Wildcat boys finish third at conference meet
The Custer High School boys wrestling team travelled to Philip and to Hill City this week to compete in the Philip Invitational on Friday and the Black Hills Conference on Saturday.
At the conference meet the boys earned third place with 133 points, coming in behind winners Belle Fourche with 169.5 points and Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood with 160.5 points.
Individually, several wrestlers earned a spot on the podium at the meet.
At 106 pounds was Cole Scott, who placed second. He had two pins, first over Spearfish’s Josh Borbely in 1:33 and then over Hot Springs’ Layton Ringstmeyer in 1:37 to put him in the first place round. In that match, he was met with Tommy Studt of Douglas and was pinned in 2:39.
Jackson Trant placed fourth at 113 pounds. After a bye he lost his first match by pin to St. Thomas More’s (STM) Nate Gallardo in 2:45. He then won the next over Lead-Deadwood’s Levi Key in 31 seconds by pin. In the third place match, he lost to Spearfish’s Jackson Traux by 6-3 decision.
At 120 pounds was Tyler Trant who placed first in the meet. He started off with two pins, first over Douglas’s Korbyn Coots in 1:43, then over Leo Edwards of STM in 31 seconds. In the fist place match, he met with John Ryder Weiss of Hot Springs and won by major decision (15-4).
At 126 pounds was Mandan Sandven, who did not place but earned three team points with a win by pin over Hot Springs’ Zack Booth in 2:17.
Tray Weiss wrestled at 132 pounds and won his way to the top with a series of pins: over Blazen Steifvater of Hot Springs in 30 seconds, over Justin Malone of Hill City in 1:23 and over Garet Huston of Belle Fourche in 1:38.
Ethan O’Connor wrestled at 138 pounds but did not place.
At 144 pounds, Leighton Sander also won a championship with a series of pins—first over STM’s Brody Wegner in 1:12, then over Spearfish’s Logan Hargraves in 1:55 and finally over Belle Fourche’s Alexander Norlin in 1:24.
Robert Carter wrestled at 150 but did not place.
At 157 pounds was David Lewis. After a bye in the first round, Lewis started off with a loss to Lead-Deadwood’s Zade Seaman by tech fall (18-1), but then shook it off and got two more pins for third place, first over Kolby Tibbs of Belle Fourche in 52 seconds and then over Mahpiya Luta’s Antonio Morales in 2:33.
Blaise Arp wrestled at 165 pounds and got fourth place, although he lost both his matches.
Brady Novak wrestled at 175 pounds and earned fourth place with two pins over the course of the tournament over Luis Escobedo of Mahpiya Luta in 5:25 and over Zane Jones of STM in 2:45.
Lane Geisner also placed fourth at 190 pounds with a win over Brennan Meade of Lead-Deadwood in just 11 seconds. In the third place match he lost to Von Mogen-Frankfort of Hot Springs in 1:24 by pin.
At 285, Zayden LaPlaca did not place.
“You know, I was hoping we could have done a little better, but Belle Fourche has a heck of a team and it was well deserved,” said head coach Jared Webster.
At the Philip Invite, the team landed in the middle of the pack at fifth place out of nine teams.
“That was great for a lot of those younger kids. They had eight man brackets and got great experience, so I was very excited about that,” said Webster.
At 106 pounds was Scott, who placed third. After a win in the first round by pin his only loss was in the second to Philip’s Cannin Snyder by 16-1 tech fall. Scott then won the next two matches, over Hot Springs’ Ringstmeyer by 19-3 tech fall and over Philip’s Logan Smith by pin in 2:16.
Jackson Trant placed fourth at 113 pounds. Trant’s only win at the meet was over Rapid City Steven’s Evan Brinkley in 53 seconds.
Memphis Morgan placed third at 120 pounds, with only one early loss in the tournament to Jerrett Hutchinson of Philip by 17-4 major decision. He then secured three more wins to take him to third place, including in the final match when he beat Rio Rislov of Philip by 8-3 decision.
Riley Trout also wrestled at 120 and placed fifth. Trout went back and forth with wins and losses, and by the final round met up with Hutchinson, who beat teammate Trant. Trout, however, was able to get the upper hand in the fifth place match with a win by 10-1 major decision.
Sandven placed second in the 126-pound class. A series of pins and wins by major decisions brought him to the first place round with Chance Wagner of Philip, where he lost by pin in 56 seconds.
Relic Bailey also wrestled in the same weight class but did not place. He did get one win, however, over Taylor Dow of Rapid City Stevens by 14-7 decision.
At 132 pounds Leighton Poper earned fourth place. After a bye in the first round, he beat out Stevens’ Bryson Phelps by pin in 1:58. In the next, he was beat out by Hunter Brewer of Gordon-Rushville, Neb. by pin in 1:03. In the next, he won in two minutes before another loss to Grayson Trojanowski of Stevens in 3:32 by pin in the third place match.
At 144 pounds was Carter, who placed sixth. Out of four matches, his one win in the tournament was over Stevens’ Braiden Povandra by pin in 1:34.
Lane Geisner was the last wrestler in the lineup at 190 pounds and earned fourth place. After an early loss in the tournament, he secured two wins to bring him to the third place match, first over Jospeh Andrews of Little Wound by pin in 2:32 and then over Stevens’ Jon Rhead by pin in 2:17. In the third place round, he lost to Lakota Tech’s Norman Wilson by pin in 3:42.
Last Tuesday, the team also competed in the Badlands Brawlers dual, beating out Lead-Deadwood 60-18, but coming up short against Philip-Kadoka-Wall with a score of 49-29.
“There were some good duals with Philip. Some of us are just a little inexperienced in situations where we need to score points right now or not give up points. It’s a big learning experience for a lot of those younger ones, which is great,” said Jared Webster.
Next the team heads to Winner, where Webster is looking forward to competing with East River teams they don’t encounter often.