Wrestlers · Career complete
Rachael Holthaus
2x Junior Nationals, Fargo, champion, 2002 and 2004; won 95 pounds in the first girls division; senior freestyle for the Sunkist Kids
Little Falls, MN · Royalton High School HS
By Joe Spisak, Pennsylvania state champion and 4x NCAA qualifier at Virginia · Published September 23, 2026
Rachael Holthaus is from Little Falls, Minnesota. She started wrestling in fourth grade and made the Little Falls varsity as an eighth-grader. She also trained with the Highflyers Wrestling Club in Wayzata, where she was the only girl among its 120 wrestlers.
In March 2002 she placed third at a national girls folkstyle tournament in Detroit. That July, Junior Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota, held a girls division for the first time. She won the 95-pound title, the lightest weight. The National Wrestling Hall of Fame counts her as the first USA Wrestling Junior Women's freestyle national champion.
For her sophomore season she moved to Royalton High School, where her father had become head coach. Wrestling on the boys team at 103 pounds, she took a 16-2 record into the Section 6A quarterfinals in February 2003. That year she placed third at an international tournament in Austria. At Fargo she reached the 101-pound final, where Kelli Rasmussen of Blue Earth Area High School pinned her in 3:56.
She won Junior Nationals, Fargo, again in 2004 at 101 pounds, beating Alyssa Lampe of Tomahawk High School in Wisconsin 5-4 in overtime in the final. In 2005 she placed sixth at 102 pounds.
She then wrestled senior freestyle for the Sunkist Kids at 48 kg, about 106 pounds. At the 2006 Dave Schultz Memorial International she beat Patricia Guadalupe Hernandez of El Salvador and Susana Almeida of Brazil. She placed third in the FILA Junior division at the 2006 Body Bar Women's Nationals and seventh at the April 2007 Senior Women's Freestyle tournament.
Her 2002 title at 95 pounds is one of the 50 milestones of U.S. women's wrestling that USA Wrestling and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame listed for the 50th anniversary of Title IX. The girls competition she won in Fargo added a 16U division in 2011, and its Junior division set a record of 1,269 wrestlers in 2026.
Results
| Season | Level | Event | Weight | Place | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Age group | National girls folkstyle tournament, Detroit | 3rd | Third place, reported by the St. Cloud Times in February 2003. | |
| 2002 | Age group | Junior Nationals, Fargo | 95 lb | 1st | The first girls division held at the Junior National Championships in Fargo. She won the lightest weight, and the National Wrestling Hall of Fame counts her as the first USA Wrestling Junior Women's freestyle national champion. |
| 2002-03 | High school | Royalton High School boys varsity season | 103 lb | 16-2. Her record entering the Section 6A quarterfinal against Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa on February 11, 2003. | |
| 2003 | Age group | International tournament, Austria | 3rd | Third place, listed in USA Wrestling's 2003 and 2004 biographies of the Fargo finalists. | |
| 2003 | Age group | Junior Nationals, Fargo | 101 lb | 2nd | Pinned by Kelli Rasmussen of Blue Earth Area High School in 3:56 in the final. |
| 2004 | Age group | Junior Nationals, Fargo | 101 lb | 1st | 5-0. Won four pool bouts, then beat Alyssa Lampe of Tomahawk High School in Wisconsin 5-4 in overtime in the final. |
| 2005 | Age group | Junior Nationals, Fargo | 102 lb | 6th | 2-3. Beat Rayna Hirata of Hawaii and Christina Varland of Wyoming, lost to Camie Yeik of Washington and Alyssa Lampe of Wisconsin, then lost the fifth-place match to Joleen Oshiro of Hawaii. |
| 2006 | Senior | Dave Schultz Memorial International | 48 kg | 2-2. Beat Patricia Guadalupe Hernandez of El Salvador and Susana Almeida of Brazil. Lost to Anne Catherine Deluntsch of France and Clarissa Chun of the Sunkist Kids. | |
| 2006 | Age group | Body Bar Women's Nationals, FILA Junior division | 48 kg | 3rd | Won the third-place match over Caitlyn Chase of the Gator Club. |
| 2007 | Senior | Dave Schultz Memorial International | 48 kg | 1-2. Beat Guadalupe Perez Tizcareo of Mexico. Lost to Carol Huynh of Canada and Sofia Mattsson of Sweden. | |
| 2007 | Senior | Senior Women's Freestyle | 48 kg | 7th | 2-2. Beat Nicole Woody of the NYAC, then won the seventh-place match over Aquilla Hills of Cumberland. |
| 2007 | Senior | World Team Trials, Challenge tournament | 48 kg | 2-2. Beat Rachel Bernardes of the U.S. Air Force and Amantha Hordagoda of the Spartan WC, then lost in the consolation semifinal to Alyssa Lampe. |
What we could not confirm
Anything not on this page, a high school record, a final score, a season, was left out because no primary source stated it when this was written. If you have a bracket, a program, or a clipping, send it to the operator, Joe Spisak, at joe@spisak.co and the page gets the number.
Sources
- https://nwhof.org/news/50-u-s-women-s-wrestling-milestones-to-celebrate-50th-anniversary-of-title-ix · National Wrestling Hall of Fame and USA Wrestling, 50 milestones for the 50th anniversary of Title IX. In 2002 the Junior National Championships in Fargo held a girls division for the first time, and Minnesota's Rachael Holthaus won the 95-pound title, the tournament's lightest weight.
- https://nwhof.org/national-wrestling-hall-of-fame/women-s-wrestling-experience · National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Women in Wrestling exhibit. When Fargo added a girls division, Rachael Holthaus became the first USA Wrestling Junior Women's freestyle national champion, at 95 pounds.
- http://reardan.org/HiFlyers/2003/Rachel%20stcloud%20times3.pdf · St. Cloud Times, February 11, 2003, copy on the Highflyers Wrestling Club site. The Royalton sophomore was 16-2 at 103 pounds, had won 95 pounds at the first girls competition at Fargo and placed third at a national girls folkstyle tournament in Detroit.
- https://www.brainerddispatch.com/sports/little-falls-also-has-a-female-wrestler · Brainerd Dispatch, January 18, 2002. Rachel Holthaus wrestled for Little Falls as a freshman at 103 pounds, and her coach said her goal was to be an Olympian.
- https://www.themat.com/news/2003/july/26/biographies-of-junior-girls-na-8080 · USA Wrestling, July 2003. Biographies of the Junior Nationals girls finalists list Rachel Holthaus of Little Falls, Minnesota Storm, at 101 pounds against Kelli Rasmussen of Blue Earth Area High School, with third place at a 2003 tournament in Austria.
- https://www.themat.com/news/2005/july/29/seven-defending-women-s-junior-12816 · USA Wrestling, July 2005, from Fargo. At 102 pounds, Rachael Holthaus of Minnesota was the defending Junior Nationals champion, and Alyssa Lampe of Wisconsin was the 2004 runner-up.
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results/1235?query=Holthaus · USA Wrestling results, 2005 Cadet and Junior Freestyle Nationals. Her bouts at 102 pounds, ending in the fifth-place match.
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results/1234?query=Holthaus · USA Wrestling results, 2006 Dave Schultz Memorial. Her four bouts at 48 kg for the Sunkist Kids.
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results/1255?query=Holthaus · USA Wrestling results, 2006 Body Bar Women's Nationals. She won the third-place match in the FILA Junior 48 kg division.
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results/1233?query=Holthaus · USA Wrestling results, 2007 Dave Schultz Memorial. Her three bouts at 48 kg.
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results/1336?query=Holthaus · USA Wrestling results, April 2007 Senior Women's Freestyle. She won the seventh-place match at 48 kg.
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results/1297?query=Holthaus · USA Wrestling results, 2007 World Team Trials. Her four bouts in the Challenge tournament at 48 kg.
- https://www.themat.com/news/2003/july/26/rosenbrock--lang-repeat-as-cha-8084 · USA Wrestling, July 25, 2003, from Fargo. Kelli Rasmussen of Minnesota pinned returning Junior National champion Rachel Holthaus in 3:56 in the 101-pound final.
- https://www.inforum.com/sports/minnesotans-pick-up-wins-in-girls-division · InForum, July 26, 2003. Kelli Rasmussen beat fellow Minnesotan Rachel Holthaus by pin in 3:56 at 101 pounds, her first win over Holthaus in five meetings.
- https://www.themat.com/news/2004/july/31/bios-of-junior-women-s-freesty-10377 · USA Wrestling, July 30, 2004. Biographies of the Junior Women's Freestyle finalists put Rachael Holthaus of Little Falls, Minnesota, a Royalton High School student, in the 101-pound final against Alyssa Lampe of Tomahawk High School, and list her as the 2002 champion and 2003 runner-up.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20201124213257/https://theguillotine.com/2004/07/2004-usa-wrestling-junior-and-cadet-national-championships/ · The Guillotine, 2004 Junior and Cadet Nationals results, archived copy. Rachael Holthaus won 101 pounds with four pool wins and a 5-4 overtime win over Alyssa Lampe of Wisconsin in the final.
- https://dt5602vnjxv0c.cloudfront.net/portals/81254/docs/fargo_almanac_2024.pdf · Fargo Almanac, Mat Talk Online. Rachel Holthaus of Minnesota reached three Junior Women's Freestyle finals and won two: first at 95 pounds in 2002, second at 101 in 2003, first at 101 in 2004, and sixth at 102 in 2005.
- https://www.themat.com/news/2026/july/20/fargo-women-s-freestyle-state-by-state-facts-stats-figures · USA Wrestling, July 20, 2026, from Fargo. Women's freestyle at Fargo has 16U and Junior divisions, the 16U division started in 2011, and the Junior Girls division set a record with 1,269 wrestlers.
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results?query=Dave+Schultz · USA Wrestling results database, event listing. The Dave Schultz Memorial International results are dated 02/05/2006 (event 1234) and 02/10/2007 (event 1233).
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results?query=Body+Bar · USA Wrestling results database, event listing. The Body Bar Women's Nationals results are dated 05/07/2006 (event 1255).
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results?query=Senior+Women · USA Wrestling results database, event listing. The Senior Women's Freestyle results are dated 04/06/2007 (event 1336).
- https://usawrestlingevents.com/results?query=World+Team+Trials&page=2 · USA Wrestling results database, event listing. The World Team Trials results are dated 06/10/2007 (event 1297).
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