Juli Thompson won every bout save one during the 2025-26 wrestling season and won the 112-pound weight class in the historic first Far East tournament for girls. (Photo by Dave Ornauer/Stars and Stripes)
KADENA AIR BASE, Okinawa — Sore shoulders had become a rite of passage for Juli Thompson, who continually shrugged off pain to keep piling up victories at 112 pounds in the first girls wrestling season that would end with a Far East tournament.
But on Jan. 7, the Kadena senior came upon an obstacle she could not surmount — one of her shoulders popped out early in a bout with Kubasaki’s Darsha Noane and she could not continue. It was Thompson’s lone loss of the season.
“I was definitely super crushed by it,” Thompson said. “I didn’t think that would happen to me, ever.”
Still, Thompson persisted, though she and her coach, Joey Wood, said she had to change things up a bit.
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