Three Rangers place third at BHC meet
The Hill City High School Ranger wrestlers defended their home territory during the Black Hills Conference Boys and Girls Tournament in Hill City Jan. 18.
Daisy Munoz, Cory Ronish and Caleb Garcia all walked away from the tournament with a third-place title in their weight class.
“I think everybody did well. It’s a pretty small tournament,” said head coach Josh Robison. “That’s kind of how I expected people to place so I think we achieved what I knew we were going to go out and do.”
Robison said a good crowd turned out for the home tournament, and several community members volunteered to make the event possible as well.
Wrestling for the Ranger girls, Munoz competed in the 145-pound weight class and scored 16 points for the Rangers. In the quarterfinal, Munoz won by fall over Abigail Vissia of Belle Fourche at 0:48. For the semifinal, Kimberlyn Heisler of Spearfish won by fall over Munoz in four minutes. In the consolation semi, Munoz won by fall over Tylynn Eagle Bull of Mahpiya Luta at 1:38.
Then, in the third place match, Munoz won by fall over BreAnna Ganaden of Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood at 1:55.
Robison said Munoz is “really comfortable” in the new weight class and the other wrestlers feel lighter to her.
“The one match she lost, I felt like it’s just one of those that we’re just going to continue wrestling the girl, and I think the outcome will be different the more we get the opportunity to wrestle her,” said Robison.
Ronish competed in the 126-pound weight class and scored 13 team points. In the quarterfinal, he won by major decision over Cameron Carlson of Spearfish. For the semifinal, Coy Eddy of Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood won by fall over Ronish at 3:05. In the consolation semi, Ronish won by fall over Mandan Sandven of Custer at 2:51.
Finally, in the third place match, Ronish won by decision over Dylon Park of Belle Fourche.
Garcia wrestled in the 215-pound weight class and scored nine points for the Rangers. In the quarterfinal, he received a bye. For the semifinal, Alex Marich of Spearfish won by fall over Garcia at 1:07. Garcia received another bye in the consolation semi.
Then, in the third place match, Garcia won by medical forfeit over Braden Yeager of Hot Springs.
Also wrestling for the Ranger boys, eighth grader Titus Sutton competed in the 150-pound weight class and scored four team points. In the quarterfinal, Sutton won by fall over Robert Carter of Custer at 3:30. For the semifinal, William Thompson of Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood won by fall over Sutton at 0:57. Then, in the consolation semi, Kane Clark of Spearfish won by decision over Sutton.
Justin Malone wrestled in the 132-pound weight class. He received a bye in the quarterfinal. In the semifinal, Tray Weiss of Custer won by fall over Malone at 1:23. Then, in the consolation semi, Rayce Johner of Spearfish won by major decision over Malone.
Rhys Skernick wrestled in the 190-pound weight class. In the quarterfinal, Jacob Ellingson of Spearfish won by fall over Skernick at 0:33. Skernick received a bye for the consolation round one. In the consolation semi, Von Mogen-Frankfort of Hot Springs won by fall over Skernick at 0:36.
Andres Hernandez wrestled in the 285-pound weight class. In the quarterfinal, Lucas Giersberg of Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood won by fall over Hernandez at 1:10. Hernandez received a bye for the consolation round one. In the consolation semi, Marty Reeve of St. Thomas More won by fall over Hernandez at 1:55.
Overall, Robison said he would like to see the Rangers continue to clean up small mistakes, think situationally in matches, be more strategic and learn to be more aggressive with good technique.
“The last week we’ve really been working on technique and things like that,” said Robison.
As for the team’s strengths, Robison said the big thing he noticed is their conditioning.
“They’re able to get through the third period and still wrestle hard,” said Robison.
Next up, the Rangers are competing at the St. Thomas More Quad Thursday, Jan. 23. Then, Saturday, Jan. 25, the Rangers are heading to Chadron, Neb., for the Chadron Boys and Girls Invitational at the Nelson Physical Activity Center.
For the quad, Robison said everybody should get matches, which is a “big thing” for the team’s young wrestlers.
As for Saturday, Robison said, “Chadron’s going to be kind of a new group of kids to wrestle. They got to see many of them when we wrestled at Gordon-Rushville, but we won’t get to see as many of our region teams down there. So I think it’ll be good to see some new wrestling again and compete with some other kids.”