A Trip Down Memory Lane: Top 10 All-Time Best Fargo Women’s Finals

Ronna Heaton and Macey Kilty battle in the 127-pound finals of the 2017 Fargo Junior National Championships. Photo courtesy of FloWrestling.

by Emma Bruntil, AWW staff writer
Twitter & IG: @Emaaabruntil

For the first time in almost two years, the best high school women's wrestlers will gather in Fargo, North Dakota to battle it out for a national title and the infamous stop sign that comes with it. This year's field of athletes is rich in depth and talent, and should produce some electric matches that will go down in the history books. However, since the women’s division was added to the Junior national tournament in 2002, there have been some downright incredible finals match-ups, some of which feature world champions, junior world medalists, and 2021 Olympians. Without further adieu, let’s dive into the ten best Fargo finals of all-time.

2002: Mary Kelly vs Malinda Ripley (110 lbs)
2002 was an historic year at the ASICS-Vaughan Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota. For the very first time in the tournament's history, America’s best women’s freestyle wrestlers would battle it out with a stop sign on the line. The first Junior women’s tournaments featured 103 entries from 24 states across nine weight classes, with the premier match of the tournament being between Junior world medalist and Cadet world champion Mary Kelly, and California’s Malinda Ripley. At the time, Kelly had recently snagged her first national team spot, placing third at the 2002 Senior World Team Trials. Meanwhile, Ripley had placed 5th at Senior Trials. Both wrestlers dominated their way to the finals. Mary Kelly picked up five quick falls to advance to the championship bout, while Ripley had four wins, two of which were by pin, with one technical fall and a 12-8 decision. In the finals, Ripley shocked the Fargo crowd by besting Illinois star Kelly by a score of 4-0, in what is still one of the biggest upsets in Junior Nationals history.

2007: Adeline Gray vs Erin Clodgo (146 lbs)
Adeline Gray is an athlete that needs no introduction. The five-time world champion was an absolute hammer, even back in her high school days. Gray, a Colorado native, met Connecticut's Erin Clodgo in the 2007 Junior women’s finals back in 2007. Erin Clodgo was no stranger to success herself, as she would go on to make the 2015 and 2018 Senior world teams, and finish runner-up to 2-time Olympian Elena Pirozhkova in the 2016 Olympic Trials at 63 kg. The pairs finals match went the distance, though. In the old best-of-three periods format, Gray took the first period with a 1-1 decision before Clodgo answered with a 1-0 win in the second period. In the final period of the match, Gray secured a stop sign and the national championship with a razor thin 1-0 victory.

2007: Amy Whitbeck (Golding) vs Nicole Woody (102 lbs)
Amy Whitbeck (now Golding) is one of those women’s wrestling names that can sometimes slip through the cracks, but it definitely shouldn’t. Whitbeck was one of the best high school women’s wrestlers of all-time. Wrestling out of Section 2 in New York, Whitbeck won two sectional titles, and was the first ever female wrestler in Section 2 to break 100 career wins. Additionally, Whitbeck was a two-time age-group national champion, and went on to win a Junior world bronze medal in 2010. Nicole Woody also made history in high school, becoming the first girl to make the state finals while representing Gambrills Arundel High School in Maryland. The year prior, in 2006, Woody also won a Junior world title, and would later go on to be a three-time WCWA national finalist in college. In the pair's highly anticipated finals match, Woody took the first period with a decisive 2-0 score. In the second period, it was all Woody, as she dominated her way to an 8-1 win.

2008: Helen Maroulis vs Alli Ragan (116 lbs)
A Fargo final that features a future Olympic Champion vs a two-time world silver medalist is a no-brainer candidate for one of the best high school women’s matches of all-time. Well, that’s what the women’s wrestling world was treated to in 2008 when Maryland’s Helen Maroulis took on Illinois Alli Ragan in the 2008, 116-pound finals match. Even back in high school, Helen Maroulis was already having an immense amount of success. The Rockville, Maryland native placed at the boys high school state tournament three times before heading to Northern Michigan University her senior year to focus solely on freestyle success. Meanwhile, Ragan was only the second girl in Illinois state history to earn a trip to the state tournament while competing against boys. Ragan tallied up more than 100 varsity wins while competing for Carbondale High School. In their finals bout, Maroulis won handily, beating Ragan 8-0 and 4-1 to claim the title.

2008: Victoria Anthony vs Candace Workman (102 lbs)
Victoria Anthony was hitting her infamous inside trips even back in her high school days. The California native won not one, but two junior world titles in 2009 and 2010. At the time of her Fargo finals with Utah’s Candace Workman, Anthony was a returning third place finisher at Junior Nationals, and earned second place the year prior to that, in 2006. Candace Workman, on the other hand, may not be as familiar of a women’s wrestling name as 2-time Olympic Trials runner-up Anthony, but Workman was an absolute trailblazer for women’s wrestling in the state of Utah. In February of 2008, Workman made history by making the Utah state finals competing against boys in the 3A division, becoming the first female in state history to do so. When Workman and Anthony met in the 2008 Junior National finals, it was Anthony who came away with the 4-0 and 5-3 win.

2009: Jenna Burkert vs Randi Beltz (132 lbs)
Jenna Burkert may be best known now for her incredible run at the 2021 Olympic Trials, but Burkert was easily one of the most dominant age-group wrestlers of all-time during her high school years. In 2010, Burkert took 5th at the Youth Olympic games before making the 2011, 2012, and 2013 Junior world teams. Meanwhile, her now WCAP teammate Randi Beltz had some accomplishments of her own, placing 3rd and 5th at the boys high school state tournament in Missouri. Before their match in 2009, Beltz was also fresh off of a USA Wrestling Folkstyle National Championship. In the finals, Burkert dominated Beltz with a quick fall in 1:31.

2013: Kayla Miracle vs Becka Leathers (139 lbs)
2021 Olympian Kayla Miracle had some epic matches during her Fargo career, one of which was with future world bronze medalist Becka Leathers. Both wrestlers had stellar high school careers, with Miracle qualifying for the boys high school state tournament in Indiana and making two Cadet world teams in 2011 and 2012. Leathers was equally as successful in high school, where she won five folkstyle national titles and made Cadet and Junior world teams in 2012 and 2013. In their championship bout, Leathers won in a dominant fashion with a 10-2 victory over Miracle. Both wrestlers would go one to win WCWA titles only two years later, at the 2015 WCWA National Championships.

2013: Maya Nelson vs Jessica Rottier (130 lbs)
Back in 2013, Maya Nelson and Jessica Rottier were a pair of young superstars headed toward future Senior level success. But, long before Maya Nelson won a Junior world title in 2017, or Jessica Rottier snagged WCWA and NCWWC titles in 2017 and 2021, the pair collided on the raised stage at the FargoDome for an epic finals showdown. In high school, Nelson spent much of her time competing against boys in the varsity line up. Nelson earned two trips to the high school state tournament her junior and senior seasons, becoming the first girl in the state of Colorado to do so. Meanwhile, Rottier was having plenty of success herself. Only a few months prior to their Fargo meeting, Rottier actually beat Nelson in a true second match 5-0, 1-2, and 3-2 to earn the 60 kg spot at the Cadet Pan American Championships in Colombia. In their championship bout at Fargo, Maya Nelson made a statement, avenging her previous loss to Rottier with an 11-3 win.

2014: Kayla Miracle vs Teshya Alo (130 lbs)
You have to be a pretty incredible athlete to make the best-of-all-time Fargo finals list two times, but incredible is a pretty accurate description of Kayla Miracle’s wrestling career. Just a year removed from her electric finals match with Becka Leathers, Miracle took on yet another hammer in Hawaii’s Teshya Alo. Alo was a high school phenom, winning a Cadet world title in 2014 as well as becoming the first female to win six Fargo titles. As a high school senior, Alo also won the 2015 U.S Open, which qualified her for the 2016 Olympic Trials in Iowa City, Iowa. Before the pair met in the 2014 finals, they actually clashed in the fourth round of the Junior women’s tournament in 2012, with Alo coming away the winner 5-3 and 4-2. Heading into the 2014 finals, Alo was only two days removed from winning a Cadet world title, while Miracle had just returned less than a week prior from the Senior Pan Am championships in Mexico City, Mexico. In their championship bout, Alo took an early 4-0 lead off of a takedown and exposure in the first period. Alo extended her lead to 6-0 off of a chin whip in the second period, before rattling off four more points for the 10-0 technical fall.

2017: Macey Kilty vs Ronna Heaton (127 lbs)
At Olympic Trials this year Macey Kilty and Ronna Heaton both made the women’s finals at 62 kg and 53 kg, respecitvley. However, only four years prior, the pair met at 127 pounds with a Fargo stop sign on the line in 2017. At the time, Ronna Heaton was only two years removed from her Cadet world title, and one year removed from her 2016 Cadet world silver medal. Meanwhile, Macey Kilty was a returning Cadet world bronze medalist at 49 kg in 2016, only falling to multiple time Senior world champion Yui Susaki at the Cadet World Championships. Kilty was also fresh off two titles at the USA Wrestling Folkstyle Nationals, and her runner-up finish to Texas’s Alex Liles at Women’s Nationals. In their finals match, Heaton struck first with a point from a shot clock violation before Kilty fired back with two points of her own. Kilty scored a takedown from a re-attack in the second period to ice her impressive 4-1 win.