Falls' wrestlers made it to the consolation semi-final round for the chance to wrestle for fifth place. The other one, sophomore Oliver Larson, won his consolation semi-final match. Larson finished in sixth place after a fall at 2:26 to Holmen's Nathan Henderson.

The weekend was best summed up by Olivia Luther, as most of the Pierce County state participants qualified for the first time this year.

"It was a little scary at first, especially the first day," said Luther, "but it was really, really fun after that."  

Please visit the Pierce County Journal Facebook page for more photos and coverage of the 2025 WIAA Individual State Wrestling Tournament.