John's Journal: At Fosston/Bagley, Thompsons Are Wrestlers

If your name is Thompson and you live in Bagley, Minnesota, the odds are pretty good that you are a wrestler. Five members of the wrestling team from Fosston/Bagley — excellent team name: the Brawlers — qualified for this week’s state tournament at Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, and four of them are named you-know-what, as is a member of the coaching staff.

The lineup looks like this …

--Klae Thompson, who wrestled for Fosston/Bagley in high school, is an assistant coach for the Brawlers.

--Klae’s sons, eighth-grader Kiptyn (107 pounds) and ninth-grader Kamryn (127), are part of the team’s state-qualifying contingent.

--Klae’s nephews, sophomore Shane (139) and senior Zach (145), also made it to state.

The only wrestler on the tournament squad not named Thompson, junior Ian Phrakonkham, finished fourth at 133 pounds in Class A on Saturday. Zach Thompson also finished the season on the podium, placing sixth. It was Phrakonkham’s third trip to state and the fourth for Zach.

The Thompson are a busy quartet, with all of them also participating in football and baseball. But wrestling is the family business, and getting five athletes to the state tournament is a big deal for the small-town team.

“We have enough kids to fill the varsity team but we’re not deep,” Klae said.

That kind of postseason success only adds buzz to the sport, especially for a cooperative team. Klae said there are currently around 50 young kids involved in wrestling.

“Our little ones are excited. They all want to try this.”

The four Thompsons have been wrestling since kindergarten, and the Brawlers have been ramping up their regular-season schedule in the hopes of finding form against strong competition. They have been involved in big tournaments, such as the Rumble on the Red in Fargo.

As the only senior among the five, Zach Thompson especially enjoyed his time under the bright lights at state.

“This is an amazing experience,” he said. “It’s kind of like a once-in-a-lifetime thing, especially for me in my senior year. Being able to come down here with the cousins and the relatives and being able to compete here, it’s great.”

As the youngest of the group, Kip said, “It's been really fun being on a team with all my cousins, and it's just been really nice to always have them there, you know, to push me and make me better. And then it's been really nice having my dad as a coach, because he can always push me to be better, and he's always there for me.”

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]