Multi-sport
athletes are nothing new, but Faith Koning took that phrase to another level
this week, in two very different activities. One is wrestling and the other involves
horses. Frenzied air and highway travel are also part of the story.
The junior
from Wadena-Deer Creek, a first-year wrestler, qualified for this weekend’s
state tournament at a section meet three weeks ago. But she didn’t know if she
would be able to wrestle because she had also qualified for one of the biggest
junior rodeos in the world … in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Junior
Patriot Rodeo is a 12-day event that will end Sunday. Faith’s specialty is
barrel racing and when the rodeo schedule came out, everything fell into place
and she knew she could wrestle at state. But it wasn’t easy.
Faith’s mom,
Ashley, dropped off Faith and her grandma at the Dallas airport on Friday and
they arrived in the Twin Cities around 8 p.m., 13 hours before the first round
of girls competition at Xcel Energy Center. So, Faith would wrestle, that was
certain.
Ashley, with
three of the five kids in the family, drove all night from Texas and arrived in
St. Paul at 5 a.m. Saturday after 14 hours on the road.
“I went to my mom and dad's hotel and
I showered and drank some coffee and came over here,” she said Saturday at the tournament.
Faith’s
grandpa, Dan Watson, was
also at Xcel Energy Center, broadcasting matches on Wadena’s KWAD radio. So Faith,
her mom and her grandparents were in the building.
Where was her dad, Josh? Well,
somebody had to drive home with a trailer and Faith’s horses, Flash and
Peanuts.
“We're kind of dividing and
conquering,” Ashey said.
Faith wasn’t overly enthusiastic about
her results in Texas, saying. “I didn't do the greatest. My horses and I kind
of struggled with the competition down there because it's so intense, but it
was fun.”
On the wrestling mat, Faith lost in Saturday’s
state quarterfinals to Jaden Ruegsegger of Centennial. Her season came to a
close a couple hours later with a loss to Imrie Mistic of Bemidji in the consolation
bracket.
After being in Texas for nearly a
week, Faith was happy to be back in her home state, if not her hometown. She is
one of five girls on the Wadena-Deer Creek team. A year ago, W-DC’s Maddie
Gallant made history by qualifying for the first MSHSL girls state wrestling
tournament. Maddie helped convince Faith to come out for the team this year.
“She's wanted to wrestle ever since
she was a little kid, because my brother wrestled,” Ashley said. “And we always
just kind of told her, ‘You know, it's not really a girls sport.’ And then
after Maddie was in it last year, Maddie kind of talked to her about how it
would be nice to have a wrestling partner and other girls to wrestle with in
our town.
“I knew she would be good at it
because she's strong and just kind of whatever she decides to do, she’s good at.”
Faith had been a dancer previously,
along with a lifelong love of horses. She had never attended a state wrestling
tournament, so Saturday’s experience was eye-opening.
“There's a lot of people, a lot of
commotion,” she said. “This is pretty insane.”
Faith is one
of two wrestlers from Wadena-Deer Creek who made it to the 2023 state
tournament. The other, senior Koby Endres at 195 pounds in Class A, was
defeated in the quarterfinals by senior Ayden Goetzinger of Caledonia/Houston. That
gave Koby a season record of 37-3.
Wolverines
coach Brad Wollum said he has never before had to worry about a wrestler competing in horseback barrel racing at the
same time.
“No, this is a first,” he said with
a laugh. “I think it was actually harder on grandpa and grandma and dad and
stuff, with all the logistics and everything.”
When the wrestling season started,
Faith had already qualified for the rodeo in Texas.
“She said, ‘By the way, in March I
have this national rodeo,’ ” Wollum said. “So we're like, ‘OK, it's a long shot
(getting to state). And then she got her (rodeo) draw order, and we realized
all the cards would fall into place. And then it all came down to the flights
lining up. So luckily, it worked out.”
--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of
Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn
and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts.
Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
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