by Oran Sorenson, Assistant Coach
On Tuesday January 26th our wrestlers took the first of two long road trips well into Region III territory, once considered the hotbed of wrestling in the state of South Dakota. On Tuesday it would be to Parkston, on Saturday Wagner. This area of the state too is a bit down on numbers with declining enrollment and other reasons factoring in the equation. While Tyler Sorenson and Jason Bohl are doing all they can to rebuild the Garretson program, another former GHS grappler Dan Bonte is working to do the same in Parkston. In Wagner two brothers, both All Americans for SDSU in Division I, Alex and David Kocer, are working to strengthen that program. Again, low in numbers but working hard to raise the level of quality.
Our victories over host Parkston would come through Braxten Rozeboom earning a pin over Gabe Negebauer, Trevon Cross winning by forfeit, Adam Hulscher pinning Breckin Culbert, and both our two big boys Jaden Richter and Gabe Johnson earning forfeits. This would garner 30 points for the Blue and White. But the Orange and Blue would be the victors earning twelve more points. The match of the night in this round was at 126 pounds where Porter Negebauer would outscore Jayse Miller 6-4 in a contest featuring two state ranked wrestlers. Tayson Swatek too would fall short in a decision being outscored by Kolten Kramer 8-2. Brock Bonte and Martin Welch both lost by fall to more experienced wrestlers, and four opens cost another 24 points guaranteeing the victory for the Trojans.
In round two of the triangular that night the Blue Dragons would take on A division Sioux Falls Lincoln, who has done much to rebuild their program recently. In this round Garretson was outscored 24-51. Winning by fall for Garretson were Trevon Cross in 3:29 and Gabe Johnson in 2:21. Cole Schleuter and Jaden Richter would earn forfeits. Catapulting the Patriots to the big lead was the result of them earning five pins over us as well as three forfeits and one decision. The decision was a 9-4 victory earned by Dawson Wallen at 132 lbs. over Braxten Rozeboom.
The Wagner Invitational proved to be as tough as ever with the best teams coming from all over the state to showcase their talent. Redfield Area would bring home the sweepstakes trophy earning 192.5 points while Philip/Wall/Kadoka came in second with 162 followed by Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes with 116, and Mount Vernon/Plankinton/Corsica-Stickney with 100.5. Our lone place winner for the day was sophomore Jaden Richter at the 220 class. After earning a fall over a senior from Faulkton in round one, Richter gave number one seed Cole Pranger of Mount Vernon/Plankinton all he could handle in the semifinals. Richter had Pranger on his back twice, but would be outscored 12-10. In the wrestle backs Jaden would pin Jacob Novak of Kimball/White Lake in 4:10. In the consolation finals we would be defeated by yearlong nemesis Clayton Smith of Marion Freeman, who was seeded second in the event.
Two other Blue Dragons should be mentioned for their efforts in this brutal competition. Senior Trevon Cross battled well on round one before coming up short 3-1 to Carter Lenz of Kimball/White Lake. In the wrestle backs Trevon would lose to second seeded Bradyn Lhotak of host Wagner. At HWT junior Gabe Johnson was seeded fourth, but came up short of that expectation after losing two decisions by a total of four points. In the match that could have set us up well, Johnson would lose by decision 3-0 to Brennan Leines of host Wagner. In the blood round, Gabe would lose 1-0 to Gavin Nichols of Redfield.
Next action for the Blue Dragon matmen will be Tuesday February 2nd in Elk Point and Friday evening February 5th in our local gym hosting the Big East Conference Tournament starting at 4:00. Come to our local gym Friday night to support our wrestlers and see some awfully fine talent on the mat.
