Brett Pfarr
Brett Pfarr Wrestling
MAIN ACHIEVEMENTS
High School:
- 1st Place MSHSL State Championship (2012)
- 2nd Place MSHSL State Championship (2010, 2011)
College:
All American D1 NCAA (2016, 2017)
- 1st Place NWCA All-Star Classic (2016)
- 1st Place Alaska State Championship (2018)
- 2nd Place NCAA D1 Championships (2017)
- 2nd Place Big Ten Championships (2017)
- 3rd Place NCAA D1 Championships (2016)
- 3rd Place Big Ten Championships (2016)
Freestyle:
- 1st Place Alaska State Championship (2018)
- 3rd Place U23 World Team Trials (2017)
Weight:
- 89 kg/197 lbs
- 86 kg/189.5 lbs
Teams:
- Le Sueur-Henderson (High School)
- University of Minnesota - Golden Gophers (College)
Brett Pfarr Biography
Brett Pfarr was born and raised in Le Sueur, Minnesota, USA, 60 miles southwest of the Twin Cities, growing up on a farm.
The fascination for wrestling came early in Brett's development, an interest influenced by his father - a former high school wrestler - and his older brother, Matt, who also wrestled. Officially, Pfarr's tuition started at the age of 5 after his father transformed their home's machine shed into a wrestling room.
Although very successful at the high school level with offers on the table early on, Brett focussed solely on the mats, only taking any proposals into consideration during his senior year, a time when he narrowed the offers down to two teams: Minnesota University and North Dakota State, both of which were looked at as solid options for the powerful grappler.
Pfarr ultimately decided to carry on the family tradition and attend Minnesota, picking a degree in agriculture and food business management in the university that had served his father, sister, and older brother before him. Taking into account the rich history between the Pfarr's and Minnesota, Brett's younger brother, Chris, would also join the Gophers wrestling team later on.
After signing with the Golden Gophers (2013), Brett addressed his pick to the media by saying: "I liked both schools and they both had great coaches (...) I ultimately decided on Minnesota because of the tradition. One of my goals is to be a Big Ten champion and a national champion. I really believe that this is the place I can do it."
Taking his time to adjust to the tempo of the collegiate circuit, Pfarr redshirted his first year and picked up four open tournament titles en route to a 28-5 record. This incremental approach paid dividends throughout Brett's career as he went from a part-time starter to a national title contender.
Brett's slow-paced progression was not by chance, but by design. In December 2016, Pfarr told USA Wrestling's (Team USA) website: "Throughout my whole life of wrestling, I've made little jumps here and there and started to place at State and All-American at Fargo. Even in college, it's been the same thing, seeing progression every year. I put the time in and it's finally paying off," he said.
Brett started to shine during his sophomore season, a time when the (then) 184-pounder collected 10 dual wins in his 24-12 season and earned the No. 4 seed at the Big Ten Championships. Although improving on the previous year, Pfarr failed to advance past the first round of the NCAA tournament. This rough end to the season made the young athlete reassess his weight class, moving up to 197 pounds, where he captured All-America honors.
After closing the door on his collegiate career, Brett Pfarr went on to compete in the freestyle circuit. Among the Minnesotan's many wins, one of his biggest at the Senior-level was against 2017 World silver medalist Boris Makoev of Slovakia in the 2019 Bill Farrell International quarterfinals (by 7x4). Pfarr went on to finish fourth in this tournament.
Brett Pfarr Introduction To Wrist Control