Two Matmen State Qualifiers

Two Britton-Hecla wrestlers finished third in the Region 1B tournament in Gettysburg on Saturday to advance to the Class B state tournament in Sioux Falls Thursday through Saturday at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center.

Sophomore Bryce Hawkinson earned a spot at 144 pounds and sophomore Tucker Hardy qualified at 285 pounds. The top four finishers in each weight class earn state spots. It is Hawkinson’s third state tournament appearance, also making the elite field as a seventh and eighth grader before being injured his freshman season, while Hardy is making is first state trip.

Two B-H wrestlers fell just short of qualifying for state. Collin Beaner at 150 and Ben Suther at 157 both placed fifth. Beaner was named an alternate and if for some reason a 150pound qualifier is not able to compete he would replace that wrestler. A set of criteria is used to select alternates from the four regional fifth place region finishers from around the state.

“Our goal was to get at least one qualifier and we are happy getting two,” said B-H coach Josh Hawkinson. “It would have been nice to get Collin and Ben there, too, but I think in both instances that first match was super important for them and they both lost the opener in close matches.”

Both Hawkinson, now 38--10, and Hardy, 35-14, will tangle with wrestlers they met in the regional tourney in the first round of the state event. Junior Christian Ehresmann of Groton Area (35-5) earned an 11-3 win over Hawkinson, while Hardy defeated sophomore Owen Vandeweerd Sioux Valley (41-6) 3-0 in the fifth place match. Both weight classes are filled with grapplers sporting at least 30 wins this season with nine of the 16 qualifiers in the 144-pound bracket and 10 at heavyweight meeting that criteria.

“I think we’re sitting in a goodspottohopefullygetsomebody in the placing rounds,” concluded Hawkinson. “It’s a fun weekend and what you work for all year.”

TEAM POINTS: Kingsbury County 177, Faulkton Area 176.5, Clark-Willow Lake 148, Redfield 133, Groton Area 109, Warner-Northwestern 103, Webster Area 98.5, Deuel-Deubrook Area 88, Hamlin-Castlewood 65, Sioux Valley 63, Britton-Hecla 54, Potter County 51, Ipswich-Bowdle 23, Sully Buttes 17, Doland 0, Tiospa Zina 0.

120 POUNDS : Tanner Atkinson (BH, 13-13) pinned by Tacey Miller (Webster Area, 35-14) 4:45; pinned by Jaden Buchmann (Hamlin/Castlewood, 17-21) 4:20

132 POUNDS: Bryce Heitkamp (BH, 8-22) pinned by Tate Steffensen (Sioux Valley, 44-5) :53; pinned by Kamryn Rhodes (Faulkton Area, 25-21) :40

144 POUNDS : Bryce Hawkinson (BH, 38-10) pinned Trace Shoemaker (Webster Area, 20-20) :39; lost dec. to Christian Ehresmann (Groton Area, 35-5) 11-3; dec. Taylor Merkel (Clark/ Willow Lake, 31-20) 7-0; dec. Tate Everson (Hamlin/Castlewood, 22-20) 10-2

150 POUNDS: Collin Beaner (BH, 17-8) lost dec. to Bryce Klancke (Clark/ Willow Lake, 20-13) 6-5; dec. Blaise McGregor (Webster Area, 3-16) 11-1; pinned by Kaleb Johnson (Kingsbury County, 28-15) 2:02; pinned Ayden Forgey (Potter County, 9-11) 4:48

157 POUNDS : Ben Suther (BH, 3218) pinned by Collin Dean (Redfield, 29-19) 3:22; pinned Kahne Hanson (Kingsbury County, 2-13) :33; pinned Ivan Stuwe (Potter County, 19-20) 2:50; lost dec.to Gage Baumgarn (Webster Area, 31-16) 3-2; dec. CJ Fitzsimmons (Deuel/Deubrook Area, 18-16) 5-3

175 POUNDS: Dashel Davidson (BH, 21-20) pinned by Dylan Murray (Redfield, 22-5) 2:48; pinned Luke Johnson (Sioux Valley, 2-28) 1:24; lost dec. to Marshall Holz (Kingsbury County, 29-28) 7-3

285 POUNDS: Tucker Hardy (BH, 35-14) pinned Brayden Satter (Warner/ Northwestern, 15-21) 1:05; lost in tiebraker to Parker Bode (Faulkton Area, 37-7) TB-1 3-2; dec. Gaviin Englund (Groton Area, 30-14) 10-6; dec. Owen Vandeweerd (Sioux Valley, 41-6) 3-0