by Oran Sorenson
The 65th South Dakota State Wrestling tournament was held in the T Denny Sanford Premier Center this last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday in a much different venue than the first state tournament held in 1958 in Redfield.
In 1958 there were 11 weight classes starting at 95, with the second to the last class being 165, and then HWT. We must feed our kids better today because while we do have 14 classes, there are 4 weight classes between 165 and 285. A couple of names many wrestling fans will recognize were Gary Wallman, runner-up at 95, and Terry Linander runner-up at 103. Yes, Gary Wallman is the father of Kirk, Troy, and Cory Wallman who are pasted all over today’s SD wrestling record book. Terry Linander would go on to coach wrestling at USD and later become Dan Bly’s coach at SDSU.
The first ever wrestling match held in South Dakota was a few years earlier at the South Dakota School for the Blind in Gary South Dakota.
Another first in SD wrestling history was this year when girls’ teams too could wrestle for a team title. Last year was the first year for girls individual wrestling matches in Rapid City. This year Garretson made history when junior foreign exchange student, Hannah Horvath from Budapest Hungary qualified and competed in the 126 lb. weight class. There were 10 classes for girls this year with A and B schools competing against each other. As the sport will no doubt grow, more weight classes will be added just like the boys, and surely the day will come when A and B schools will be separated. It was not until 1971, Garretson’s second year of boys wrestling, that the small and larger schools would compete in their respective classes.
While Redfield would win that very first state tourney 65 years ago, this year Brandon Valley would win the A for the second year in a row and Canton from our Region II would win the B for the fifth year in a row. The first ever girls’ team title this year would go to the Pierre Lady Governors.
In first round action on Thursday Hannah would be the first on the mat for the Blue Dragons. She would draw and have to compete against the number one seed from Yankton. Hannah would fall behind early, but recover to have her opponent on her back for almost one minute, but not quite able to secure the pin. Hannah would eventually lose the match by fall. In round two she would face another A opponent from Harrisburg. Horvath’s history making tour would end when she was pinned early in her second match.
“We are very proud of Hannah and applaud her efforts. She and Hannah Frewaldt were a fine addition to our wrestling program and we only hope other girls will follow their leadership and join us in the years to come,” said first year coach Brady Schleuter.
While Horvath earned an automatic bid to state by way of points earned and scored on Track Wrestling throughout the year, our boys would have to qualify by placing in the top four in regions one week prior in Freeman. While two teams, Canton and McCook Central would place first and seventh in the state this year showing how tough our region is, we did find better going in the state qualifying event than a year ago. We actually had five boys with very good shots at state, but decisions made just two days prior prevented two of our boys from entering region competition.
Those qualifying for state were senior Jayse Miller 3rd in Region II at 126, junior Preston Bohl also 3rd at 132, and senior Braxton Rozeboom 3rd in the 138 class.
“The goal of each of our boys was to be on the award stand Friday night and bring a medal home to our fans and supporters in Garretson,” said long time coach Jason Bohl. “That is what we work for all season long.” Things looked good for Miller and Bohl in early going.
“Braxton definitely had a very tough draw,” the coaches all agreed. He would face number one seed 43-2 Cael Larson of Webster in round one. With Braxton being his first victim, Larson would win the title at 138 without a single point being scored against him in the tournament. Rozeboom would be eliminated falling by decision in wrestlebacks to his opponent from Custer. Miller too would lose first round match by fall to the runner-up in his weight class from Winner.
But Jayce struck paydirt in wrestleback action by decision over an opponent from Clark. Needing one more victory to earn a medal, Miller looked awesome in every way against his next matchup from Bon Homme in the first two periods.
Period three was not so kind with Jayse losing points in the 3rd going down by a 7-3 decision. Preston followed the exact same path in the 132 division. After falling in round one to an opponent from Ipswich by decision, Bohl too would rebound in round two with a 6-2 well fought decision over an opponent from Winner. Things looked good too for Preston early in his quest for a medal against a Region II opponent from Marion-Freeman. But things were not meant to be as Riley Tschetter would win the match by a 5-2 decision and finish 7th in the weight class.
Looking back over a season that seemed much too short, Brady Schleuter should be happy with his first year as head coach. We had more boys in the room than the immediate previous years. We also had girls enter the sport for the first time ever in Garretson. While there were many boys new to the sport and we saw some of the inexperience that goes with that, the attitude was always positive and we look forward to the growth that goes with better numbers and good work ethic.
“Brady already has plans for the team to attend the SDSU summer clinic and also wants our returning wrestlers to attend summer workouts to get better for next year. We will certainly miss our seniors Jayse Miller, Braxton Rozeboom, Tayson Swatek, Adam Hulscher, and Gabe Johnson and wish them best of luck in the future,” said volunteer coach Oran Sorenson.
