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River Falls Wrestling

Since 1962 · 20 WIAA State Titles

Once a Wildcat Always a Wildcat

Wildcat wrestling in River Falls, Wisconsin ... Pre‑K through Grade 12.

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  • 1962 Wrestling at RFHS since
  • 20 WIAA state champions
  • 144 State qualifiers
  • 5,000 Fans each December

Updates

  • A young River Falls wrestler in a Wildcats singlet, arms folded, in the high school wrestling room Season starts

    Youth Wrestling

    4K through 5th grade. One evening a week in the high school room.

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  • New this season

    The Buck Board

    Biggest rack, smallest buck, biggest doe. Ten dollars, one photo, all season.

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  • Stay in the Loop

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    Schedules, results, and program news in your inbox.

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    Booster Club

    Fuel gear, travel, and youth development for every wrestler.

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Building Wildcats Together Since 1962

Six decades of Wildcats, built by River Falls families ... and by wrestlers who came back to coach the program they grew up in. Today the program runs Pre-K through Grade 12.

  • 1962

    Bill Wright puts a wrestling team on the mat at River Falls High School.

  • 1997

    Four Wildcats win state in one season ... Kevin Black, Brady Cudd, Joe Cudd and Phil Meier ... and the team finishes runner-up at team state for the second year running. Nothing before or since has matched it.

  • Today

    Cam Loomis coaches the program he wrestled for, class of 2010. Before him, four-time state champion Kevin Black. Before them, Brady and Joe Cudd. Wildcats coaching Wildcats, three times over ... and the next name on this list is already in the room.

Sixty years of Wildcats →

River Falls Wildcat wrestler on the mat

20 WIAA Individual State Titles

145 qualifiers and 78 placement medals

These individual champions have powered five WIAA Team State appearances and fueled fifteen conference team championships across the Middle Border and Big Rivers Conferences.

The full honor roll →

All-American Honors & National Champions

4 NCAA Division I · 6 NCAA Division III · 3 NAIA All-American honors, plus an NCWWC national title ... and two Wildcats who kept going at the senior level.

In 2025, Mitchell Williamson ’18 won the NCAA Division III title at 285 lbs for Wartburg ... the program’s first individual NCAA championship. A week earlier, Macey Kilty won the NCWWC title at 145 lbs for Iowa.

  • Mitchell Williamson, Wartburg

    National Champion

    NCAA Division III

    Mitchell Williamson

    Wartburg 285

    NCAA Division III National Champion

    • 2025 · champion at 285 lbs, beat Carl DiGiorgio of Coast Guard 4-1 in the final.
    • 2026 · runner-up at 285 lbs, lost to Josh Harkless of RIT 4-1.
    • 2x NCAA All-American. Also a 2021 NJCAA national champion at Iowa Lakes ... a separate governing body, not counted here.
  • Macey Kilty, Iowa

    National Champion

    NCWWC

    Macey Kilty

    Iowa 145

    NCWWC National Champion

    • 2025 · champion at 145 lbs for Iowa.

    NCWWC is women's collegiate wrestling ... a national championship in its own right, and not one of the NCAA divisions counted above.

  • NCAA Division I

    Trevor Brandvold

    Wisconsin 197

    2x NCAA Division I All-American

    • 2010 · 6th at 197 lbs.
    • 2011 · 4th at 197 lbs.

    No photo on file. Got one? Send it to the boosters

  • NCAA Division I

    Kevin Black

    Wisconsin 133

    NCAA Division I All-American

    • 2002 · 4th at 133 lbs.

    No photo on file. Got one? Send it to the boosters

  • NCAA Division I

    Tony Black

    Wisconsin 125

    NCAA Division I All-American

    • 2003 · 5th at 125 lbs.

    Academic All-American ... not an athletic honor

    • Wrestling USA · first-team Academic All-American, 1999.
    • Verizon / CoSIDA · second-team Academic All-American, 2003.

    No photo on file. Got one? Send it to the boosters

  • NCAA Division III

    Brady Cudd

    UW-La Crosse 141

    2x NCAA Division III All-American

    • 2001 · 5th at 141 lbs.
    • 2002 · runner-up at 141 lbs.

    Academic All-American ... not an athletic honor

    • NCAA Division I · Academic All-American, 2000 (Wisconsin).
    • NCAA Division III · Academic All-American, 2001 and 2002 (UW-La Crosse).

    No photo on file. Got one? Send it to the boosters

  • NCAA Division III

    Sam Johnson

    Dubuque 197

    NCAA Division III All-American

    • 2011 · 6th at 197 lbs.

    Also a national All-American

    • NAIA · 6th at 197 lbs, 2014, for the University of the Cumberlands.

    No photo on file. Got one? Send it to the boosters

  • Nathan Fuller, Wartburg

    NCAA Division III

    Nathan Fuller

    Wartburg 165

    NCAA Division III All-American

    • 2023 · 7th at 165 lbs.

  • NAIA

    Gee Pope

    UW-River Falls 134

    2x NAIA All-American

    • 1974 · 4th at 134 lbs.
    • 1975 · runner-up at 134 lbs.

    River Falls High School class of 1971 and a state qualifier for the Wildcats that year, then a two-time NAIA All-American at UW-River Falls. The college and the high school are separate institutions that share a name.

    No photo on file. Got one? Send it to the boosters

After college — senior & international.

Open competition, wrestled for a club or unattached rather than for a school ... so it is counted separately from the college honours above and never inside them.

  • Trevor Brandvold

    Also 2x NCAA Division I All-American, Wisconsin

    • USA Wrestling · 2011 · runner-up at 96 kg, U.S. Olympic Team Trials Qualifier.
    • Minnesota Storm · 2012 · champion at 96 kg, Holiday Cup, 3-0 in the round robin.
    • USA Wrestling · 2013 · 6th at 96 kg, U.S. Open.

    Second at the Olympic Team Trials QUALIFIER in 2011 ... not at the Olympic Trials themselves. Both his university bios say he wrestled in the finals of the Olympic Trials, and that is not what happened: he wrestled the final of the qualifier. At the 2012 Trials he went 2-2 and was eliminated in the consolation bracket. 2013 was his only U.S. Open.

  • Collin Cudd

    • USA Wrestling · 2005 · 7th at 55 kg, U.S. Nationals freestyle.
    • USA Wrestling · 2006 · 4th at 55 kg, U.S. Nationals freestyle.

    Open senior competition, wrestled unattached rather than for a college programme ... which is why these two placings sit here and not on the wall above. His 2003 Junior Nationals placing was won at high-school age and is on the high school honours page.

See every Wildcat wrestling in college now Their high school national honors

Two Landmark Tournaments Each Season

The Badger Classic here at RFHS and the WWF Kids series born in River Falls

Northern Badger Wrestling Classic

Founded at UW-Stout in 1985 and later moved to River Falls, where it was held at UW-River Falls before coming to the high school. Each December, over 48 teams and up to 5,000 fans converge for two days of top-level competition ... staffed by booster club volunteers on the mats, at the door and in the concession stand.

Northern Badger Wrestling Classic logo

Birthplace of the WWF Kids Series

In 1988, River Falls gave rise to the WWF Kids Folkstyle State Tournament series. While the tournament now travels statewide, its roots here continue to shape young wrestlers across Wisconsin.

WWF Kids Folkstyle State Championships logo

Be part of the next 60 years

Every Wildcat needs somebody behind them.

Whether that is your kid on the mat, your name on a sponsor sign, or your inbox on the schedule ... this is where you start.

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Thank you

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