Ranger wrestlers compete in Newell, host Black Hills Classic

Andres Hernandez was the top scorer of the week for the Hill City High School Rangers wrestling team, claiming a second and sixth place finish.
The Rangers kicked off the week with the Newell Round Robin Tournament Feb. 4.
Wrestling in the 215-pound weight class, Hernandez placed second, went 2-1 and scored 14 team points. In round one, Hernandez won by fall over Walker Dingfelder of Harding County at 1:50. In round two, Brenton Padden of Harding County won by fall over Hernandez at Fall 1:24. Then, in round three, Hernandez won by fall over Zach Bone of Sturgis Brown at 2:48.
“He’s been wrestling as a light heavyweight all year, a light 285-pounder. So getting the chance to wrestle at 215, he really got a chance to pick up some wins and build some confidence going into regions. So super proud of him in that standpoint,” said head coach Josh Robison.
Coming in fourth, Cory Ronish wrestled in the 126-pound weight class, went 1-2 and scored four team points. In round one, Bodie Vanderboom of Newell won by decision over Ronish. In round two, Ronish won by decision over Colton Diischer of Faith. Then, in round three, Maxwell Anderson of Lemmon won by fall over Ronish at 1:22.
“Cory had a tough day. His first match was versus a kid that we’ve kind of had a target on trying to get to, and he wrestled it really well and really closed that gap to where if we meet him in regions, I think that’ll be a really fun match,” said Robison. “We might get this one, and that’s when it matters is regions.”
Titus Sutton went 0-3, placed fourth and scored four team points wrestling in the 150-pound weight class. In round one, Gus Buchanan of Harding County won by fall over Sutton at 2:55. In round two, Parker Anderson of Sturgis Brown won by tech fall over Sutton at four minutes. Then, in round three, Quirt Wondercheck of Faith won by decision over Sutton.
“Titus is really just still developing his style at the high school level, but I think all good things,” said Robison.
For the Ranger girls, Daisy Munoz wrestled in the 152-pound weight class, went 0-2 and placed second. In round one, Samantha Dreiske of Lemmon won by fall over Munoz at 5:37. Then, in round two, Dreiske won by major decision over Munoz.
“She wrestled at 152 ‘cause we just wanted to see one of the girls that we might be running into at regions. That one was interesting ‘cause most of the time, you don’t get the same kid back to back in a tournament. So you can completely change your game plan really quick and wrestle a different style in the second match just to see how they react to things or what’s their style actually look like. So I think it was insightful,” said Robison.
After that, the Rangers hosted the Black Hills Classic Wrestling Tournament at Gins Gym Feb. 8.
Hernandez was once again the top scorer for the Rangers. He placed sixth and scored 10 team points in the 215-pound weight class. Hernandez received a bye for round one. In round two, Hernandez won by major decision over Kale Harless of Sundance, Wyo. For the quarterfinal, Hernandez won by fall over Norman Wilson of Lakota Tech at 5:19. In the semifinal, Jensen Fitch of Philip-Kadoka Area-Wall won by fall over Hernandez at one minute. For the consolation semi, Brenton Padden of Harding County won by fall over Hernandez at 57 seconds. Finally, in the fifth place match, Braden Yeager of Hot Springs won by fall over Hernandez at 2:37.
“This is his first year wrestling. He lost to the varsity guy, so he kind of got the choice of whether he wanted to be a non-scorer at 215 versus a team scorer at 285. Wrestling really light at 285 is tough. He’s given up almost 70, 80 pounds to kids at that weight class,” said Robison. “Wrestling big guys, he definitely took his lumps, but it was cool to see how he was able to compete after working with big guys for the whole season.”
Also wrestling for the Rangers, Justin Malone competed in the 132-pound weight class and scored two points. He received a bye in round one. In round two, Tray Weiss of Custer won by fall over Malone at 3:35. For the consolation round one, Malone won by major decision over Seth Booth of Hot Springs. Then, in the consolation round two, TJ Harrington of Newcastle won by tech fall over Malone at 2:41.
Sutton wrestled in the 150-pound weight class once again. In round one, Ivan Comer of Rapid City Central won by decision over Sutton. In the consolation round one, Gus Buchanan of Harding County won by fall over Sutton at 2:55.
Caleb Garcia wrestled in the 215-pound weight class. He received a bye for round one. In round two, Morgan Woods of Rapid City Central won by fall over Garcia at 1:19. Garcia received a bye for consolation rounds one and two. Then, in the consolation round three, Braden Yeager of Hot Springs won by fall over Garcia at 59 seconds.
Next up, Munoz will be heading to the Hot Springs Girls Invitational Thursday, Feb. 13, at 5 p.m. at the Hot Springs School District.
“It’ll be good, I think, for us. We’re kind of in a position where we can decide how we want to tackle getting into state and wrestling at state. A lot of girls have been moving around in weight classes this season. So we get the opportunity to see where everybody’s going to land before regions,” said Robison.
As for the Ranger boys, they will be gearing up for regions.
“For the boys, it’s two weeks of starting to get focused and thinking about postseason wrestling,” said Robison. “The biggest thing I’ve been going over with them is technique, reiterating those things because we don’t want to give up poor takedowns or take poor shots. The other thing is just mental toughness and being able to stay focused toward the end of the match when the match is close. Not getting overwhelmed with the situation in front of you. Kind of calming down and being able to perform well under that pressure.”
The South Dakota High School AA Region tournaments for boys and girls are Saturday, Feb. 22, at the Ice Arena in Rapid City. Wrestling begins at 8:30 a.m.
“I’m excited. You work all season. Your goal is to make state and get into a position to try to place at state. So you get to see the cumulation of everything you’ve worked on all year and really apply those things,” said Robison.