Britton-Hecla placed nine of its 12 wrestlers in the top six for a fourth place team finish at the Kingsbury County Wrestling Tournament in Arlington on Saturday, and 150-pounder Bryce Hawkinson brought home an individual championship.
In a pair of dual matches on Thursday in Willow Lake the Braves stopped Redfield 42-39 and fell to Clark-Willow Lake 48-30.
Other Braves’ placers at the Saturday tourney included Ben Suther, now 13-4, second at 175; finishing third were Lincoln Kilker (16-10) at 106, Colton Chapin (12-7) at 165, and Tucker Hardy (17-5) at 190; Carter Grobe (8-11) was fourth at 132; Tanner Atkinson (10-9) was fifth at 138 and Corbin Dawson (3-12) placed fifth at 144; and Henry Kilker (13-12) was sixth at 106.
“We had a pretty good at Arlington,” said B-H coach Josh Hawkinson. “When we got into that blood round (round before placing) we started winning and kept winning. Fourth place is the best we’ve ever done in that tournament since I’ve been coaching. I’m starting to see the kids get a little more confident and trying some things.”
Bryce Hawkinson’s championship marked his return after battling a shoulder injury the past few weeks.
“Bryce wrestled well even though he only had a couple of days to get back into shape,” noted the B-H boss. “His shoulder is pretty good and now just has to work on his wind and getting some power back.”
The Braves also marked a first in its win over Redfield.
“That was the first time we’ve beaten Redfield since I started coaching,” said Hawkinson. “Jerrik Jones came through and won a match for us that made the difference.”
The local matmen traveled to Sioux Valley for a quadrangular last night Tuesday. B-H will compete at a Groton quadrangular on Friday, and travel to the Groton Tournament on Saturday.
Kingsbury County Tourney TEAM POINTS: Kingsbury County 221.5, Brookings 202.5, Flandreau 145.5, Britton-Hecla 142, Redfield Area 135.5, Sioux Falls Washington 126.5, Groton Area 124.5, Sioux Valley 112, Hamlin-Castlewood 54.5, Warner-Northwestern 33, Tiospa Zina 22, Ipswich-Leola-Bowdle 10.5
106 POUNDS: Lincoln Kilker (BH) pinned Lane Madsen (Kingsbury County) 1:24; pinned by Kyson Sundberg (Sioux Valley) 5:43; pinned Willy Miller (Kingsbury County) 2:22; 3rd Place Match - tech fall over Josh Deming (Brookings) 3:23, 17-2
106 POUNDS: Henry Kilker (BH) pinned by Jace Edgar (Redfield Area) 2:47; pinned Kaiser Thiex (Sioux Valley) :38; dec. Bentley Ehresmann (Groton Area) 11-10; dec. Lane Madsen (Kingsbury County) 4-1; pinned by Josh Deming (Brookings) 3:27; 5th Place Match – lost dec. to Willy Miller (Kingsbury County) 18-4
120 POUNDS: Jerrik Jones (BH) pinned by Wyatt Hagen (Groton Area) :41; pinned Parker Zoellner (Groton Area) 2:25; lost by tech fall to Chance Miller (Ipswich/Leola/Bowdle) 3:28, 16-1
132 POUNDS: Carter Grobe (BH) pinned by Lane Albrecht (Kingsbury County) 1:05; dec. Noah Scepaniak (Groton Area) 6-3; dec. Blake Bast (Sioux Falls Washington) 17-9; 3rd Place Match – lost. dec. to Gabriel Frias (Flandreau) 12-3
138 POUNDS: Tanner Atkinson (BH) lost. dec. to Kasey Hermann (Redfield Area) 15-2; dec. Justin Goens (Hamlin/Castlewood) 10-0; pinned by Micah Stern (Brookings) 2:05; 5th Place Match – pinned Jack Griggs (Brookings) 4:09
144 POUNDS: Corbin Dawson (BH) lost by tech fall to Conner Zens (Redfield Area) 1:11, 17-2; dec. Weston Weisser (Ipswich/Leola/Bowdle) 4-2; pinned by Micah Eidem (Sioux Falls Washington) :34; 5th Place Match – pinned Morgan Christensen (Sioux Valley) 2:48
150 POUNDS: Bryce Hawkinson (BH) pinned Kason Oswald (Groton Area) :59; tech fall over Dalin Billmeier (Flandreau) 3:24,19-3; dec.; 1st Place Match – dec. Caden Singrey (Kingsbury County) 8-6
165 POUNDS: Colton Chapin (BH) pinned Ben Hoeft (Groton Area) 1:55; lost by tech fall to Tate Everson (Hamlin/Castlewood) 2:23, 17-1; pinned Preston Meyer (Flandreau) 3:58; 3rd Place Match – pinned Jacob Lingen (Sioux Falls Washington) :22
175 POUNDS: Ben Suther (BH) pinned Austin Nash (Warner/Northwestern) 4:44; won in ultimate tiebreaker over Donovan Sandven (Kingsbury County) UTB 15-14; 1st Place Match – pinned by Justin Klein (Flandreau) 3:39
190 POUNDS: Tucker Hardy (BH) pinned Isaiah Scepaniak (Groton Area) 2:34; pinned Liam Gunnon (Kingsbury County) 2:59; pinned by Blake Kannegieter (Brookings) 2:57; pinned Johnnie Vermeulen (Sioux Valley) :42; 3rd Place Match – dec. Rhyder Behnke (Flandreau) 13-2
215 POUNDS: Max Suther (BH) lost dec. to Harvey Hardt (Sioux Valley) 10-9; lost by forfeit to Case Phelps (Kingsbury County)
285 POUNDS: Liam Paxton (BH) pinned by Breyten Johnson (Kingsbury County) 2:28; dec. Braelon Marlow (Redfield Area) 6-2; pinned by Wyatt Nelson (Sioux Valley) :20
FOR FULL STATS, SEE THIS WEEK'S JOURNAL.
