Anna Krejsa, left, sizes up her competition at the USA Wrestling junior nationals last week in Fargo, North Dakota.
Submitted photo
The FargoDome, located a brief drive west of the North Dakota-Minnesota state line, has been a lot of things to a lot of people since opening 30 years ago.
Football stadium. Concert venue. Wrestling destination.
Regarding the latter, the 19,000-seat facility on the North Dakota State University campus is where Center Grove product Anna Krejsa recently attained All-American status at the USA Wrestling junior women’s freestyle nationals.
Krejsa, who graduated in the spring, was in the Sioux State from July 16-23 in an attempt to claim one of the top eight spots at 122 pounds.
She placed seventh of the 91 entrants in her division, winning seven of her nine matches.
“I’m very happy with how I did. This was incredibly difficult competition,” said Krejsa, who last summer posted a 1-2 record at the same tournament as a 127-pounder. “A big, big tournament for high school kids.
“Last year, I was definitely more intimidated by it. You look at the brackets and you see familiar names and girls who are ranked in the nation.”
Krejsa took the mat as the country’s 19th-ranked 127-pounder, though she wrestled one weight class lighter at nationals. One of her victories was against the nation’s No. 3 wrestler at 122 pounds, Savannah Witt of Pennsylvania.
“Placing seventh at women’s nationals is a huge accomplishment,” Center Grove wrestling coach Maurice Swain said. “In high school wrestling, Fargo is one of, if not the, toughest high school-aged tournament in the country.
“This was a huge goal of Anna’s coming into her senior year, and she worked so tirelessly to reach this accomplishment. We as a program are extremely proud of her.”
While in Fargo in the middle of summer, maintaining peak cardiovascular fitness tends not to be a problem, according to Krejsa.
“It’s always so hot there, and there’s a lot of walking,” she said. “It would take me 25 minutes to walk from the FargoDome back to my dorm.”
Earning a seventh-place plaque proved the fitting conclusion to Krejsa’s prep wrestling career.
A member of the Center Grove boys varsity team, she was 15-0 last season — every win coming by pin — in tournaments against female competition. In January, she went on to win the 126-pound class at the girls state tournament inside Kokomo’s Memorial Gymnasium.
Krejsa’s career record was 34-5. She finished fourth at girls state as a 10th-grader (her first year of competing) and runner-up as a junior.
For the next two-plus months, Krejsa will continue training four days a week at the Red Cobra Wrestling Academy in Avon.
On September 26, she leaves for Life University in Marietta, Georgia, where she’ll wrestle and major in psychology. The Running Eagles won their first NAIA national duals championship last winter.
Doing well in Fargo is the ideal send-off.
“Mentally, knowing you placed at Fargo is a pretty big deal,” Krejsa said. “I wanted to be an All-American this year, which is the top eight in each weight class. Being an All-American at Fargo is very difficult.”
