Wrestling team starts season with series of wins

By: 
Nathan Steele

The Custer High School wrestling team returned to the mat with a bang last week with duals on Thursday and the Bill Young Invitational on Friday, both at home in Custer.
The ’Cats took down each of the three teams in Thursday night’s duals and by large margins, at least doubling the scores of their opponents. In its dual against Hot Springs, the team won 66-12, and again over Harding County (63-12), and yet again against Burke-Gregory (52-26).
The girls team won its duals against Burke-Gregory (30-0) and Harding Country (30-18). Against Hot Springs, the teams tied, each earning 24 points.
“Duals went excellent. I’m very pleased with the kids and their performance for the first week out,” said head coach Jared Webster.
The boys team also won the Bill Young Invitational Tournament on Friday, and the girls earned third.
“We had a lot of holes, so pulling that off like they did was a great job by the upperclassmen and a lot of younger kids stepping up into other spots,” said Webster.
Memphis Morgan and Jackson Trant each wrestled in the 106-pound weightclass. Morgan lost his first match to Emerson Harwood of Rapid City Stevens by tech fall, and lost his second to Hemingford’s Ryan Ragsdale by major decision to end his run in the tournament.
Trant also lost his first couple matches, by fall to Conor Oshanick of Sturgis and Dane Johnson of Burke-Gregory.
Tyler Trant wrestled in the 113-pound weight class and earned the championship. He pinned his first opponent, Aziah Dominguez of Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood in 1:05 and pinned the second,  Hot Springs’ Micah Butterfield in 1:53 to win the tournament.
At the 120-pound weight class, Connor Owens  lost his first match by pin in 5:26, and then lost the second by injury.
Tray Weiss and Ethan O’Connor each wrestled in the 126-pound weight class, earning first and second place, respectively.
O’Connor made it to the championship match via a series of quick pins—over Brock Willmschen of Hot Springs in 30 seconds, over Sinquah Nelson of Pine Ridge in 19 seconds and over Kordell Bruha of Harding County in 57 seconds. Weiss took his time with his opponents, pinning Hemingford’s Damian Hasenhauer-Brown in 1:42 and Sturgis Brown’s Wyatt Marler in 4:41. When Weiss and O’Connor met in the championship, it was Weiss who had the edge, winning by pin in 5:43.
In the 132-pound weight class, Riley Scott placed second. He beat each of his first three opponents by pin, first over Gage Studer of Sturgis in 2:59, then over Ivan Pettit of Rapid City Stevens in 2:42, and then over Alejandro Martinez (Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood) in 1:03. In the championship match, Spearfish’s Parker Graveman pinned Scott in 3:03.
Kian Rusch also earned first place in the meet. He won his first match over Owen Bostrom of Sturgis by pin in 28 seconds, the next over Brayden Secrest of Harding County in 1:34 by pin, and another pin over Isaiah Brown of Rapid City Stevens in 2:34. In the semifinal, he beat Spearfish’s Kaden Gonzales by 10-9 decision. In the championship, he beat Hot Springs’ Jonathan Pillicotte in 3:03.
David Lewis won his first two matches, over Red Cloud’s Jorge Trevino by pin in 1:52 and over McAmis Conklin of Spearfish by pin in 4:32. He then lost his next two, against Alden Laden (Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood) by pin in 1:42 and the other to Burke-Gregory’s Taos Weborg by 4-2 decision.
Leighton Sander earned third place at the meet, winning his first three matches by pin: over Kenyan Lebeaux of Pine Ridge in 42 seconds, over Patrick Richards of Lakota Tech in 1:35 and over Holden Luper of Hot Springs in 1:59. He then lost his semifinal match to Zaniyan Iron Eyes of Lakota Tech by 4-2 decision. Wrestling his way back to third place, he defeated William Thompson (Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood)  by pin in  1:42 and Manny Jaramillo of Sturgis in 2:49.
Wrestling in the 150-pound weight class was Kai Rusch, who did not place due to injury and medical forfeit.
Blaise Arp, wrestling at 160 pounds, beat Joseph Broken Rope of Little Wound by pin in 1:26, but then lost his next two by pin as well—against Preston Ray of Sturgis in 33 seconds and Drew Verner of Hemingford in 56 seconds.
Ryder Bailey and Lane Geisner each wrestled at 190 pounds. Geisner lost both his first matches by pin—against Burke-Gregory’s Jhett Eklund by pin in 1:36 and Tanner Gouldin of Sturgis in 2:42.
Bailey ended up the champion of the weightclass. He made a quick victory over Norman Wilson of Lakota Tech by pin in just 17 seconds, then over Burke-Gregory’s Kaleb Schonebaum by major decision (13-2), and again over Jerrick Thompson of Lakota Tech by pin in 54 seconds. In the first place match, Bailey defeated Jhett Eklund of Burke-Gregory in 2:35 to win the championship.
In the 215-pound weight class, Parker Noem earned second place. He made quick work of his first matches, pinning each opponent in just about a minute each: Hemingford’s Owen Plog in 59 seconds, Spearfish’s Alex Marich in 1:17 and Burke Gregory’s Kade Brain in 1:03. In the championship round, he faced tough competition with Caleb Rickenbach of Hot Springs. In that match, Rickenback won by major decison (9-1).
Lincoln Golder wrestled in the 285-pound weight class and did not place.
Zayne Severyn also wrestled at 285 and won first place. In 16 seconds, he pinned Shane Lebeau of Lakota Tech in the first match. In the second, he pinned St. Thomas More’s Gabe Reeve in 3:49. In the championship, he beat Owen Cody of Rapid City Stevens in 1:28.
On the girls side of the tournament, Kiera Thorp wrestled in the 100-pound weight class, beating Iva Black Elk of Lakota Tech by 16-14 decision and losing to Annalee Pierson of Sturgis by pin in a minute flat to earn second place.
Rylee Hurtig wrestled in the 107-ound weight class and did not place.
Addie Sander placed first in the 120-pound weight class as she beat Emily Morterud (Douglas/Rapid City Christian/New Underwood)  by pin in 2:19.
River Bailey placed third in the 126-pound weight class, beating Kayla Giacometto of St. Thomas More by pin in 54 seconds in the first round, losing the second, and coming back to beat Taylor Yazza (Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood) by pin in 4:22 and Eleanor Jacobs of Sturgis by major decision (17-5).
Jessica Mckenney wrestled at 250 at also earned first place for the girls. She beat Neveah Tobacco of Red Cloud by pin in 42 seconds, Destiny Triplet (Douglas-Rapid City Christian-New Underwood) by pin in 2:21 and Hot Springs’ Madison Nicolaisen by pin in 1:21.
The duals on Thursday night also proved successful for the ’Cats.
On the boys’ side, Burke-Gregory won the first couple matches of their dual against Custer, with Dane Johnson winning by pin over Jackson Trant in 4:40 in the 106-pound weight class and Judd Hansen winning by tech fall over Morgan in the 113-pound weight class. The team’s momentum stopped there with the Wildcats winning the next four.
At the 120-pound weight class, Tyler Trant took on Wyatt Beck and won by pin in a short 1:30 round.
Weiss and O’Connor won by forfeit in the 126 and 132-pound weight classes, respectively.
Scott got a quick one-minute pin over Taos Weborg in the 138-pound weight class.
In the 144-pound weight class, Avery Sengelmen of the Burke-Gregory team pinned Kai Rusch in 3:06.
Leighton Sander won by forfeit in the 150-pound weight class.
Carson Peck won by a 8-2 decision over Wildcat Kai Rusch in the 157-pound weight class.
Arp won by pin over his opponent, Treydon Massa in a minute and three seconds at 165 pounds.
Ryder Bailey won over Jhett Eklund by 14-6 major decision. Noem pinned his opponent, Kade Braun, in 57 seconds. Geisner lost to Kaleb Schonebaum in 3:14 by pin.
In extra matches, Golder beat Max Bearshield in 48 seconds by pin and Severyn beat Zackery James by pin in 27 seconds.
Against Burke-Gregory, Kiera Thorp, Hurtig, Addie Sander, River Bailey and Mckenney won each of their matches by forfeit.
In the dual against Harding County, Morgan at 106 pounds pinned Dane Smith in 1:18. Jackson Trant won his match by forfeit in the 113-pound weight class. Tyler Trant pinned Revyn Floyd in 1:07 at the 120-pound weight class.
At 126 pounds, Weiss pinned Kordell Bruha in 1:45. Scott beat Shay Smith by pin in 2:32 at 132 pounds. Kian Rusch won his match by a 9-6 decision over Cash Hanson at 138 pounds.
At 144 pounds, Lincoln Wickstrom pinned Leighton Sander in 48 seconds, one of Harding County’s few wins over Custer in the dual. Kai Rusch defeated Jace Vroman in 2:19 by pin in the 150-pound weight class. Arp pinned Gus Buchanon in three minutes flat.
Deon Ternold of Harding County won by forfeit at 175 pounds.  Ryder Bailey won by forfeit at 190 pounds. Noem pinned Brenton Padden in 47 seconds. Severyn won by forfeit at 285 pounds.
In an extra match, Brayden Secrest won by 7-6 decision over Lewis.
For the girls’ dual against Harding County, each girl won by forfeit, and in an extra match, River Bailey won over Adeline Lyons by pin in 1:30.
Against Hot Springs, Jackson Trant (106 pounds) won by forfeit, as did Tyler Trant (120 pounds) and Ryder Bailey (190 pounds).  Hot Springs only got one win by forfeit in the 175-pound weight class for Hunter Kunz.
In the 113-pound weight class, Micah Butterfield won over Morgan by 10-4 decision. O’Connor won over Brock Willmschen by pin in 42 seconds in the 126-pound weight class. Weiss (132 pounds) won over Lyle Roberts in 1:33 by pin.
At 138 pounds, Scott won over Holden Liper by pin in 2:44. Kian Rusch won by pin in 1:49, over Jonathan Pellicotte at 144 pounds. Leighton Sander  (150 pounds) won over Gabe Maurer by pin in 1:52.
At 157 pounds, Kai Rusch won over Keller Peterson by pin in 1:41. Arp pinned Jaydon White Face by pin in 2:41 in the 165-pound weight class. Noem (215 pounds) lost to Caleb Rickenbach by 3-0 decision. Severyn beat Owen White in 5:04 by pin at 285 pounds.
For the girls dual, there were several forfeits for both teams, with the only match up happening between Mckenney and Madison Nicolaisen in the 250 pound weight class. Nicolaisen won by pin in 43 seconds, but still the dual ended in a 24-24 tie.
Next, the team heads to Rapid City for the Rapid City Invite, starting at 9 a.m. Friday and continuing on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a big tournament—61 teams from six different states, so it’s going to be nice to see where we hang with some of those bigger schools,” said Webster.

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