Boys wresting team takes on Monster

With the Mid Dakota Monster looming in the distance, the Custer Jr./Sr. High School boys wrestling team took on the Winner Triangular Jan. 8 with duals against Chamberlain and Winner. 
In the dual against Chamberlain, Custer squeaked out a win, 42-38.
Head coach Jared Webster said, “Some of us came out and wrestled, and some of us didn’t. The goal is to always have everybody step on the mat ready to wrestle, and we weren’t on that one.” 
However, he said it was nice to walk away with a win. 
In their respective weight classes (WC), Wildcats Cole Scott (106), Myles Woodward (113) and Relic Bailey (120) won by forfeit.
Wildcat Riley Trout (126 WC) won by fall over Colton Bairey at 1:12. Brody Neilan (132) won by decision 0-3 over Wildcat Ayden Dooley. Wildcat Bodie Vanderboom (138 WC) won by fall over Owen Engel at 6:00. Sutton Powers (144 WC) won by fall over Wildcat Henry Bell at 1:44.
Wildcat Riley Scott (150 WC) won by fall over Chase Hansen at 3:00. Kruse Brennan (157 WC) won by fall over Wildcat David Lewis at 5:40. Jerrod Larsen (165 WC) won by fall over Wildcat Colton Dorrance at 3:06. Xavier Donovan (175 WC) won by tech fall 19-3 over Wildcat Carter Kern.
Chisum Blum (190 WC) and Owen Small Jumper (215 WC) won by forfeit over Custer.
Wildcat Zayden LaPlaca (285 WC) won by fall over Cooper Gerard at 4:36.
In the dual versus Winner, Winner won 55-15.
Webster said the boys were more focused in that dual. 
“Winner is a solid team, very tough, but I thought we wrestled them very well,” said Webster. “They (the Wildcats) had nothing to lose against Winner and just went out and wrestled them hard.”
Apollo Willuweit (106 WC) won by tech fall 17-2 over C. Scott. Judd Hansen (113) won by fall over Woodward at 3:46. Wildcat Jackson Trant (120 WC) won by forfeit. Roukyn Robbins (126 WC) won by tech fall 20-2 over Trout.
Dooley (132 WC) won by decision 9-5 over Gus Tobin. Hudson Peters (138 WC) won by major decision 15-2 over Vanderboom. Ash Kaiser (144 WC) won by fall over Bell at 1:48. Ryken Orel (150 WC) won by major decision 9-0 over R. Scott. Jed Blare (157 WC) won by major decision 10-1 over Lewis.
Brennen Bolander (165 WC) won by decision 6-3 over Dorrance. Abe Kaiser (175 WC) won by fall over Kern at 1:18. Tre Zeigler (190 WC) and Jordan Drummond (215) won by forfeit over Custer.
LaPlaca (285 WC) won by fall over Legend Benedict at 4:00.
The next day, the Wildcats prepared to face the Monster at Lyman High School in Presho, S.D. As a team, the Wildcats placed 10th. 
“The kids wrestled well. We’ve still got a lot of stuff to work on, but performance-wise, the kids are right there, and that’s a tough tournament,” said Webster. “Anytime you place at that one, it’s good.”
Webster said he always tries to set the bar a little high, so the team is not where he wants to see them yet. Nevertheless, he did see improvement this week and wants to see more next week.
Competing in the 106 WC, C. Scott placed fourth and scored 19 team points.
In the championship round one, C. Scott won by fall over Garret Smith of Kingsbury County at 1:08. In the championship round two, C. Scott won by fall over Rowdy Schrempp of Cheyenne-Eagle Butte/Dupree/Tiospaye Topa at 0:50. C. Scott won by decision 5-1 over Noah Horsley of Pierre T.F. Riggs in the quarterfinal. In the semifinal, Apollo Willuweit of Winner won by tech fall 16-1 over C. Scott. In the consolation semi, C. Scott won by major decision 10-0 over Bentley Veurink of Kimball/White Lake/Platte-Geddes. Then, in the third place match, Bode Walker of Canton won by tech fall 17-1 over C. Scott.
Vanderboom placed eighth in the 138 WC and scored eight team points.
Vanderboom received a bye in the championship round one. In the championship round two, Coy Eddy of New Underwood won by tech fall 19-1 over Vanderboom. Vanderboom won by fall over Justin Malone of Hill City at 2:55 in the consolation round two. In the consolation round three, Vanderboom won by fall over Jeremiah Wurtz of Pierre T.F. Riggs at 4:13.
Vanderboom won by decision 7-3 over Hudson Peters of Winner in consolation round four. In consolation round five, Eddy won by major decision 14-1 over Vanderboom. Then, in the seventh place match, Blake Steiner of Sisseton won by fall over Vanderboom at 0:32.
R. Scott placed second in the 144 WC and scored 24 team points.
R. Scott received a bye in the championship round one. In the championship round two, R. Scott won by fall over Wyatt Uberty of McCook Central/Montrose at 1:13. R. Scott won by decision 3-0 over Josiah Drummer of Sturgis in the quarterfinal. In the semifinal, R. Scott won by fall over Landon Bame of Stanley County at 0:57. Then, in the first place, Alex Oedekoven of Pierre T.F. Riggs won by decision 7-1 over R. Scott.
LaPlaca placed sixth in the 285 WC and scored 11 team points.
LaPlaca received a bye in the championship round one. In the championship round two, LaPlaca won by fall over Devin Binger of Pierre T.F. Riggs at 1:17. LaPlaca won in a tiebreaker 2-1 over Jacob Johnson of McCook Central/Montrose in the quarterfinal. In the semifinal, Legend Benedict of Winner won by fall over LaPlaca at 2:33.
Derek Fenenga of Winner won by fall over LaPlaca at 0:33 in the consolation semi. Then, in the fifth place match, Wyatt Zeigler of Mobridge-Pollock won by fall over LaPlaca at 4:04.
The Wildcats competed in the Custer Triangular at the Armory Tuesday, Jan. 13. Results were not available upon publication. 
After that, the Wildcats are heading to the Philip Invitational Boys Tournament Jan. 16 and the Black Hills Conference at Spearfish Jan. 17. 
“The Philip Tournament, we’ll get a lot of those younger kids a lot of matches, which will be great. And the Black Hills Conference, a lot of teams are very solid this year, so that’s going to be fun to see what happens,” said Webster. 
Webster said the Black Hills Conference was moved to the middle of the season a few years back. This allows the athletes the opportunity to compete in the conference tournament and rest before regions.