Wildcat wrestlers now 16-0 in duals
The Custer wrestling team had another busy week as it had a dual against Lead-Deadwood on Tuesday, a triangular with Chadron and Douglas on Thursday and a tournament in Belle Fourche on Friday and Saturday.
On Tuesday, the Wildcats seemed to dig their dual against the Diggers, coming out on top with a 54 point lead. Custer only lost two matches in the 144 and 150-pound weightclasses.
Wildcat fans came en masse to the duals at the Custer Armory Thursday. The crowd was comparable to those for Wildcat basketball games. One fan said that she had never seen a crowd that big for a dual in Custer. The turnout was due in part to the fact that it was parents night for the wrestlers, but also due to the unprecedented size and strength of the team.
In the duals, Wildcat fans saw win after win take place on the spotlighted mat. The Wildcats won each of their duals against Chadron and Douglas, 75-6 and 70-9, respectively. Those were the last duals of the season for the Wildcats, earning themselves a perfect dual record with 16 wins and no losses.
The Wildcats came home with a third-place finish at the Belle Fourche Invitational scoring 187 points. They finished behind two class A schools, Rapid City Stevens with 235.5 points and Sturgis Brown with 325.5 points. A total of 20 teams competed in the tournament. The team had many first-place wrestlers and several others who also placed.
“Everybody wrestled pretty dang well,” said coach Jared Webster.
Trey Weiss wrestled in the 113-pound weight class. In his first match of the day, Weiss pinned Aam Cuthrell of Moorcroft in just 26 seconds. He then also won his next two matches by pin to put him in the championship match against Sturgis Brown’s Teryn Zebrowski. Weiss pinned Zebrowski in 2:37.
In the 126-pound weight class was Landon Woodward. Woodward won his first two matches by pin to put him in the semifinal round against Parker Gravemen of Spearfish who he beat by decision 2-1. In the first place match, Woodward came up against Sturgis Brown’s Dee Daniels. Woodward won over Daniels by decision 5-4.
Riley Scott was another first-place finisher for the Wildcats in the 132-pound weight class. Scott won his first two matches by pin to put him in the semifinal round. He then beat Joe Juenger from Rapid City Stevens also by pin in 2:29. In the championship match, Scott won against Lincoln Wickstrom of Harding County by decision 8-1.
Next up in the Wildcat roster was Leighton Sander in the 138-pound weight class. Sander lost his first match against Sturgis Brown’s Andon Hammerstrom by decision 4-3, but then won his next four matches, including a pin against Chayce Buckner of Moorcroft in 2:20. After losing his next match against Riley Dighton of Belle Fourche by decision 2-0, he went on to wrestle in the fifth-place match, which he won by major decision against Lead Deadwood’s Mekhi Hayes 11-1.
Jonathan Lewis wrestled in the 160-pound weightclass. He won his first match against Owen Thompson of Wright by pin in 1:04. He then won his next match by pin, but lost the two subsequent matches to put him in the fifth-place match where he lost by medical forfeit and finished in sixth place.
In the 170-pound weight class was Ryder Bailey. Bailey won each of his matches by pin, including in the championship match where he faced off against Rory McManus of Lyman. Bailey pinned McManus in 2:54.
Weston Woodward wrestled in the 182-pound weight class and won his frst two matches to put him in the semifinal. In the semifinal, Woodward lost by tech fall to undefeated Reese Jacobs of Sturgis Brown. Woodward then wrestled back to the third place round after beating Hot Springs’ Dylan Webb by decision 9-3. In the third place match Woodward was defeated by Jacob Prell from the Newcastle/Upton team and finished in fourth place.
In the 195-pound weight class is Zayne Severyn. Severyn pinned both of his first two opponents but lost to Sturgis Brown’s Aiden Werlinger in the semifinal. Severyn then won his next match against Sturgis Brown’s Gunnar Sarkela by decision 6-1 to put him in the third place match where he lost to Ayden Kellogg of Rapid City Stevens. Severyn finished in fourth place.
Grady Lehrkamp wrestled in the 220-pound weight class. Lehrkamp won his first match against Oliver Gorsuch of Moorcroft by decision, but then lost his next matches to finish in sixth place.
Rounding out the Wildcat’s roster is Clayton Maude in the 285-pound weight class. Maude lost his first match against Newell’s Colton Niles, but then won his next match against Lucas Giersberg of the Douglas/Rapid City Christian/New Underwood team by just under two minutes. Maude finished fourth after another loss to Niles in the third place match.
Kai Rusch and Connor Adams also wrestled in the tournament but did not place. Four teammates also sat out this for this meet due to illness.
Next up, the team heads to Hill City for the Black Hills Classic tournament on Saturday, which will be the final regular season meet. Then, it’s off to Regions in Lead-Deadwood on Saturday, Feb. 18.
Until then, the team is focused on “touching up on a couple things, healing up and getting prepared for regions and state,” said Webster.