Jan. 30—JAMESTOWN — When Hannah Sjostrom joined the Jamestown High School girls wrestling team five years ago, she probably didn’t know the impact she would be making on her younger sister Hope or the entire Jamestown High School girls wrestling program.
“Two months after my sister joined wrestling, my dad asked me if I wanted to join,” said Hope. “I wanted to be just like my sister so I said that I wanted to compete.”
Hope, now a seventh grader at Jamestown Middle School, is in her first season competing for the JHS girls wrestling team.
“I knew when Hannah did it that Hope would follow,” Hope’s father Jon said.
Hope had a lot to live up to.
In terms of WDA duals, Hannah, a JHS Class of 2023 grad, went 4-1 and was the second-seeded wrestler in the state at 170 pounds as a senior.
At the second-ever State Girls Wrestling Tournament, Sjostrom cruised her way to the state semifinals and while she got handed a loss that round, the Blue Jay senior delivered a pin of Devils Lake’s Isabelle Berg at the 2:00 mark of the first period to earn the third-place trophy for the second-straight year. Hannah wrestled collegiately at the University of Jamestown her freshman and sophomore years.
While Hannah was busy with high school and college competitions, Hope was racking up the wins at the youth level. Hope began wrestling at the age of 8 for Jamestown’s TAZ Wrestling team and Valley City Express Wrestling.
“I thought that it was fun that I got to just go out on a mat and wrestle and do what I wanted,” Hope said.
In 2023, Hope competed at the 2023 USMC Girls Folkstyle Nationals. Last May she wrestled at the Northern Plains Regional Championships in Rochester, Minnesota.
“(At regionals) she was going to wrestle at the 100 pound weight class but there was no one else at that weight so they moved her up a weight bracket and an age bracket,” Hope’s father Jon said. “She was wrestling girls who were 15 pounds heavier and had a few years on her.”
Hope was competed in the 14U bracket and the 110 pound weight class. She placed second and third at the tournament.
“The first year she started wrestling, she was just happy to wrestle,” Jon said. “She was always smiling — even if she was last place. That started to change when she started to win.”
Hope’s youth record stands at 90-10 but success hasn’t come as easy to her at the high school level.
“It’s a lot more challenging than when I was wrestling at TAZ or Valley City,” Sjostrom said of the jump in competition level. “Now, I am wrestling girls who are a lot older than me and who have been wrestling than I have.”
“She’s lost more this year than she’s lost in the last four years,” Jon said bluntly. “But you need to get that tougher competition if you want to get better.”
Hope knows that.
Most recently, the seventh grader placed third at the 2026 Storhaug Invitational in Lisbon and posted a win by fall at the 2:24 mark against Williston on Jan. 8. Against Bismarck High on Jan. 29, she got a pin against Lauralie Fuchs at the 3:22 mark. Her record stands at 18-9 this season.
“Some would say that Hope is a naturally talented wrestler and she is but what many don’t know is all the hard work that she has put in to get to where she is,” JHS head coach James Meland said. “I have been watching and hearing about Hope for many years and just waiting to finally get her into my wrestling room. I knew she was going to be good, but the hard work and dedication to the sport that she brings is awesome. We are excited to have her on our team for many more years.”