Britton-Hecla had three champions and qualified five wrestlers for the Class B state wrestling tournament at the Region 1B tourney held in Webster on Saturday.
The top four placers in the regional will move on to the state event set for the Denny Sanford PREMIER center in Sioux Falls Thursday through Saturday. Opening day matches begin at 10 a.m., action gets underway at 9:30 a.m. on Friday, placing matches start at 10 a.m. Saturday with championship matches beginning at 1 p.m.
Winning individual titles for the Braves were senior Bryce Hawkinson at 150, junior Ben Suther at 175, and senior Tucker Hardy at 190. All three of those grapplers were state qualifiers a year ago. Joining that trio are sophomores Lincoln Kilker at 106 and Tanner Atkinson at 138, who both finished fourth in the regional. It is Hakwinson’s fifth state tourney appearance, Hardy’s third, and Suther’s second.
Sophomore Carter Grobe, who finished the season with a 19-23 mark, fell just short of qualifying for state at 138 with a fifth place region finish. Other local matmen wrapping up their seasons included Colton Chapin (27-14) at 157, Max Suther (14-10) at 215, and Liam Paxton (14-27) at 285.
The Braves also finished fifth as a team in the 17-team region. The team finish, three regional champions, and five state qualifiers are all firsts for the Braves in the eight years that Hawkinson has coached the program. The combined record of the five qualifiers is 171-55 and the three region champs are a sparkling 106-21.
“I was pretty happy with the way the regional went,” noted Coach Hawkinson. “A lot of success in the state tournament depends on seeding and our three region champs set themselves up for a good seed. The mindset now is to wrestle with everything that we have, and I think we’re wrestling our best of the season. We have nothing to lose, and for our two seniors it could be the last time they step out on the mat.”
Kilker (36-18) is the 13th seed at state and will meet #4 freshman Tommy Studt (29-7) of New Underwood. Atkinson (29-16) is also a 13 seed and will wrestle #4 freshman Coy Eddy (37-8) of New Underwood. Hawkinson (30-5) holds down the third seed and will meet 14 seed junior Lyle Noel (13-7) of Bennett County. Suther (37-7) is #4 and will take on #13 senior Stetson Riggs (33-11) of Hanson. Klein of Flandreau, while Hardy (39-9) is in the #6 slot and will wrestle #11 senior Mason Janek (21-11) of Burke-Gregory.
FOR FULL TEAM STATS, SEE THIS WEEK'S JOURNAL.
