Last weekend, sixteen Garretson youth were state-bound for wrestling in Aberdeen, having put in a solid showing at Districts and Regions. Of those, eight wrestlers medaled in their weight category.
They headed to Aberdeen and faced off with youth wrestlers from all over the state, which included 126 teams who sent at least one wrestler to the tournament and nearly 1,500 young athletes.
Miles Christensen took home the gold for Garretson, winning all of his matches in Bantam 65. He took on wrestlers from Parker, Pierre, Beresford, and Howard and won by pinning each of his opponents.
Mitchell Christensen was not far behind, taking 2nd in Bantam 57 after falling to Oliver Umlauf of Dakota Boyz Wrestling Club in his final match. He won his first three matches against opponents from Yankton Jr Bucks, American Outlaws, and Bonne Homme.
Mason Story placed 3rd in Novice Heavyweight. His first match was lost, falling to Joeseph Dutenhoffer of Aberdeen but prevailing in his comeback dual against Devin Balestra of Sioux Falls Roosevelt. He re-matched against Dutenhoffer for the 3rd place final, and this time took him down in a pin.
Chase Johnson took home 5th place in Bantam 70, winning his first two matches against opponents from Aberdeen and Parkston. Unfortunately, he had a harder time against his opponents from Miller and Sturgis, taking the loss in both matches. However, the final match saw Johnson prevail by pinning Roman Weiss of Brandon Valley.
Isabella Rodengen placed 6th in Girls A 50. She won her first, third, and fourth matches against opponents from Lyman County and Rapid City Westside Raiders, but was hit hard in her second, fifth, and sixth duals against opponents from Custer, Bon Homme, and McCook Central-Montrose.
Grady Costello (Bantam HWT), Macie Miller (Girls B 82), and Zach Hermanson (Schoolboy 70) each placed 8th.
Other competing state tournament wrestlers were Luella Larson, Caleb Miller, Beckett Dickey, Landon Bekaert, Josephine Schmid, Eleanor Zimmer, Logan Bekaert, and Olive Story.
A huge thank you goes out to the coaches and parents of the Garretson Youth Wrestling organization, including Head Coach Vern Miller and coaches Dean Olson, Tyler Sorenson, Sam Johnson, Dan Bly, Nathan Bekaert, and Aaron Christensen. It is because of everyone's dedication that the Garretson Youth Wrestling program is strong, and impacts so many youth athletes.
[/s2If]
UPDATE 3/29/23: Miles and Mitchell were accidentally mis-labeled in the printed edition. This has been corrected in the online edition and in this article.
