Winter break for most means time off for the holidays, but for wrestlers, there are no days off when it comes to aiming for the top. The Northern Badger is back for yet another holiday season, this time for its 40th annual appearance. As usual, the event will be at River Falls High School, this time spanning Dec. 29-30.

Being in the gym for the Northern Badger almost feels like a scene out of a movie at times, with tons of mats, seats all the way around the gym full with more standing by the railings and huge roars when wrestlers make a big move.

Every single girls wrestler who won the Northern Badger in 2024 is returning in 2025. Additionally, five of the boys champions will look to defend their titles. Per Wisconsin Grappler’s Dec. 22 rankings, seven No. 1 ranked boys wrestlers in their respective divisions will compete, and per the Dec. 19 rankings, there will also be a trio of top-ranked girls.

St. Croix Falls took the team crown a year ago, and this time around, with about 50 teams competing, plenty more great matches are expected.

Ellsworth will not be at the event as they compete at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire Invitational Dec. 29, but River Falls, Prescott and Spring Valley/Elmwood will all be present. Local ranked wrestlers who are ranked include Prescott’s Bryce Feran (No. 3 ranked D2 106-lbs), SVE’s Sam Schmitt (No. 8 D3 144-lbs), Asher Turner (No. 11 D3 175-lbs) and Jack Steinmeyer (No. 6 D3 215-lbs) and River Falls’ Olivia Luther (No. 14 107-lbs, Waylon Deaton (No. 9 D1 132-lbs), Oliver Larson (No. 3 D1 138-lbs), Rieder Loomis (No. 13 D1 150-lbs) and Jacob Hutchins (No. 7 D1 190-lbs).

For the first time, the girls wrestling bracket will also take place over two days along with the boys. Wrestling begins at 9 a.m., going all the way to the quarterfinals on the opening day which start at approximately 7:30 p.m. On day two, wrestling also begins at 9 a.m., with girls finals starting around 5 p.m. and boys finals around 6:30 p.m. Notably, the times are estimates as the schedule can change given the large lineup of wrestlers set to take the mat.

“With an expected 4,000 to 5,000 people in River Falls for two days watching and participating, according to Chamber of Commerce impact calculators, the Northern Badger has an economic impact of close to $600,000 for the local area,” a 2024 Pierce County Journal article by Greg Peters states.

There has been no shortage of massive sporting events in River Falls recently given the UWRF playoff run, and this is expected to live up to them.