FVL’s Kufner wins twice, reaches Division 2 semifinals at 2025 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament

By Paul Lecker
AppletonSportsPage.com

MADISON – Fox Valley Lutheran junior Austin Kufner pulled off an upset and is heading to the semifinals after the first day of the 2025 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament on Thursday at the Kohl Center.

Kufner, seeded sixth in the Division 2 165-pound bracket, won his opening match 7-2 over Andrew Thompson of Baldwin-Woodville before defeated No. 3 seed Carter Ries of Big Foot/Williams Bay in dominating fashion 16-3 in the quarterfinal round.

Kufner (40-4) will take on Stevens Kielpikowski (48-2) of Denmark in the semifinals on Friday, which begin at 5:30 p.m.

The three other Appleton wrestlers at the state tournament were all knocked into the consolation bracket on Thursday.

Appleton North’s Jackson Esser (31-7) dropped a Division 1 126-pound preliminary match to Aidan Aure of Menomonie by pin in 3:46, and Xavier’s Cristian Rodriguez-Salgado (42-11) could not hold on to a late lead and lost to Nick Lara of Jefferson 17-15 in a Division 2 106-pound first-round match.

Xavier’s Madline Faulker (45-10) won her opening round match at 138 pounds in the girls tournament, defeating Wausau West’s Emma Huggenvik 7-4, before suffering a 4-0 loss to Nevaeh Nwachukwu of St. Croix Falls in the quarterfinals.

All three will wrestle in consolation bracket matches on Friday in hopes of crawling back to a potential third- or fifth-place match on Saturday.

2025 WIAA State Individual Wrestling Tournament
Feb. 27-March 1, at Kohl Center, Madison
Boys
Thursday, Feb. 27
Division 1 Preliminaries
126: Aidan Aure (43-5), Menomonie, pinned Jackson Esser (31-7), Appleton North, 3:46.
Division 2 Preliminaries
106: Nick Lara (43-5), Jefferson, def. Cristian Rodriguez-Salgado (42-11), Xavier, 17-15.
165: Austin Kufner (39-4), Fox Valley Lutheran, def. Andrew Thompson (31-14), Baldwin-Woodville, 7-2.
Division 2 Quarterfinals
165: Austin Kufner (40-4), Fox Valley Lutheran, won by major dec. over Carter Ries (49-4), Big Foot/Williams Bay, 16-3.
Girls
Preliminaries
138: Madeline Faulkner (45-9), Xavier, def. Emma Huggenvik (37-9), Wausau West, 7-4.
Quarterfinals
138: Nevaeh Nwachukwu (40-7), St. Croix Falls, def. Madeline Faulkner (45-10), Xavier, 4-0.
Friday, Feb. 28
Division 1 Consolation Preliminaries
126: Jackson Esser (31-7), Appleton North, vs. Braeden Borreson (34-12), Frankli
Division 2 Consolation Quarterfinals
106: Cristian Rodriguez-Salgado (42-11), Xavier, vs. Parker Owens (37-10), Coleman
Division 2 Semifinals
165: Austin Kufner (40-4), Fox Valley Lutheran, vs. Stevens Kielpikowski (48-2), Denmark
Girls
Consolation Quarterfinals
138: Madeline Faulkner (45-10), Xavier, vs. Irelynd Cejka (35-8), Prairie du Chien or Jasmine Herbert (40-14), Auburndale