Hugh comes back as champion at youth State

By Ginna Young

For one Cornell family, wrestling is all hands on deck, which was demonstrated March 5-7, with the Wisconsin Wrestling Federation (WWF) Kids Folkstyle State Championships. Dave and Amy Hugh, along with their children, Preston Fredrickson, Paxton Hugh and Peyton Hugh, traveled to the Woodside Wisconsin Dells Center for the championship.

WWF has been in existence since the 1970s, and because there continue to be so many kids interested in the youthformed federation, there needed to be qualifying rounds in multiple locations around the state, with the top two from each weight class, in each location, moving on to the championships. However, with COVID-19, this year, all wrestlers who wanted to compete, did so.

“So, some of the brackets were anywhere from 40-50 kids, some brackets were smaller with 10 kids, some brackets had 18 kids,” said Dave. “It was just where you fell with your weights and your age group.”

The three Cornell youth are part of the Cornell-Holcombe-Gilman Wolfpack Wrestlers, along with Holcombe student Kadyn Jones, who also took part in the State competition.

According to their weights that first day of the tournament, the eighth grader Preston wrestled at 115 pounds, while Paxton, 9, came in at 74 pounds, and Peyton, 7, competed at 51 pounds. As for Kadyn, who is in sixth grade, he wrestled at 105 pounds.

When wrestlers are in high school, the athletes are separated into divisions, so the districts wrestle schools of like size.

“Whereas, down there, for the youth…there are no divi- sions,” said Dave.

Dave says he would love to have a huge youth program in Cornell, which leads to large numbers once they reach the high school level. Because there are low numbers in the Wolfpack, the Hughs take the boys to Crass Training in Eau Claire, to give them more experience against youth of their own weight class.

When walking into the dome, Preston says he was struck by how big it was, with 16 mats set up and screens for people to watch when their bout came around. Once their bout number appeared on the screen, a wrestler needed to find his table at an entrance, tell the officials the number and get their assigned mat number.

If they were lucky, the athletes then had time to warm up.

“It was fun to go out and wrestle, because it was a bigger competition,” said Preston.

The family says they were surprised by how fast things went, as they could be at the opposite end of the center when their name was called. With the quick-turnaround, the wrestlers sometimes barely got their gear on before their match started.

“You didn’t know really where you were going,” said Dave. “You just knew you had to get in there, and pretty much run to your mat and wrestle.”

Despite that, Dave felt the tournament was run well, with a great deal of coordination. Preston agreed, and said it was good to pick up moves from other wrestlers that can be used in future matches.

“It was cool and it was a good learning experience,” said Preston.

Out of the four who competed at the tournament, Peyton was the only one of the Wolfpack to return from State with hardware, as he went 4-0, with a pin, a tech fall, a major decision and a 7-0 victory, for his first State championship.

“I felt really good,” he said.

Paxton ended up as part of a huge bracket and ran into a couple really good kids. According to him, his favorite experience was going to the water park while in the Dells.

As for Preston, he also had a larger bracket and came up a little short at State, but is looking forward to next year, when he will be part of high school wrestling.

Kadyn, who also trains with Crass, went 2-2 for the Wolfpack, finishing off podium.

“It’s such a great atmosphere,” said Dave, adding that wrestling is all about effort. “You want a trophy, you go out and earn it.”

While at State, the Hugh say they really enjoyed watching and cheering for the other wrestlers, even those they didn’t know, and receiving encouragement in return.

“There’s no family like the wrestling family,” said Amy.

[caption id="attachment_115472" align="alignnone" width="300"] Kadyn Jones • 105 lbs.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_115473" align="alignnone" width="300"] Paxton Hugh • 74 lbs.[/caption]   [caption id="attachment_115474" align="alignnone" width="300"] Preston Fredrickson • 115 lbs.[/caption]