Custer fourth at state, Weiss is state champion

By: 
Nathan Steele

The Wildcats hit the mat for the final time this past weekend in Rapid City at the Class B State Wrestling Tournament. Custer had a record number of wrestlers compete in the tournament—12 boys and two girls. They also had one state champion with Trey Weiss. With the wrestlers’ combined points, they finished fourth at the tournament.
“It was a good atmosphere,” said coach Jared Webster about the tournament. That atmosphere helped the team to put nine wrestlers on the podium, and three of those wrestlers in the championship round—something Webster is “very excited” about, noting that this is the first time Custer has had this many wrestlers place at the tournament and this many wrestlers in the championship. Eight boys and one girl placed in the tournament.
Tyler Trant wrestled in the 106-pound weight class. Trant won both of his first matches to put him in the semifinal match against Redfield’s Brady Risetter. He lost that match by technical fall, but had a comeback in the consolation semifinal. After winning against Winner’s Rylan Robbins by decision he made his way back to the third-place match to face off against Cooper Pommer of Clark-Willow Lake. Trant won in a 3-2 decision.  
Custer’s sole state champion at the tournament was Weiss in the 113-pound weight class. Weiss pinned each of his first  two opponents in the first period. In the semifinal, he beat out Miller-Highmore-Harold’s Talon Ping by 6-1. In the championship match, Weiss went head-to-head with Cole Hendrixson of Tri-Valley.
“I could tell he was nervous,” said Weiss, who has wrestled Hendrixson a few times earlier in the season. Capitalizing on what he picked up on from his opponent, Weiss went in for a takedown and kept that momentum going for the rest of the match.  Weiss won by major decision (9-1), only allowing his opponent one point for an escape.
“It’s a dream come true,” Weiss said.
Connor Owens wrestled in the 120-pound weight class. In his first match, he wrestled Wagner’s Karstyn Lhotak (46-3) and lost by pin. In his second match,  he went up against Kimball County’s Greyson Nielson and lost for a second time, eliminating him from the tournament.  
Landon Woodward wrestled at the 126-pound weight class and finished eighth. Woodward had a tough first match against Bennett County’s Gavin Risse and lost by a 5-4 decision. Woodward then won his next two matches, including one by major decision (14-0) against Daniel Swenson of Chester Area. Woodward lost in the third consolation round to put him in the seventh place match. In this match he faced off once again with Risse for a bout of deja vu as he lost again by a margin of just one point (7-6).
Wrestling at the 132-pound weight class was Riley Scott. After winning his first match, Scott went on to wrestle against Burke-Gregory’s Owen Hansen, who boasted a 41-0 record going into the tournament. Scott lost the match by pin, but wrestled his way back after winning in the second consolation round over Spencer Sargent of Stanley County by pin in just 20 seconds. He lost his next match by decision and went on to wrestle in the seventh-place match. In that match, Scott wrestled Howard’s Tate Miller and lost in a 6-1 decision.Wrestling in the 138-pound weightclass was Leighton Sander. In Sander’s first match, he wrestled against Jace Blasius of Philip and lost by tech fall. In the first consolation round, Sander faced off against Garretson’s Preston Bohl. Bohl ended up winning the match by fall in 1:46.
Kai Rusch wrestled in the 145-pound weight class. After losing in the first round, he wrestled back into the placing rounds by winning his next two matches, including a pin against Charlie Dulany of Warner-Northwestern. Rusch lost his third consolation match to land him in the seventh place match against Jack Even of Parker. Even won by technical fall to give Rusch an eighth place finish.
In the 160-pound weigh class was Jonathan Lewis. Lewis won his first match against Korbin Whitely by pin in 4:51, his second match against Wagner’s Gannon Knebel by 7-0 decision and his semifinal match against Ben Swatek of Elk Point-Jefferson by 5-3 decision. In the championship match Lewis faced off against Winner Area’s Riley Orel. The match went to a tie-breaker where Orel ended up taking first.
Parker Noem wrestled in the 170-pound weight class. Neom won his first two matches to put him in the semifinal against Gunnar Stephens of Burke-Gregory. Noem won that match in a tie-breaker to put him in the championship match against Burk Blasius. Noem lost by a 3-1 decision.
Wrestling at 182-pounds was Ryder Bailey. Bailey won his first match against McCook Central-Montrose’s  Mason Pulse by an 8-3 decision. Bailey then lost his next match, but wrestled back to the placing matches after winning his next two matches, both by pin. After a loss to Isaac Crownover of Bon Homme-Avon, Bailey went on to wrestle in the fifth-place match against Miller-Highmore-Harrold’s  Tate Hoffman. Hoffman had the edge over Bailey and won by 5-2 decision, giving Bailey a sixth-place finish.
Zayne Severyn wrestled in the 195-pound weight class. Severyn lost his first match against Connor Johnson from Kingsbury County in a 9-4 decision, but won his second match, beating out Sunshine Bible Academy’s Jimmy Burma by a 10-0 decision. After that win, he went on to face Gunnar Johnson of Lyman and lost in sudden victory, ending his run at the tournament.
Grady Lehrkamp wrestled in the 285-pound weight class. He won his first match against Randall Powers of Bon Homme-Avon by pin in 4:35, but had to forfeit his subsequent matches due to injury.
“It’s better to be safe than sorry,” Webster said.
In the girls state tournament, Essah Syverson wrestled in the 106-pound weight class and Jessica Mckenney wrestled in the 190-pound weight class. Syverson and Mckenney are in the seventh and eighth grades, respectively.
Syverson lost her first match against Kyra Vanderburg of Belle Fourche by pin. Then she went on to wrestle Dell Rapids’ Hannah Jensen. Syverson won by pin in 3:49 to go on to wrestle Rapid City Stevens’ Trinity Duran. Duran won by 8-2 decision, ending Syverson’s progress in the tournament.
Jessica Mckenney won her first match against Adelae Grusing of Belle Fourche by forfeit and went on to wrestle Viborg-Hurley-Irene Wakonda’s Lauren Peterson. Mckenney won that second match by an 8-7 decision. In the semifinal match Mckenney wrestled against Marlee Shorter of Pierre T.F. Riggs. Mckenney lost to Shorter by pin.
Custer also competed in the state dual tournament for the first time. They easily won their first dual against Parker 48-15. They then went on to face the top team in the state, Canton. In that dual, Custer lost 50-22 to put them in the third place dual against McCook Central-Montrose. Custer had another easy win to secure third place, and nearly doubled their opponents score with a 57-24 finish.
“It was exciting for the kids,” said Webster. He said the team duals were also an opportunity for the JV wrestlers to compete as well.
As for next year, the team is still relatively young and has “a lot of good leadership coming up,” said Webster.

User login