Despite growing up in a wrestling family – her father, Justin Broxterman, was a high school wrestler and her brother Easton is ranked No. 2 in Class 6A at 113 pounds after an accomplished kids career – Addison Broxterman never felt the overwhelming desire to hit the mat herself and take up the sport.
 
“They had tried to get me to wrestle before, but girls wrestling wasn’t sanctioned yet and I was like, ‘No, I’m not doing it,’” Broxterman said. “Even the assistant coach, Dan (Reling) tried to get me to do it too, because I knew him before high school, and I told him, ‘I’m not doing it.’”
 
Four years later, Broxterman not only wrestles, but has made history on the mat, becoming the all-time winningest – and pinningest – girls wrestler in Kansas history. The Washburn Rural senior hit both milestones at last Saturday’s Washburn Rural Invitational, on her way to claiming the tournament title at 125 pounds.
 
Broxterman pinned her first four opponents of the tournament, giving her 119 career pins to break the previous state record of 116 pins set by Great Bend’s Breanna Ridgeway. Her 5-0 showing also moved her career record to 127-24, also surpassing Ridgeway’s career win record of 124 wins.
 
“Honestly I think it means a lot more to everyone else,” Broxterman said of the records. “I see it as something I accomplished but I didn’t see it as that big of a deal until everyone else made it a big deal. I see myself as a humble person. It’s really cool, but I know I have stuff I want to accomplish ahead of that.”
 
While Broxterman is quick to downplay her historic feat, Washburn Rural coach Damon Parker knows it’s something truly remarkable.
 
“She is the one – just like Neo in the Matrix,” Parker said. “During my first few years as boys coach at Washburn Rural, when the turnaround was just beginning, we were bringing home a lot of third and fourth-place medals. We were doing fairly well as a team, but we were having a hard time getting over the hump and having kids bring home brackets instead of bronzes. In 2015, I expressed my frustration to my greatest mentor, Lee Woodford (the former Manhattan coach). He told me, ‘You have to find The One. Once you find The One, the rest will take care of itself.
 
“The One is the id that always does everything right. They win brackets more often than not. They make their practice group better, and that will bleed over into the other practice groups. Then everything will fall into place. The One will turn your good team into a great program and it will carry one and continue to breed success for years to come. Addi Broxterman is The One. Washburn women’s wrestling wouldn’t be what it is without her and I can’t fathom a greater legacy.”
 

 
Broxterman credited Parker with being the deciding factor in her relenting off her original intent to not wrestle. During a girls’ physical education class early in the second quarter of her freshman year, the teacher approached the class and asked if any of them wanted to go join a class of upperclassmen who were playing football.
 
Broxterman quickly volunteered.
 
“My little 14-year-old self was looking up at all these big dudes,” she said. “But we played football. Then Coach Parker came over and pulled me out into the hallway. He asked, ‘Do you know why I pulled you out here?’ And I said, ‘Because I’m good at football?’ He said, ‘No, you should join the wrestling team.’ I was still like, ‘Ehhh,’ but I went home and told my parents I was thinking about it.
 
“(Damon)’s very persuasive.”
 
He had reason to be.
 
“Most of the ninth-grade boys and girls went over to play volleyball, except for Addi,” Parker recalled. “She sought out the tough competition. While she was just absolutely torching the junior and senior boys in football, I remember thinking, ‘That’s a kid we can build a program around.’ I knew of her little brother, but at that time I didn’t even know her last name was Broxterman. I just knew that she was the kind of kid that we needed in our program.”
 
With some coaxing from Damon and a team captain from the 2019-20 team, Broxterman decided to give the sport a try. The rest is history.
 
Though it didn’t really start out that way.
 
“I literally started my first season with a loss,” Broxterman said. “I really struggled at the start of my freshman year, but I kept getting better and better. Even then, I didn’t see much of anything coming out of this except friendships.”
 
Broxterman improved enough as a freshman to post a 31-11 record and qualify for state at 116 pounds. She didn’t place in the inaugural Girls State Wrestling Tournament, going 2-2, but the success was enough to have her fully invested.
 
She began pouring herself into the sport during the offseason and said the summer after her sophomore year things really began to click for her. Her first two seasons, Broxterman said she was a “Snake or Die” wrestler, referring her favorite takedown to pinning combination that produced most of her victories via pins as a freshman and as a sophomore in a 24-7 season where she wound up as state runner-up at 120 pounds to Olathe South’s Nicole Redmond.
 
“I either snaked you or I lost” Broxterman said. “I was successful, but as girls kept getting better and better I knew I needed to up my game. After sophomore year, I went to Summer Scuffle and was doing chicken wings, tilts and stacks. Then I had more tools in my toolbox and I realized I could be even better.”
 
It showed her junior year as Broxterman went 42-3 and took second at the Class 6-5A state tournament at 120 pounds for the second straight year, falling to Blue Valley Southwest’s Hannah Glynn in the finals. This season, she is already 30-3 and is ranked No. 2 at 125 pounds behind Dodge City’s Ariana De La Rosa.
 
The two have met once this season with De La Rosa pinning Broxterman in the third-place match at the Basehor-Linwood LadyCat Classic in late December. Broxterman also lost to Chanute’s Reese Clements at that tournament and her other loss came to an out-of-state wrestler at the Council Bluffs (Iowa) Classic in December as well.
 
“I think I’ve progressed in many ways,” Broxterman said. “Muscle, I thought I was so jacked as a freshman, but when I look back now I wasn’t. And then my moves, I’ve gotten better and faster and my confidence has definitely gotten better. Mentally and physically it’s been a very big step.”
 
Parker also notices a different Broxterman on the mats.
 
“Addi improves every single day as a wrestler, a student and an athlete,” he said. “The biggest improvement I’ve seen in her this year is her level of confidence. She’s wrestling with a swagger that we just haven’t seen before. I wouldn’t want to face her.”
 
The only thing really missing from Broxterman’s glossy resume is a state title. And while that’s the ultimate goal this season, Broxterman said she doesn’t need one to validate the success she’s had during her high school career.
 
“Getting second the past two years has definitely been good and bad,” she said. “I got to the finals and that’s great, but I haven’t finished it off and I definitely want to close this year. Winning a state championship is definitely a goal, but anything can happen and if I slip up and get beat the first round of state, I’ll find a way to battle back. It won’t determine my whole life and if I don’t get first this year, I’ll be a beast in college.
 
“I definitely don’t think I’m at my peak and I’ll keep improving and set new goals and go after them. … In five or so years, people have said I’ll look back and (this record) will mean more. But records are meant to be broken and if another girl gets her name up there, I’ll think that’s pretty cool, too.”
 
Broxterman’s teammate Molly Spader also brought home a title at Rural’s home tournament, winning at 100 pounds with a pin in the finals – her fourth pin of the day. The Junior Blues ran away with the team title, scoring 443 points to beat runner-up Columbus by nearly 200 points. Emme Blanco took second at 140, while Kristen Rezac (105) and Laiken Clark (130) each took third.
 
WRESTLING
 

• Santa Fe Trail’s Hailee Crossland scored her biggest win of the season, taking a 7-2 win over All-Class No. 1 Destiny Gonzalez of Goodland to win the 145-pound title at the Baldwin Invitational. Crossland, who was ranked No. 3 going into the tournament, won her first two matches by technical fall and pin before upsetting Gonzalez in the finals to improve to 28-0 on the season. Teammate Sierra Dempsey also claimed a title at Baldwin, pinning all three opponents, including a second-period fall of Baldwin’s Madi Hargett, who was ranked No. 3 and had beaten Dempsey the previous week. Trail finished runner-up as a team to Baldwin.
• The Charger boys took fourth at Baldwin, but got titles from Tanner Sleichter at 106 and Cody Black at 113. Osawatomie’s Jovani Caudill won at 157 at Baldwin.
• Rossville’s girls had a pair of champions at Baldwin as Keera Lacock pinned Santa Fe Trail’s Madison Atkins for the 115-pound title and Hailey Horton pinned Trail’s Kilee Waters for the 155-pound crown.
• Turner’s Ariana Ortiz and Holton’s Sadey Gross also were champions at Baldwin with Ortiz improving to 25-2 with her title at 100 and Gross winning at 120.
• Wamego freshman Knox Karnowski won the 126-pound boys title at Baldwin, pinning Holton’s Asher Larson in the finals for his fourth pin in as many matches. Holton got a title from Jayden Fletcher at 165, improving to 30-2.
• Manhattan’s Sage Rosario won a battle of returning state champions to take the 155-pound championship at the Washburn Rural Invitational. Facing 4-1A defending champion Allison King of Oskaloosa in the finals, Rosario, last year’s 6A champion, made quick work of King and scored a first-period pin to improve to 24-0 and hand King her first loss of the season. King’s Oskaloosa teammate Holly Thacher won the 105 title, taking an 8-1 decision over Tonganoxie’s Autumn Wilson in the finals.
• Leavenworth picked up a pair of champions at Washburn Rural as Hannah Jackson won a No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown for the 235-pound title, taking a 3-0 decision over Olathe North’s Hailey Conley in the finals. Jackson improved to 27-0 with the win, backing up her top ranking. Teammate Avari Johnson improved to 27-1 with her title at 145 pounds, pinning Spring Hill’s Campbell Mermis in the finals.
• Chapman’s Alyssa Calovich (110), Burlington’s Olivia Lyons (115) and Rock Creek’s Brooklyn Burenheide (130) all were champions at Rural. Burenheide improved to 17-1 at 130, pinning No. 4 Gabby Rusk of Fort Scott in the finals. Minneapolis’ Grace Johns suffered her first loss of the season at 170 pounds, getting pinned by Bonner Springs’ Olivia Stean – the overall No. 1 in the state – in the finals.
• Emporia’s Xerarch Tungjaroenkul claimed the 150 title at the Southeast Kansas Invitational at Chanute, winning a 3-2 decision over Mill Valley’s Colin McAlister in the finals in a battle of No. 1s (Tungjaroenkul in 5A; McAlister in 6A).
• Beloit freshman Brogan Monty continued his undefeated season with a title at 106 pounds at the Hoisington Invitational. Monty is 29-0 and ranked No. 1 in Class 3-2-1A. The Trojans also got titles from Coe Neilson (113) and Raiden Gilley (144).
• Shawnee Heights’ girls claimed the team title at the Junction City Invitational, scoring 243 points to edge the host Blue Jays by 16.5 points. Isabel Reyes won at 130 with three pins, while McKenna Haltom took first at 145 with a 3-2 overtime decision over Shawnee Mission South’s Sevyn Donovan in the finals.
• Heights’ boys took fourth at Junction City, getting titles from Nick Freeland at 150, Sean Wunder at 215 and Rykan Carver at 285.
• Junction City’s Ezekiel Witt (113) and Patrick Foxworth (138) were champions at the Blue Jays’ home tournament. For the girls, Jaidyn Alvarado (100) was a champion.
• Emporia’s Virginia Munoz won the 135 title at Junction City.
• Basehor-Linwood’s Evan Vielhauer captured the 120-pound title at the Southeast Kansas Invitational at Chanute, taking a 7-3 decision over Mill Valley’s Robert Hickman in the finals to improve to 24-6.
• Burlingame’s Logan Courtois continued his strong freshman season with the 113 title at the Fredonia Invitational. Courtois improved to 28-2 and pinned Erie’s Aiden Wilson in 33 seconds in the finals. Wellsville’s Carter Willmarth (190) and Kyle Bradburry (215) also were Fredonia champs while Chase County’s Kinzie Rogers took second to Erie’s Brenna Ross for the second straight week at 110.
• Southeast of Saline freshman Killian Vaughan added another title to his resume with a win at 138 pounds at the Hoisington Invitational. Vaughan improved to 26-3 and was joined as champion by teammates Mac Chambers (175), who improved to 24-0, and Brody Chambers (285).
• Maur Hill had a trio of champions at the George Worley Invitational at Atchison as Jaxson Vice won at 120, James Peltzer at 144 and Luke Peltzer at 150. Other area champions in Atchison were Osage City’s Landon Petitjean (106), Bishop Ward’s Nicholas Williams (113) and Brandon Chambers (157), Doniphan West’s Camron Yuill (126), Pleasant Ridge’s Andy Lanter (132) and John McEvoy (165), West Franklin’s Andre Snow (175), Royal Valley’s Cyrus Harding (190) and Oskaloosa’s Colsen Perry (215).