Eight Wildcat wrestlers qualify for Class B state meet

The Custer High School boys wrestling team competed in the region 4B wrestling tournament in Rapid City over the past weekend, bringing home second place as a team and several individual placing spots, including a championship title for senior Tray Weiss. In total, eight members of the team qualified for state with two team members as alternates.
“It was a good weekend. We got to keep going and build off of that and keep that momentum going into this week,” said head coach Jared Webster.
In team points, the team scored 169.5 points, 10  points ahead of Stanley County, but still a ways behind champions Philip-Kadoka Area-Wall with 279.5 points as a team.
“I knew that we were up there and that we were probably going to be hitting that second spot. We’re getting kids, you know, that were injured all year back in the lineup and so it was just all trying to get them back at region time, so we’re excited about that,” said Webster.
Wrestling at 106 pounds was Cole Scott, who placed second. He beat out McLaughlin’s Wambli White Tail by pin in 2:51. In his next match, he won by 14-5 major decision over Harding County’s Daeson Moncur. In the final match, he went up against Philip’s Cannin Snyder and lost by pin in 48 seconds.
Riley Trout wrestled at 113 pounds and placed fifth. He won his first match against Rich Schaffner of Hot Springs in 34 seconds by pin, but then lost his next two matches to Philip’s Shay Weber by pin in 1:05 and to Jaxson Turbiville of Harding County by 18-16 decision. In the final match, he beat St. Thomas More’s Nate Gallardo by 16-1 tech fall.
At 120 pounds was Tyler Trant, who earned second place. After a bye in the first round, he beat Philip’s Jerret Hutchinson in 1:43 by pin, then beat out Harding County’s Revyn Ford in 20 seconds. In the championship match, he was beat by Bennet County’s Maddux Risse in 3:43.
At 126 pounds was Ayden Dooley, who placed fifth. His first match was with Zack Booth of Hot Springs, with Dooley winning by pin in 3:11. Dooley lost the next match by pin in 4:52, but then won his next two matches over Kordell Bruha of Harding County by forfeit and over Rhyder Harris of Bennett County in 4:01. The next match put him against Newell’s Brodie Vanderboom, and Dooley lost by 5-0 decision. In the fifth place match, he beat out Hill City’s Cory Ronish by 5-4 decision.
At 132 pounds was region champ, Tray Weiss. In the first match, he beat out Timber Lake’s Sidney Morgan by pin in 38 seconds. In the second, he beat out Hot Springs’s Blazen Stiefvater in 1:05 before beating out Emmet Edwards of St. Thomas More by 17-2 tech fall. In the championship match, he pined Witt Myers of Stanley County in 1:32.
Wrestling at 138 pounds was Mandan Sandven, who did not place. He lost his first match to Rayler Fitch of Philip by pin in 3:30 and then to David Fees of Faith by 14-6 major decision.
At 144 pounds was Leighton Sander, who got second place. In his first match, he beat Jace Vroman of Harding County in 3:20 by pin, and then beat Tel Gropper of Philip by 4-0 decision. Going against Gavin Risse in the championship match, he lost by 5-0 decision.
At 157 pounds, David Lewis earned fourth place. He won his first match by by pin in 5:29 over Hot Springs’ Keller Peterson, but lost the next to Philip’s Jace Blasius by pin in 3:34. In the next match, he beat Gus Buchanan of Harding County by 6-0 decision. In the third place match he lost to Lead-Deadwood’s Zade Seaman by pin in 22 seconds.
At 165 pounds was Blaise Arp, who earned fourth place. He won his first match against Faith’s Roy Antrium by pin in 2:16, but was pinned himself in the next match by Philip’s Tyce Gropper in 3:34. Arp won the next match by tech fall (17-1) against McLaughlin’s Jacoby Carry Moccasin before moving on to the third place match. There, he was defeated by Thor Fish of Hot Springs by 13-6 decision.
Wrestling at 175 pounds was Brady Novak, who did not place. He lost his first match to Lead-Deadwood’s Tyrell Seamen in 53 seconds and the next to Mobridge-Polluck’s Canyon Ford in 2:48.
Lane Geisner wrestled at 190 pounds and got fourth place. After a bye in the first round he won his first match against Stanley County’s Sayth Cronin in 38 seconds. In the next match, he was beat out by Philip’s Ethan Harris by pin in 1:47 before coming back with another pin of his own in just 15 seconds over Brennan Meade of Lead-Deadwood. In the third place match, he was defeated by previous opponent Cronin by pin in 2:19.
At 285 pounds was Zayden LaPlaca, who earned third place. He lost his first match to Patrick Trask in an ultimate tie breaker 6-5, but then came back to win his next two matches; first over Hill City’s Andres Hernandez in 1:39, then over Mahpiya Luta’s Javier Cruz by pin in 4:57.
Starting Thursday, the eight qualifying wrestlers will be back in Rapid City to compete in the state meet. Webster said he anticipates other teams from across the state to take the top places as a team, but hopes that the team will give them a run for their money.
“There’s a lot of teams ahead of us. That kind of puts us out of the top-top, but hopefully we can still kind of work our way up there,” he said.