Greatness across generations

When Jamestown Blue Jay 152-pound senior Grady Anderson stepped into the circle at the Fargodome for the Class A individual boys wrestling championship match Friday night, February 16, he was continuing a family tradition.

The grandson of Gary and Bernardine Anderson of Carrington represented the final scion of a familial run of success that may never be duplicated, at least around this area.

With his 5-4 victory over Sawyer Carr of West Fargo Sheyenne, Grady completed a dominant 39-1 season, and captured the 10th state championship for either a son, grandson or extended relative of Gary and Bernardine.

Daughter-in-law, Robin Anderson, who is married to their son, Glenn, remarked on the family's run of success while messaging her son, Bridger (a 2016 state champion for the Cardinals at 170 pounds.)

"It's a pretty impressive breakdown," she said. "[Along with the state championships], we've had eight state runners-up, eight state placings, been part of five individual team titles, two dual team titles, one college All-American, and a North Dakota Wrestling Hall of Fame inductee."

Bridger's 2015 and 2016 CHS squads accounted for two of the team individual winners and both of the dual crowns.

In total, that makes 18 total state championship matches, and the miles on the odometer that rack up quickly when observing those successes and near-misses from the bleachers.

"Not to mention all the other miles they put on traveling to tournaments and matches. They didn't miss many," said Robin.

Gary and Bernardine's son, Jason, won three consecutive state crowns from 1990 to 1992, at 140, 145 and 160 pounds, and was part of two Cardinal championship teams from 1991-92 under Head Coach Kelly Hagel.

He would later wrestle at UND, placing sixth in 1994 and earning All-American status for the Fighting Sioux. He was later selected to the Hall of Fame in 2013.

Younger brother, Matt, was a two-time state placer in 1996 and 1997 at 119 and 130 pounds. He would finish fifth and seventh in those years.

Glenn never wrestled, said Robin, but she came to Matt's matches to provide support when they were first dating.

"I remember thinking, 'Our boy will play basketball. I would soon find out what family I was marrying into," she wrote on a Facebook post.

For Grady, Jason's son, the 2024 championship was the culmination of a journey that ended in disappointment two straight seasons for the Blue Jays with second-place finishes.

The involvement in the wrestling scene wasn't solely the province of the boys, however.

Gary and Bernardine's daughter, Bonita, would end up marrying Troy Jangula from Napoleon.

Troy was the 1989 state champion at 130 pounds, and competed on the Imperial squads under legendary Coach Barry McCleary which won the first of two consecutive team crowns that season. He made two other title matches and also finished third as a sophomore.

Of course, with Napoleon's historical status as a small-school wrestling hotbed needing maintenance, Troy and Bonita's boys, Garrett and Braydin, carried the extended Anderson family flame as members of the Imperials.

Garrett was a four-time state champion from 2017 to 2020 (138 pounds, 152 and 170 twice), one-time runner-up, and six-year placer, while Braydin placed four times and made two championship matches.

Robin mentioned, only half jokingly, that the list may have been even longer if girls wrestling had been sanctioned as a NDHSAA championship sport a few years earlier.

"Cedar [her daughter] won the kids' Carrington tourney twice, and Mariah Bitz [Troy and Bonita's daughter] won the Wahpeton tourney twice too," she said.

While the current generation of Andersons/Jangulas has aged out of competition, you can bet their sons and daughters might be coming soon to a mat near you.

"What a fun run it's been," Robin said.