Valley City Wrestling - USA Wrestling Northern Plains Regional Championships
The offseason grind continues for several Valley City wrestlers, as Hi-Liners Simon Trapp, Emma Trapp, and Steele Thornton traveled to Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, this past weekend to compete at the prestigious USA Wrestling Northern Plains Regional Championships. The tournament featured 2,262 wrestlers from 20 different states, giving athletes an opportunity to test themselves against some of the top competition in the country while also battling for qualification spots to the USA Wrestling National Championships in Fargo later this summer.
At 16U 113 pounds in freestyle, Simon Trapp entered a loaded 50-man bracket where only the top six finishers automatically qualified for nationals. Simon opened the tournament with an impressive 8-1 victory over Griffin Finch of Illinois before running into Minnesota’s Jonah Karow, who would later finish sixth overall. Simon continued to battle back through the consolation side with another strong 8-1 win over Juan Rosales of Illinois before his tournament run came to an end against Iowa standout Ace Cochrane.
Emma Trapp competed in both Greco and Freestyle at 14U 105 pounds and continued to show toughness and determination competing against elite-level opponents. In Greco, Emma faced two state champions in Sophia Herzog of Illinois and Eliana O’Donoghue of Minnesota in a difficult round-robin bracket. While still relatively new to Greco wrestling, Emma competed with grit throughout the tournament and earned a third-place finish.
In freestyle competition, Emma dropped her opening match to eventual runner-up Herzog before bouncing back with a hard-fought 6-4 victory over Samarah Dailey of Wisconsin to earn all-regional status. Emma later suffered a rib injury during her wrestleback match against O’Donoghue and was forced to medically forfeit, ultimately placing sixth overall in freestyle.
Steele Thornton also represented Valley City in both Greco and Freestyle at 14U 132 pounds. Steele earned a sixth-place finish in Greco after battling through a deep and talented bracket. After receiving a first-round bye, Steele responded from an early loss with a key technical superiority victory over Allan Titov of Illinois in the blood round to secure all-regional honors. Steele later battled through placement matches before ultimately finishing sixth.
In freestyle, Steele drew one of the toughest paths in the bracket, squaring off against Minnesota standout TJ Richardson, the tournament’s top seed and a Minnesota state runner-up in both styles. Steele later faced another highly-seeded Minnesota wrestler in the consolation bracket as his freestyle tournament concluded against elite competition.
Competing at events like the Northern Plains Regional gives Valley City wrestlers valuable experience against some of the nation’s best young athletes. With Fargo Nationals and summer training opportunities still ahead, all three wrestlers continue to put in the work during the offseason as they prepare for another Hi-Liner wrestling season.
The Valley Sports Report would like to thank Nick Thornton for providing tournament information and results from this weekend’s regional championships.
