Mitchell's Bryer Stach leads list of area champions at South Dakota middle school wrestling tournament
Feb. 13—PIERRE — A handful of area champions were awarded at the South Dakota Middle School Wrestling Championships on Saturday, Feb. 11, in Pierre.
The event is open to wrestlers in grades 6-8 that wrestle in a program affiliated with their high school and who will not wrestle in the high school postseason.
Mitchell's Bryer Stach was the champion at 220 pounds, with a pin of Lyman's Desmerius McGhee in the third period. Stach, the Kernel eighth-grader, won the weight class with two pins and a 5-3 decision in the semifinal round over Pierre's Devin Binger. Wagner's Lacen Sully finished in sixth place and Howard's Brycen Podhradsky took seventh place in the division.
Mitchell's Cannon Zoss was the sixth-place finisher at 132 pounds, while teammate Evan Hirsch was eighth in the same class.
In the 70-pound boys division, Will Hosman, of Mount Vernon/Plankinton/Corsica-Stickney won the title, defeating Jaxon Avery, of Sturgis, by fall in 63 seconds in the title round. Hosman won the title with four pins, all in the first period. MVPCS' Daniel Dorsey finished fifth in the 100-pound boys weight class.
For Winner, Apollo Willuweit was the champion at 80 pounds, defeating Sturgis' Sullivan Sigman by technical fall with a 16-0 score. Wagner's Frank Krcil was third in the weight class and Howard's Gabe Miller and Kingsten Feldhaus finished seventh and eighth, respectively.
The area was well represented with girls state champions, as well. Hanson's Elliott Abbey won the girls' round-robin bracket at 82 pounds, winning in 22 seconds by fall over Pierre's Fallyn Whitaker and by 7-1 decision over Sturgis' Aaliyah Droppers. Jaidynn Giedd, of Howard, won the 130-pound division, defeating Herreid/Selby's Dora Bonen twice by fall.
In the boys brackets, Winner's Legend Benedict finished in second place at 152 pounds, finishing behind Britton-Hecla's Ben Suther. Evan Littau finished fifth in the weight class, as well. Mason Curtis was third at 145 pounds for Winner, and the Warriors' Roukyn Robbins finished fifth at 95 pounds and Jed Blare was fifth at 126 pounds. Gus Tobin took eighth place at 90 pounds.
For McCook Central/Montrose, Layla Vanblaricom took second place in the girls' 138-pound division, with Viborg-Hurley's Kayla Schoolmeester winning the title by 8-1 decision. Luke Horstman finished in seventh place at 182 pounds for MCM, while Tucker Peterson finished seventh at 170 pounds and Mason Casilli was eighth at 75 pounds.
Kruse Brennan, of Chamberlain, was the second-place finisher at 132 pounds. Chamberlain's Brody Neilan took third at 85 pounds and Chisum Blum was third at 138 pounds. (Blum was one of four wrestlers in the tournament to pick up five pins, doing so in 8 minutes and 6 seconds.) The Cubs' Zoey Donovan finished sixth in the girls' 106-pound bracket and teammate Chevy Fees was seventh in the boys' 126-pound division.
At 120 pounds, Quayden Culbert, of Parkston, finished in second place, dropping a 9-5 decision to Brandon Valley's Braden Shoemaker in the final. Isaac Soulek finished in fourth place at 285 pounds representing Parkston.
In the girls' 112-pound class, Bon Homme's Hadlee Kracht finished second in the round-robin bracket, finishing 2-1 in three matches. Teammate Jaden Bult finished seventh at 138 pounds.
For Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes, Bentley Veurink was fourth at 75 pounds and Joseph Skluzak was seventh at 132 pounds.
