by Scott DCamp
Sports Editor
Thief River Falls senior Brianna Berg made history over the weekend as the first Prowler girls wrestler to place in the Minnesota State High School League girls wrestling state tournament.
Berg began Saturday’s state tournament with an upset victory over second-seeded Annabelle Petsinger of New Richland-Heartland-Ellendale-Geneva. Berg pinned Petsinger in 1:03.
Berg was close to pulling off another upset in the semifinal round and making it to championship match. She led Alley Altringer of Anoka 5-4 through two periods of wrestling and she began the third period in the top position. Altringer eventually secured a reversal and caught Berg on her back, before winning by fall in 5:17.
Berg faced nationally-ranked Audrey Rogatzke of Stillwater in the third place match. Rogatzke was coming off her first loss of the season, a 4-3 decision loss to Kylie Donat of Bemidji in the other semifinal.
Berg gave up a takedown 51 seconds into the third place match but quickly reversed Rogotzke. Rogotzke earned an escape to take a 3-2 lead and added another takedown and nearfall to go in front 8-2 at the end of the first period.
Rogoztke started down in the second period before earning a reversal to make the score 10-2. Rogotzke added another three-point nearfall to her point total before winning the match by fall.
“Although I had high expectations of what Brianna was capable of, I also knew how much harder it would be to be successful this season as compared to last year,” said Dale Rystad, head girls wrestling coach for Thief River Falls. “The number of girls wrestlers doubled. Meanwhile, the qualification process to wrestle at the state tournament remained the same, which meant that some section brackets would have up to 20 wrestlers at each weight with only the top two advancing to state. My goal for all of the girls was to have some success at the section tournament. Brianna had a loftier goal, which was to qualify for the state tournament. Not only did she qualify, but she went on to beat a nationally ranked girl and number-two-ranked wrestler in the state at her weight, which secured a placement medal and, I believe, exceeded Brianna’s own expectations.”
A quick learner
and a rising star
Berg joined wrestling as high school junior in 2022-23, when Thief River Falls added its girls program, and she improved throughout her first season.
Berg went 7-5 and finished fourth in the section meet during her junior season campaign before emerging as one of the best wrestlers in the state this year.
She went 31-11 in the regular season and Section 6 & 8 combined section tournament, where she finished second at 142 pounds, to qualify for her first state tournament.
The 2024 state tournament was Berg’s first in any capacity as a wrestler. She did not attend last year’s state tournament due to a scheduling conflict with Math League.
“I had no idea what to expect, other than that it was going to be totally nerve-wracking,” Berg said. “The first time I was out on the arena floor was for skin check sand weigh-ins, and it was eerily quiet.”
Berg later returned to the arena floor to compete and, by then, the volume had been turned way up with competition underway. Berg said she felt the nerves before her first match.
“I felt like I was going to vomit,” she said. “Once I got out on the mat, I was trying to take off my warmup shorts and I almost fell on my face in front of everybody. I was nervous, to say the least.”
Berg had two goals heading into her first and last state tournament, and she accomplished them both.
“My goal was to place at state and have a blast,” Berg said. “It’s the last thing I’m going to do my senior year for this, so I might as well go out with a bang.”
Raising the bar for future Prowlers
Berg leaves the Prowler girls wrestling program with a two-year record of 39-18. She is the program’s all-time winningest wrestler through two seasons of competition. It’s a record that will likely be beaten in the next year or two as the Prowler girls wrestling program continues to grow.
“Brianna has been instrumental to the success of the Prowler girls wrestling program in several crucial ways,” Rystad said. “She joined wrestling midway through the season last year and became one of the ‘mavericks’ of girls wrestling along Megan Peterson, Dru Harbott and Maddie Poissant. These girls legitimized girls wrestling in Thief River Falls as they each found individual success.
“Brianna convinced many of her teammates from the Prowler swim team to join wrestling, which is one of the main reasons the numbers jumped from four to 15 girls wrestling this season. Lastly, Brianna continued to legitimize the girls wrestling program in Thief River Falls by being a state-ranked wrestler throughout the year and backing those rankings up by making it to the state tournament and placing fourth in a state tournament that has a one class system (which means Berg competes against girls from some of the biggest schools in the state).”
MSHSL State Championships
142Girls – Brianna Berg (32-13) placed 4th and scored 0.0 team points. Quarterfinal – Brianna Berg (Thief River Falls) 32-13 won by fall over Annabelle Petsinger (New Richland-H-E-G) 16-2 (Fall 1:03); Semifinal – Alley Altringer (Anoka) 15-2 won by fall over Brianna Berg (Thief River Falls) 32-13 (Fall 5:17); 3rd Place Match – Audrey Rogotzke (Stillwater) 33-1 won by fall over Brianna Berg (Thief River Falls) 32-13 (Fall 2:53).