CBS 58's Hometown Athlete: LaSavage makes Team USA with wrestling dominance

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. (CBS 58) -- There was a time when 12-year-old Julianna LaSavage believed.

"When I started placing at national tournaments," Julianna LaSavage says. "And getting like second, third, fourth. But I would always kind of fall short."

Now? She knows. As a USA national wrestling champion.

"I was very, very excited," LaSavage says. "And it was so fun for me to really feel like I won. And instead of like getting second or third, because like every other national championship before this? I had gotten second or third. And this is the world team trials. And I just got first."

"She's a world team qualifier, which is very cool," Dan LaSavage, Julianna's dad, coach and owner of Ringers Wrestling. "And seeing her reach that goal because she set that earlier this year. It was one of the main goals, the top goal for the whole season. For her to hit that is pretty awesome."

She'll represent Team USA in Guatemala at the Pan American Championships next week.

"Wrestling is a lot about mental toughness," LaSavage says.

Her future so bright? The Menomonee Falls pre-teen will go to online school to travel the world.

"Girls wrestling's exploding," Dan LaSavage says. "The sky is the limit. This is just the beginning, that's what I kind of tell her."

"I wanna go D-1 at a girls' wrestling college," Julianna LaSavage says. "And I wanna win the Olympics. Go to Worlds and do all that stuff."

And with a last name like LaSavage? The nicknames are natural.

"A lot of coaches have used my last name as like my nickname. But my nickname is mainly Ju Ju," LaSavage says. "For like everyone else because Julianna and Ju Ju."

CBS 58 features a Hometown Athlete every Wednesday night. If you have someone to nominate, contact Sports Director Lance Allan at [email protected].