by Vern Miller
The regular youth wrestling season concluded March 25-27 with the completion of the Youth Wrestling State Tournament in Sioux Falls at the Denny Sanford Premier Center. Garretson Youth Wrestling Club had 12 wrestlers seeking their chance to take home a medal. Last year, Garretson had 7 youth wrestlers competing at State.
Friday, Cadets and Juniors wrestled Freestyle to completion. Traditional high school wrestling is Folkstyle. On Saturday, all other age groups wrestled to placement round. Brackets with 5 or less wrestlers were wrestled completely on Saturday. Sunday, the remainder of the brackets were wrestled for placement 1st – 8th.
Action kicked off on Friday (March 25) with Cole Schleuter wrestling his first year in Freestyle at 16U 152.
Saturday, wrestling started at 8:15 AM with Isaac Stoterau and Caleb Miller first up on their mats. Wrestling continued throughout the day until Drew Chester completed his final match at 4 PM. Wrestling was intense throughout the day with some major wins and other hard-fought matches. Garretson’s first medal winner was Aubrey Sikkink taking 4th place in Girls C 82. Each conversation with a coach was just about the same “I can’t believe how far these kids have come”.
Sunday started with Caleb Miller taking 8th place in Novice 64. In a hard-fought battle, Gavin Coburn took 2nd place in Novice 138. The final match of the day was Drew Chester taking 5th place in Schoolboy 100.
2022 State Wrestling Results
- Gavin Coburn 2nd in Novice 138
- Aubrey Sikkink 4th in Girls C 82
- Drew Chester 5th in SchoolBoy 100
- Caleb Miller 8th in Novice 64
- Owen Benson DNP in Tots 40
- Wyatt Howe DNP in Tots 57
- Mitchell Christensen DNP in Bantam 53
- Miles Christensen DNP in Bantam 61
- Benton Howe DNP in Novice 77
- Kaden Hoogland DNP in Novice 150
- Isaac Stoterau DNP in Schoolboy 130
- Cole Schleuter DNP in 16U 152 (Freestyle)
