Seven Storm wrestlers are headed to the state tournament

The Burke/Gregory Storm wrestlers competed in the South Dakota High School Activities Association Region 3B tournament on Saturday, February 20, 2021, in Wagner, and came away with a third place finish in a field of 13 teams.

Winner Area won the tournament with 252.5 points, followed by Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes in second place with 205.5 points. Rounding out the top five, Burke/ Gregory had 122 points for third place, Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon finished in fourth with 116.5 points, and Wessington Springs/Woonsocket/Wolsey-Wessington earned 110.5 points for fifth place.

We were able to advance seven wrestlers, including one champion, through the region competition and on to state. They needed to finish in fourth place or better to qualify.

Competing in the 106-pound class was Fin Adams, who found the competition pretty steep in that weight class. It is a pretty strong weight class across the state, coming out of our region. Fin was not able to win either of the two matches he wrestled before being eliminated.

The same can be said at the 113 and 120 pound classes, in that all three of our wrestlers, Adams, Jackson Bauld, and Breven Bolander were two and out in the matches that they wrestled.

In the 126 pound class Owen Hansen extended his season record to 35-3 with a Region 3B championship. He did that by three pin falls over Austin Hauge, a technical fall in the semis over Porter Neugebauer, and, in the championship finals a pin fall over Brady Bierema of Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon.

In the 132 pound class Kort Schonebaum wrestled just two matches. In the quarterfinals he was pinned by Chase Varilek of Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes, and in the first round of wrestle backs he was defeated by fall in 2:59.

Tyler Spencer won one of his three matches in the 138 pound class, but that was not quite enough to get him into the placing rounds. In the quarterfinals he was pinned by Carter Lenz of Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes in 3:38. In one of the consolation rounds he won a major decision over Josh VanHeuvelen of Sunshine Bible by a score of 10-2, but then was eliminated from the tournament at the hands of Gunner Brueggeman of Miller/Highmore-Harrold who won a 13-3 major decision over Tyler, eliminating him from the tournament.

We had a finalist in the 145 pound class with Jordan Vosika finishing in second place. In the preliminaries he had a bye. In the quarterfinals he won by fall over Joey Baas of Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes in 1:38. In the semis he won a 13-11 decision over Riley Roberts of Wagner, and then in the championship finals match Kaden Keiser of Winner Area won by injury default.

At 152 pounds we had a state qualifier in Rylan Peck, who finished in fourth place. He won his quarterfinal match over Hunter Brueggeman of Miller/Highmore-Harrold by fall in 3:44. In the semifinals he was pinned by Isaac Crownover of Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon in 2:43. The match that earned him his berth in the state tournament was a 11-10 decision over Kolter Kramer of Parkson. Then in the consolation finals match Keegan Haider won by injury default.

We had another fourth place finisher at 160 pounds With Gunnar Stephens. He won his quarterfinal match with a major decision over Carter Grohs of Wessington Springs/Woonsocket/Wolsey-Wessington by a score of 11-3. In the semi finals he was defeated by major decision at the hands of Jack Kruger of Winner Area by a score of 10-0. The match that put him into the state tournament was a 16-1 technical fall over Logan Peterson of Miller/Highmore-Harrold. Then in the consolation finals match he was pinned by Noah Mahoney of Parkston in 1:12.

We had one more finalist in the championship round of the tournament, and that was Tucker Even in the 170 pound weight class. He won his quarterfinal match by fall over Logan Winckler of Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon in 1:14. In the semifinals he won by decision over Holden Havlik of Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes by a score of 10-3. Then in the first place match he was defeated by Sam Kruger by Technical Fall. The score was 17-1 in a time of 4:27.

At 182 pounds Jay Wright represented the Burke/Gregory Storm and was 0-2 in the two matches he wrestled and was eliminated from further action.

We had another fourth place finisher with Taron Serr at 195 pounds. He opened with a pin fall over Lane Johnson of Parkston in 43 seconds. He was defeated by Levi Nightingale of Kimball/ White Lake/Platte-Geddes by a 9-5 decision in the semis. The match that put him into the state tournament was a decision over Brock Tuttle of Hanson by a score of 4-1. Then in the consolation finals match he was defeated by Charley Pravecek of Winner Area by a score of 3-1 to end up in fourth place.

Our final state tournament qualifier came in the 220 pound class, where Rhoss Oliver finished in third place, winning three of his four matches. He won by pin fall over Jacob Novak of Kimball/ White Lake/Platte-Geddes in 1:27 in the quarterfinals. In the semifinals Cole Pranger of Mt. Vernon/ Plankinton/Corsica-Stickney was the only wrestler to defeat Rhoss for the day, by fall in 3:03. Coming back through the semis, Rhoss won by fall over DJ Rueb of Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon in 3:36. Then in the consolation finals match he met Jacob Novak for the second time in the tournament and won again, this time by an 8-0 major decision.

We are spending this week preparing for state tournament competition that will begin on Thursday, February 25, with a start time of 10:00 a.m. It will be aired on South Dakota Public TV if not on the High School Activities Association website so that fans who are not able to make the trip to Rapid City will still be able to view much of the competition. We look forward to seeing how well we fare against a pretty strong field of wrestlers in every weight class.