Saturday was the 48th Annual Bennett County Wrestling Tournament here in Martin. It was great to be able to wrestle in front of our home crowd as they supported the boys to a team title and the girls to a third place finish. Despite the postponed date and losing all of our normal Nebraska participants (they had their Districts this weekend), there was still some exciting wrestling all day long.
A last minute tournament in the Black Hills on Friday limited our numbers for the girls tournament. So to provide all of the participants more matches, we combined several weight classes. At 107, we ended up with 3 of our 5 girls all in the same bracket (combined 100 with 107). As a result we ended up wrestling each other as much as girls from other schools!
Kendyll Risse, despite bumping up, ended up 2nd at this weight class winning two hard fought matches against her teammates and easily winning two others. However, in her final match she came up against the 8th rated girl at this weight class who was just too much for her.
Sadie Schomp was also bumped up a weight class and wrestled well, finishing 3rd. She and Paesyn Wilson had one of the closer matches of the day, with Sadie coming out on top in the Ultimate Tie-Breaker (3rd OT)!
Paesyn had her best outing of the year gaining confidence with each match she wrestled, despite going 2-3 on the day. She and Sadie are headed to the Middle School State Tournament next weekend where they are poised to represent BC well.
Harmony Siers (120) was in one of the tougher brackets in the girls division as it had two top 10 rated girls in the state.
Despite being a bit under the weather, Harmony gave it her all and ended up in 4th place.
Moreas May (152) won her first match of the day but found herself up against another rated LT girl in her final match that proved to be too much for Moreas. As I have pointed out several times this year, all of these girls are first year wrestlers and deserve a lot of credit for the improvement they have made since the start of the season.
On the boys side, Ruger Smokov (106) got us off to a good start, wrestling well and going undefeated on the day to win his weight class! In the finals, he was in a tight match and up a couple points when he started looking up at the clock (perhaps trying to will the clock to run out!).
That’s when his coach started yelling for him to “just wrestle” and not worry about the clock.
Maybe both coach and wrestler will do better next time!
Maddux Risse (113) ran through his bracket rather convincingly on his way to a first place finish. This was a good tune-up for Maddux as he prepares for Regions next week (actually true for all of the boys).
Neil Hicks (120) got bumped to the 126 lb weight class to get more matches. That put Neil and Lyle Noel in the same bracket.
They both easily bested their competition on their way to the finals where they met up with Neil coming out on top in a good close match.
Tel Gropper (144) wrestled well on his way to the finals where he met up with a tough kid from Rapid City Central JV.
However, this was not really a JV kid but rather the 8th rated kid at 150 who was trying to get his first matches at 144 before Regions! Needless to say he was a tough kid and a bit more than Tel could handle.
Much like at 126, Jordan Risse and Tyce Gropper ended up in the same bracket at 150. Also like 126, they both found themselves in the finals against each other.
It’s never ideal having to run up against a teammate in a tournament, let alone the finals, but they both wrestled well with Tyce coming out on top.
At 190, Ethan Harris pinned his way through the tournament and a first place finish. When looking back at how much Ethan has improved since last year, his opponent in the finals easily pinned Ethan the first time they met last year!
Next Saturday will be the boys Region Tournament in Ft Pierre (our 4th trip there this season!). The girls will find out if they qualified for State on Thursday or Friday (a point system is implemented to see who qualifies).
Individual Results: 106 Ruger Smokov (18-13) placed 1st and scored 22.0 team points.
Quarterfinal - Ruger Smokov (BC) won by fall over Dane Smith (Harding Co) (Fall 1:29) Semifinal - Ruger Smokov (BC) won by fall over Joseph Richards (Lakota Tech) (Fall 0:50) 1st Place Match - Ruger Smokov (BC) won by decision over Tommy Studt (D/RCC/ NU) (Dec 9-5) 113
Maddux Risse (35-11) placed 1st and scored 17.5 team points.
Round 2 - Maddux Risse (BC) won by fall over Skyler Langenbau (Lyman) (Fall 0:25) Round 3 - Maddux Risse (BC) won by fall over Jaxson Turbiville (Harding Co) (Fall 3:35) Round 4 - Maddux Risse (BC) won by tech fall over Micah Burchfield (Hot Springs) (TF1.5 4:00 (19-3)) Round 5 - Maddux Risse (BC) won by fall over Coy Eddy (D/ RCC/NU) (Fall 2:53) 126
Lyle Noel (27-16) placed 2nd.
Quarterfinal - Lyle Noel (BC) won by fall over Sidney Morgan (McLaughlin) (Fall 4:51) Semifinal - Lyle Noel (BC) won by fall over Lane Olivier (Lyman) (Fall 1:41) 1st Place Match - Neil Hicks (BC) won by decision over Lyle Noel (BC) (Dec 7-2) 126
Neil Hicks (24-14) placed 1st and scored 21.0 team points.
Quarterfinal - Neil Hicks (BC) won by fall over Brayden Secrest (Harding Co) (Fall 3:05) Semifinal - Neil Hicks (BC) won by major decision over Cooper Mackaben (Faith) (MD 12-4) 1st Place Match - Neil Hicks (BC) won by decision over Lyle Noel (BC) (Dec 7-2) 144
Tel Gropper (31-17) placed 2nd and scored 10.0 team points.
Round 2 - Tel Gropper (BC) won by fall over Bobby Nelson (D/RCC/NU) (Fall 1:37) Round 3 - Tel Gropper (BC) won by decision over William Thompson (D/RCC/NU) (Dec 10-6) Round 4 - Tel Gropper (BC) won by fall over Jace Vroman (Harding Co) (Fall 3:05) Round 5 - Jacoby Parker (RC Central) won by fall over Tel Gropper (BC) (Fall 3:21) 150
Tyce Gropper (19-6) placed 1st and scored 24.0 team points.
Quarterfinal - Tyce Gropper (BC) won by fall over Quirt Wondercheck (Faith) (Fall 0:45) Semifinal - Tyce Gropper (BC) won by fall over Jayden White Face (Hot Springs) (Fall 0:32) 1st Place Match - Tyce Gropper (BC) won by fall over Jordan Risse (BC) (Fall 4:52) 150
Jordan Risse (22-18) placed 2nd.
Quarterfinal - Jordan Risse (BC) won by fall over Antonio Morales (Red Cloud) (Fall 2:40) Semifinal - Jordan Risse (BC) won by fall over Josiah Osborne (RC Central) (Fall 1:42) 1st Place Match - Tyce Gropper (BC) won by fall over Jordan Risse (BC) (Fall 4:52) 157
Talon Krolikowski (29-11) placed 1st and scored 19.5 team points.
Round 1 - Talon Krolikowski (BC) won by fall over Joseph Broken Rope (LW) (Fall 0:37) Round 2 - Talon Krolikowski (BC) won by injury default over Jacoby Carry Moccasin (McLaughlin) (Inj. 0:00) Round 3 - Talon Krolikowski (BC) won by tech fall over Keller Peterson (Hot Springs) (TF-1.5 4:00 (16-0)) 190
Ethan Harris (24-15) placed 1st and scored 20.0 team points.
Round 1 - Ethan Harris (BC) won by fall over Christopher Between Lodges (LW) (Fall 0:10) Round 2 - Ethan Harris (BC) won by fall over Brenton Padden (Harding Co) (Fall 1:55) Round 3 - Ethan Harris (BC) won by fall over Tayvion Rooks (LW) (Fall 4:57) 107
Kendyll Risse (21-8) placed 2nd and scored 15.5 team points.
Round 1 - Kendyll Risse (BC) won by decision over Sadie Schomp (BC) (Dec 7-2) Round 2 - Kendyll Risse (BC) won by decision over Paesyn Wilson (BC) (Dec 6-4) Round 3 - Kendyll Risse (BC) won by tech fall over Claire O`Leary (McLaughlin) (TF-1.5 2:44 (19-4)) Round 4 - Kendyll Risse (BC) won by fall over Iva Black Elk (Lakota Tech) (Fall 3:08) Round 5 - Brandy Marshall (Lakota Tech) won by fall over Kendyll Risse (BC) (Fall 0:47) 107
Sadie Schomp (13-11) placed 3rd.
Round 1 - Kendyll Risse (BC) won by decision over Sadie Schomp (BC) (Dec 7-2) Round 2 - Sadie Schomp (BC) won by fall over Claire O`Leary (McLaughlin) 2-20 (Fall 0:16) Round 3 - Sadie Schomp (BC) won by fall over Iva Black Elk (Lakota Tech) (Fall 1:21) Round 4 - Brandy Marshall (Lakota Tech) won by fall over Sadie Schomp (BC) (Fall 1:40) Round 5 - Sadie Schomp (BC) won in the ultimate tie breaker over Paesyn Wilson (BC) (UTB 7-6) 107
Paesyn Wilson (11-13) placed 4th.
Round 1 - Paesyn Wilson (BC) won by fall over Iva Black Elk (Lakota Tech) (Fall 5:13) Round 2 - Kendyll Risse (BC) won by decision over Paesyn Wilson (BC) (Dec 6-4) Round 3 - Brandy Marshall (Lakota Tech) won by fall over Paesyn Wilson (BC) (Fall 1:44) Round 4 - Paesyn Wilson (BC) won by fall over Claire O`Leary (McLaughlin) (Fall 2:48) Round 5 - Sadie Schomp (BC) won in the ultimate tie breaker over Paesyn Wilson (BC) (UTB 7-6) 120
Harmony Siers (8-22) placed 4th and scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Kanyn Padden (Harding Co) won by fall over Harmony Siers (BC) (Fall 2:57) Round 2 - Langston Huffman (RC Central) won by fall over Harmony Siers (BC) (Fall 3:47) Round 3 - Kadlin Humbracht (Hot Springs) won by fall over Harmony Siers (BC) (Fall 0:43) 152
Moraes May (11-15) placed 2nd and scored 4.0 team points.
Round 1 - Moraes May (BC) won by fall over Cassidy Meyers (RC Central) (Fall 1:55) Round 3 - Chloe Fire Thunder (Lakota Tech) won by fall over Moraes May (BC) (Fall 2:58)