Women's Fargo Preview

Team Massachusetts had individual champions each of the past three years. What is next in 2025?

By AJ Traub

Coaches lead a women's practice at the Bunker, a day before the tournaments begin

A championship run without an opponent reaching the second period, Skylar Hattendorf’s 2022 triumph burst open the door by winning the Commonwealth's first Fargo junior national title.

Jackie Dehney (Pelham, N.H.) and Samantha Bertini (Ludlow) followed Hattendorf (Hooksett, N.H.) by winning junior national titles in 2023 and 2024, respectively, to make it a hat trick for the Bay State.

Heading into the 2025 campaign, the Mass women's national team is looking to extend its streak of success after the 16U team placed 18th (29 points) and the junior team placed 21st (27 points).

“It’s a pretty good testament to the work that Mass Wrestling has done in creating a platform for our best female wrestlers to compete at a national level,” said coach Joe Nugent. “Not just Fargo, World Team Trials and Super 32. On the women’s side we’ve had a bunch of champions in those events to show for it. That’s the legacy I'm proud of. We hope to keep it rolling this year!”

The two teams last year combined for five podium placers, including Malden’s Corynne McNulty, who reached the finals at 136 pounds in the 16U category. The Blair Academy grappler is in the junior category this time around.

Also moving up is Choate Rosemary Hall’s Sara McLaughlin (from Scituate), who placed eighth at 118 last year. Choate teammate Lily Runez (from Keene, N.H.) placed eighth in the junior category, and will compete at 115 pounds.

Nobles wrestler Kate Osakwe (207 pounds) is coming off a prep national championship and Framingham’s Adriana DeGroat reached the New England high school finals as a sophomore. They’re part of a strong 16U team.

Though McNulty competes in New Jersey for school, she said she’s “super proud to be from Massachusetts and represent my state” after her medal a year ago.

The country’s top ranked 140-pounder Dani Nugent is not competing as she made the World Team and is preparing for international competition, and Bertini is not attempting to defend her Fargo title. With a still-loaded roster and newcomers to the coaching staff, Joe Nugent says he still likes the team’s chances to win another title.

Hattendorf, who has been at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado the past few years, is bringing back her experience as a coach. She jumped at the chance to join the staff this summer because of how much the Massachusetts and New Hampshire wrestling communities gave her. Also having lived in Rhode Island, she feels like the team’s accomplishments lift New England as a whole.

“It was a feeling of pride and accomplishment for my region,” she said. “It was immense pride for my region to show on that stage that Massachusetts can hold its own against all these other states… One of my favorite pictures was showing that Massachusetts logo on my singlet.

“When I put on that Team Massachusetts singlet, I believe I’m representing New England as a whole.”

Also coaching for the Commonwealth is Marisol Nugent, a trailblazer in Massachusetts girls’ wrestling. She represented Phillips Academy in Andover, but since Massachusetts didn’t have a girls’ national team yet, she wrestled for Team Maine on her first trip to Fargo.

“It’s great to see how many girls are wrestling for Mass, contending for All-American spots,” she said. “This is the chance for them to be on the national level, not just as a competitor, but to talk to colleges. It’s an opportunity to network and mature. The girls can advocate for themselves, adapt to new climates. I’m excited about that aspect as well.”

As the Team Mass wrestlers add points and podiums into the history of the girls’ squad, they also add to the role models and perhaps future coaches who can keep the momentum going.

“I think it’s awesome,” Marisol Nugent said. “When I'm in the corner coaching them, we’re on the same team and working through the match together. A lot of these girls haven’t had a female coach before. I never had an older sister. I had someone [New Jersey’s Sky Grote] put me under her wing.”

Added Hattendorf: “I really feel like New England is on a rise right now with the performances at Fargo but also with some of our girls going to D1 colleges. Daniella Nugent making the world team this year.

“I feel like we’re getting recognized as a powerhouse in women’s wrestling.”