It was a banner week for the Britton-Hecla wrestling squad.
The Braves won six individual titles at the Groton Tournament on Saturday and finished second as a team in the 20-team event, Colton Chapin earned the Most Valuable Wrestler Award at Groton (voted on by tourney officials), and B-H won three of four dual matches. The result of all of that is a 12th place ranking in the most recent state wrestling poll.
Earning championships at Groton were Lincoln Kilker, now 23-14, at 106 pounds; Tanner Atkinson, 17-11, at 138; Bryce Hawkinson, 17-4, at 150; Colton Chapin, 17-9, at 165; Ben Suther, 24-5, at 175; and Tucker Hardy, 26-7, at 190. Two grapplers also finished fifth – Carter Grobe, 11-18, at 132, and Liam Paxton, 7-16, at 215.
Coach Josh Hawkinson’s squad swept a pair of duals at Sioux Valley last week Tuesday, defeating Deuel 42-33 and Sioux Valley 46-27. On Friday the Braves derailed McLaughlin 36-18 before falling to Groton Area 51-28.
This week the local matmen will compete in the Warner-Northwestern Quadrangular in Mellette on Friday and in the Redfield Invitational Tournament on Saturday. The Braves only home matches of the season will be on Thursday, Feb. 12.
“Saturday was a pretty fun day,” said Coach Hawkinson. “Winning six titles and finishing second in the tournament were things we haven’t seen before. I think we just had a lot of kids that believed they could do it, and they went after it.”
Hawkinson is hoping his squad can continue on its upward trend.
“This week was a nice confidence booster this time of the year for the kids. Hopefully we can keep improving. We have three duals on Friday and a tough tournament at Redfield on Saturday.”
The Braves are a little banged up heading into this week and have been battling some illness. Jerrik Jones broke his arm against McLaughlin and will be out for the rest of the season. Max Suther and Carter Grobe have both sruggled with shoulder injuries, and Ben Suther and Tanner Atkinson both sat out Friday due to illness.
FOR FULL STATS SEE THIS WEEKS JOURNAL
