Our Garretson High School gym floor was covered with blue wrestling mats Friday evening as our school was able to host the six other Big East conference wrestling teams with competition to determine all-conference honors in this winter sport. Ten Blue Dragons would step onto the mat with seven of them earning a conference medal. The Parker Pheasants, whose roster seemed the least affected by injury or COVID-19, would earn the first-place trophy garnering 207.5 points to runner up McCook Central/Montrose with 154.5. The five other teams included Flandreau who finished 3rd, Sioux Valley 4th, your Blue Dragons in 5th, follow by Chester and Alcester-Hudson.
Our top finisher was Big East Conference champ in the 138-pound class, senior Trevon Cross. Trevon, the number one seed, received a bye in round one then showed he was worthy of the gold by earning first period falls in both the semifinals and the finals. Trevon’s championship match was a 1:28 second pin over Karter Headrick of Flandreau. Our second highest finish was junior Braxten Rozeboom who earned the silver at 132. Braxten’s most exciting match was in the semis where he outwrestled the number two seed from Parker 21-8. Rozeboom would fall in the finals to the conference champ and number one seed from Sioux Valley 14-4. Earning the 3rd place medal was junior Tayson Swatek at 145. Tayson would go 2-1 for the evening. After a first-round bye, Swatek would fall in the semi finals 4-0 to the champion from Parker. After a round one wrestle back forfeit, Swatek would come from behind in the consolation finals to earn as sweet 4-3 victory over his opponent from Chester.
Earning fourth place medals for our home team were 8th grader Brock Bonte at 126, junior Adam Hulscher at 160, 8th grader Martin Welch at 195, and sophomore Jaden Richter who stepped up to HWT for this event. “It was fun to see the smile on Adam Hulscher’s face when he picked up a nice win over his opponent from Flandreau in the wrestle back round by a score of 10-5. You work hard all week in practice, then it’s fun to see these kids use some of the moves their coaches show them, that’s when it all seems worthwhile!” Others participating and doing their best were Drew Chester at 106 and Carsten Rozeboom and Logan Judd both in the program in the 152-pound class.
The previous Tuesday night our team took the long road trip to Elk Point-Jefferson. This meet was originally scheduled for Beresford/Alcester-Hudson, but had to be moved because of a COVID-19 outbreak, not on their wrestling team, but in their school. The hosts would outscore the Blue Dragons 55-9. Winning for Garretson were Drew Chester at 106 and Jaden Richter at 220. The highlight of the night for our team was winning 7 out of 8 junior varsity matches. Gaining valuable mat time and the experience that comes with it is something much needed for our young Blue Dragons.
Photo by Kristen Westover
