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»McCollam fourth, Ireland sixth at State
Posted Local at Mar 02, 2011
Dalton McCollam pins Lane Severson in the second round.
By Coach Brent Ireland
The State B Wrestling Tournament was held this past weekend in Aberdeen. With just four of our wrestlers competing, we were still able to break into the top half of the team totals, placing 21st out of 46 teams. While we lost several matches that we could have won, all four kids wrestled really well all weekend long. At this level of competition sometimes you need your best effort plus a break or two to go your way and we didn’t always get that break.
Sam started off the tournament with a pin and then met up with a defending state champion (and eventual champion this year) in the quarter-finals where he lost, dropping him back into the 2nd round wrestlebacks. He came through with a decisive win in his next match to advance him to day two and a top 8 finish. On the second day he started off with the 6th rated wrestler and won a close 3-2 match that propelled him to his 6th place finish. Sam finished with a 37-10 record and his 6th place finish is the highest any 8th grader has ever placed from Bennett County.
Skyler had a tough draw right off with the 2nd rated wrestler in the first round. He came back strong though with a big win in round two to put him one win away from placing. In his final match, he met up with the 7th rated kid from Tri-Valley. This was a much closer match than the final score would indicate. Skyler was down just two points with about 20 seconds left and both kids on their feet. A takedown by Skyler and the match goes into OT…but it didn’t quite work out for Skyler. He ended the season with a 36-10 mark.
Taylor’s first match was against the same kid he wrestled in the first round of the 2009 state tourney where Taylor lost a one point match. This time Taylor came out ready to make a statement, which he did pinning his opponent. In the quarter-finals, Taylor lost a tough 1-3 match against a wrestler that simply had an outstanding tournament (placed 2nd). Coming back from a tough loss is always difficult but Taylor came out and wrestled hard in what was one of the most exciting and controversial matches of the night with Taylor on the short end of the official score 11-12. This match could easily have been scored in Taylor’s favor. Taylor finished the season with a 32-8 record.
Dalton came out a bit tentative his first match but he certainly did enough to win in commanding fashion. However, he stepped it up in the next round, dominating the 5th rated wrestler from start to finish (pin) which put him into the semi-finals (our only semi-finalist). The semi’s had him matched up against an individual that was going for his 6th state title and is arguably the toughest wrestler in the entire state of South Dakota at any weight class (Class A or B). I was worried how Dalton would respond to this loss, but he came back strong winning by major decision in his next match. In his last match, Dalton was paired up with a kid that Dalton had beaten earlier in the year. I don’t believe it was Dalton’s best match, but the kid from Groton wrestled well all weekend, including snatching third place from Dalton. Dalton ended the season with an impressive 41-4 record with his losses to the three kids above him on the podium and the 171 lbs 4A champ in Wyoming.
No one likes to lose and in wrestling, only four kids in each weight class throughout the state end their season with a win. These four kids certainly would have liked to have won their last matches, but putting the entire season into perspective, they each had an outstanding season and should be proud of what they accomplished this year.
Individual Results:
112 (6th) – Sam Ireland: Pinned Mason Van Vuuren (An. Ctrl./Cor./Pla.-Ge.) 1:40, dec by Alex McLaury (Elk Pt. Jefferson) 0-11, dec Jacob DeSersa (Hot Springs) 11-0, dec Adam Krause (Deuel) 3-2, dec by Tyler Dion (Wagner) 2-8, dec by Sean Bice (Winner) 2-10.
130 (DNP) – Skyler Livermont: dec by Nathan Aesoph (Faulkton) 1-10, dec Devon Gnat (Miller) 8-0, dec by Chase Moffatt (Tri-Valley) 3-10.
145 (DNP) – Taylor Scherer: Pinned Blake Willman (Wess. Spr./Woon./Wol.-Wes) 2:47, dec by Bryce Sichmiller (Webster) 1-3, dec by Donovan Kullnat (Howard) 11-12.
171 (4th) – Dalton McCollam: Dec Lase Vanecek (Bon Homme) 8-2, pinned Lane Severson (Clark/Wil. Lake) 3:20, dec by Logan Storley (Webster) 2-17, dec Taz Olson (Harding Co.) 10-2, dec by Matt Thorson (0-4).
Additional results for the entire tournament can be found at: http://sports.sdpb.org/boys/wrestling/b/index.htm
Season Wrap-up
This past season was a huge success for our program. We started off by doubling our numbers from a year ago, from nine to 18 kids. The additional kids, although relatively new to the sport, help to push us to three tournament wins, one second and one third and nearly tripled our point total at the state tournament (compared to one year ago). Additionally we won our only dual of the year.
As a coach I’m really proud of all the kids in our program. They represented our program well throughout the year. This was a group of young men who worked hard to develop new skills and push themselves and each other to improve each time they stepped on the mat. As we look forward to next year, we will miss our two seniors (Taylor Scherer and Skyler Livermont) but hope to have the rest back. The experience of this past year will provide a huge springboard for these kids individually as well as our team as a whole.