Wednesday, December 23, 2020

2021 Season Has Begun

Welcome everyone to the first blog of the 20/21 season. Aberdeen has a young team this year with just one Senior, Same Calvert who is at 170 lbs. The first tournament of the year, as normal is the dual tournament in Watertown. The team went 2-2 on the day and was competitive in all 4 duals. The action started against the home team of Watertown who beat us 27-46. Lots of close matches and a competitive dual for the most part. New this year is the duals will draw to see what weight they start at instead of the usual start at 106. We started at 195, lost at 195 and 220 before getting a forfeit at 285. Next was 9th grader Rayden Zens at 106. Rayden went undefeated on the day including a 7-1 decision over Sloan Johannsen from Watertown. When the rankings came out Rayden was ranked #2 and Sloan #3. This was a good win for Rayden early in the year. At 113 for Aberdeen is 8th grader Mason Schremmp. Although this is no shock to me, he turned a lot of heads with his performance on the day going undefeated as well. Mason beat Briggs 4-2 to tie the dual score at 12 each. Jacob Bellefuille at 120 wbd over Le and Brock Martin earned a 2nd period fall against Krause to extend Aberdeen's lead 21-12. A pin from Watertown at 132 was answered by a pin by Junior Braydon Steuck over Dowling at 138. That would be the end of the scoring for Aberdeen as Watertown tallied 3 pins, a forfeit and a major decision to win. Next up was Huron and another competitive dual. Starting at 182 Huron earned a tech fall before Aberdeen's Anthony Brunmaier got a pin over Dah Moo and Bryce Beitelspacher earned a forfeit. A pin at 285 for Huron and a forfeit at 106 gave Central the lead 18-11/ Schrempp pinned Bischoff in the first period to extend the lead before Huron answered with a fall of their own at 120. Junior Brock Martin replied to that pin by getting his second straight pin at 126. The back and forth dual continued when Huron earned a fall at 132 then Braydon Steuck WBD over Oschsner 4-0. Team score at this poins is 33- 23 Aberdeen. Huron would get two straight pins then win by decision to take the dual 33-38. Milbank was our next opponent and became our first dual victory. This was a pin or get pinned dual with several forfeits from Milbank. Our young guys in the lineup are getting valuable experience and hopefully as the season progresses they can find ways to stay off their backs and avoid giving up those bonus points. Aberdeen got pins by Freshman Bryce Beitelspacher and Sam Calvert and a tech fall from Brock Martin. We also received 4 forfeits. We won the dual 47-35. Our final dual of the day was against Tea Area, also a young team with only a few upper classman. This dual started at 285 with Tea getting a fall. Zens at 106 finished his day witha fall of his own and Schrempp earned a decision to put us up 9-6. Next at 120 Tea has Quincy Hulverson who is a past state finalist and earned a fall giving Tea the lead, they would add to that lead until Braydon Steuck at 138 won in a high scoring match 20-12 earning a major decision. A 1st period pin by Sophomore Brayden Senger at 145 then a forfeit for 8th grader Cordell Rychlik put Aberdeen in the lead 25-18. A pin, forfeit and pin for Tea and a forfiet for Aberdeen made the score 36-31 in favor of Tea Area, this brought up a big moment early in the year for the team with Freshman Bryce Beitelspacher taking the mat at 220. Needing a pin to win the dual that's exactly what Bryce did at the 1:57 mark to earn an exciting dual victory 37-36. For the first time girls wrestling is a sanctioned sport in SD. There aren't established weight classes yet but I believe there will be by the end of the year. Looking up the data it appears Morgan Woosley got the first win for varsity girls with a pin over Brooklyn Brant from Sturgis during the Rapid Invite!Congrats Brooklyn, it's exciting to see there is a sanctioned varsity girls sport in the state. Girls wrestling is the fastest growing female sport in the country and will only help the sport grow. RAPID INVITE This years Rapid Invite was different due to the virus. Day one was an 8 team individual tournament and day two was a dual tourney. Day one results: 106. Rayden Zens Runner up finish. lbd to Johannsen of Watertown in the finals. 113. Mason Schrempp 3rd place. wbmd over Anderson from Chamberlain 120. Jacob Bellefuille 0-2 126. Brock Martin 1-2 132. Logan Opitz 0-2 138. Braydon Steuck Runner up finish. LBD to Allen of RCS 4-3 145. Braden Senger 1-2 160. Ayden Gisi 0-2 170. Sam Calvert 0-2 182. Dylan Schaunaman 1-2 220. Landon Merkel 0-2 285. Bryce Beitlespacher 1-2 Rapid Invite Duals Aberdeen over Harding County 66-11 Earning pins were Dylan Schaunaman, Mason Schrempp, Brock Martin, Avery Ligon at 132, Lots of forfeits from Harding County. Aberdeen over Belle Fourche 58-23. Earning pins were Rayden Zens, Mason Schrempp, Jacob Bellefuille, Brock Martin, Braydon Steuck, Ayden Gisi and Dylan Schaunaman. Sam Calvert won by Major decision. Abedeen over Rapid City Central 50-29 Earning pins were Bryce Beitelspacher, Rayden Zens, Mason Schrempp, Brock Martin, Avery Ligon, Sam Calvert. Dylan Schaunaman wins BMD, Jacob Bellefuille wbmd and Cordell Rychlick wins by forfeit Sturgis over Aberdeen 23-50. Rayden Zens wbf he had 3 pins and a forfeit victory. Mason Schrempp won by Tech fall, he had 3 pins and a tech fall victory. Brock Martin won by decision. He had 3 pins and win by decision. Sam Calvert beat Merwin 6-2 Aberdeen will have its first home dual on New Years Eve. The Middle school, JV and Varsity will all compete. Varsity action starts at 2:30. I do not know for sure if people can go and watch or if the only option is to watch on line. I believe they are limitin attendance to 4 family members per wrestler. My next update will include the dual against Pierre, the Brookings invite and Mitchell dual. Happy Holidays everyone. Go Eagles!

Monday, March 16, 2020

Post Season Wrestling

It's been a crazy month and I've gotten behind on my blogging but the cancellation of events has given me some time to catch up. The high school season came to a close with a very fun weekend in Sioux Falls at the Premiere Center. The two class environment coupled with the team duals and other changes made for a great event. I look forward to the changes on the schedule next year to make it even better. Before the state tourney however, were the Regions. Aberdeen qualified 7 wrestlers to the state tourney. Here is the breakdown by weight class.


106: Jacob Bellefeuille. the Freshman finished in 4th place to qualify for state. won his opening match by a major decision, lost in the semi finals then a major decision over Johsnon from Milbank got him to state.
113: Brenden Salfrank. The top ranked wrestler in the state rolled through regions earning a tech fall in the finals over Trey Lewis from Pierre.
120: Avery Ligon: New to the starting lineup the 8th grader found himself in a close match to make it to the state tourney. Although he came up short he showed he can compete at the varsity level. I look forward to watching him next year.
126: Brock Martin. The Sophomore got 4th earning a tech fall in the opening round before losing a close one to Houska from Pierre. He bounced back with a decision to go to the state tourney.
132: Drew Salfrank. Drew battled some health issues this year but was able to get in the lineup for the region tourney. The talented freshman earned a fall over Halfred from Cheyenne Eagle Butte before losing in the blood round. I look forward to seeing him throughout the next few years.
138: Calvin Beadle: The sophomore showed glimpses of success throughout the year. The potential is there for Calvin to have a great career going forward.
145: Braydon Steuck. The feel good story of the weekend has to be Braydon. A 10th grader who has seen some limited action in the lineup but came into the region tourney unseeded. He found himself in a battle to qualify for the state tourney wrestling the 3 seed in Cody Skutstad from Chamberlain. Braydon beat him 10-8 in a very exciting match to punch his ticket to state.
152: Samuel Calvert. Sam had a good tournament finishing in 2nd place. He won by fall in the opening round to face the 2 seed in Ryan McGinnis from Mitchel. Sam beat him 5-4 to get to the finals and punching his ticket to the state tourney.
160: Garrett Mitzel. the Senior finished in 3rd place getting 3 pins along the way. He pinned Dillon Schneck from Milbank in that 3rd place match.
170: Dylan Schaunaman. The sophomore lost in the blood round to qualify. He got a lot of matches in this year and gained a lot of experience. Look to see him take big strides next year.
182: Open
195: Dillon Stoebner. Earned a pin, a decision and a major decision over Chamberlain's Gunner Ristau to earn a 3rd place finish.
220: Samson Flakus. Only an 8th grader and has a lot of potential. I am sad to hear he will be moving to Brookings at the end of the school year.
285: Connor Bockorny. He earned a fall to open the tourney then found himself in the blood round where he lost a very close match to the state runner up from last year in Beau Foote. Connor threw Foote to his back in the first period but couldn't get the fall. Connor had a good year and I look forward to seeing him on the football field playing for NSU.


The state tournament is now a 3 day event mixing in the team duals. I enjoyed the duals, there was some close ones with lineups juggling around and upsets throughout. I believe the schedule needs tweaking and am told it will be adjusted for next year. One of the positives was having the semi finals wrestled by themselves. I'm hopeful next year will have the semi finals Friday night followed with the team finals.
As previously mentioned we qualified 7 for the state tournament. The team finished in 15th place with 50 points which is the first time since 2013 that we haven't been on the podium. However, the streak of at least one state champion is still intact as Brenden Salfrank won the 113 lb. bracket for back to back state titles. Rapid City Stevens won its second state team title in a row in an exciting, back and forth finish with Brandon Valley and Watertown. Stevens won by a single point over Brandon valley with 159 to their 158. Watertown was only 4.5 points from the team title with 154.5 total points. Rounding out the top 6 was Pierre, Rapid City Central and Chamberlain.
On the Team dual side, Rapid City Stevens made it a sweep taking the title over Watertown which came down to the very end. An entertaining dual to watch.


106: Jacob Bellefuille. Jacob lost to the 5 seed in the opening round but bounced back to beat Eldeen from Mitchel. He lost to Evan Osborn from Sturgis in the blood round. A good season for Jacob, one he can use as a springboard to the future.
113: Brenden Salfrank. STATE CHAMPION. As Brenden has done all year he showed his dominance on his feet earning an opening round fall followed by two tech falls then a 3-0 decision in the finals over Kaden Olson from Sturgis. He finished his career with an 89 win streak going undefeated the last two seasons. Brenden will continue his career wrestling for NSU.
126: Brock Martin. After an opening round loss Brock pinned Caleb Klatt form Brandon Valley but lost in the blood round. Brock had a wonderful season posting a winning record. I'm looking forward to seeing how he progresses in the next two years.
145: Braydon Steuck. He went 0-2 at the tourney but the experience he gained is immeasurable.
152: Sam Calvert. Although he didn't win a match at the state tourney you could see how he turned a corner late in the year. The Junior has one season left. Look for him to find a podium finish next year.
160: Garrett Mitzel. 8th Place Finish. Garrett earned the 9th seed and drew the 8th seed Gee from Del Rapids in the opening round. Gee came in with an impressive 32-15 record but Garret stuck him in the 2nd period. A loss in the quarter finals sent him to the blood round where he would face Schneck from Milbank. A second period pin earned him a spot on the podium. A winning record this season for Garrett who is one of the hardest workers in the room. Congrats to Garrett.
195: Dillon Stoebner. 5th Place Finish. Dillon was the 8 seed and after a tough opening round loss he needed two straight wins to place. Dillon did just that pinning Rapid City Central's Jon DeRuyter then beating Holtquist from Milbank to place. Another decision over Zuniga from Spearfish then a loss to wrestle for 5th place. Dillon came through with a fall in his final match of his career over Wirtjes from Watertrown who beat him in the opening round. Dillon finishes his career as a two time state place winner and will play football next year in college for NSU.


We placed 3 kids at the state tourney, all 3 were seniors and will be missed in the wrestling room. We had a lot of young, inexperienced guys in the lineup this year who took their lumps. They will need to step up next year and show that leadership needed for the incoming freshman and 8th graders that will crack that lineup. Our middle school is solid with good numbers and a lot of really good wrestlers. I expect to see several of them will be in the lineup next year and be major contributors to the team.
The AAU postseason got cancelled a few days before the Region tournament. Aberdeen sent 78 kids to the District tourney and 75 qualified for Regions. It was disappointing the post season got cancelled because I expected a record number of state placers this year and was really looking forward to seeing us compete at the youth tourney.


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Tuesday, February 18, 2020

An Incredible Weekend of Wrestling!

This last weekend was a busy and highly successful weekend for wrestling in Aberdeen at all levels. Before I get into that I wanted to give a brief overview of the triangular Central had the previous weekend and the ESD middle school tourney. The Varsity traveled down to Yankton to face both Brandon Valley and Yankton. Brandon Valley is one of the top ranked dual teams this year and showed why handing us a 53-13 defeat. Brenden Salfrank won by a major decision, Brock Martin, Drew Salfrank and Dillon Stoebner each won by decision to get us our 13 points.
Against Yankton it was a different story beating the Bucks at home 40-26. Brock Martin and Sam Calvert earned pins, Jacob Bellefuille got a major decision and Logan Optiz, Brenden Salfrank won by decision. Receiving forfeit victories were Dylan Schaunaman, Garrett Mitzel and Samson Flakus.


The next day the middle schoolers were wrestling in the ESD Middle School Tournament and what a successful day it was. Aberdeen had 6 ESD conference champs and 4 runner ups. ESD champs were: Bryce Beitelspacher, Eli Biegler, Mason Schrempp, Esten Foss, Rayden Zens and Tate Huff. Runner ups were: Brody Aesoph, Noah Kramer, Cordel Rychlik and Ridley Waldo. Conference champions get their name up on the wrestling champion boards located at both Simmons middle school and Holgate middle school to show off forever. Congrats to these young men!


The next action was the Huron tournament which kicked off a busy weekend of wrestling for high school, middle school and youth. The team finished in second place with 166.5 points, Winner won the tourney with 236 points followed by Aberdeen then Bon Homme/Scotland 161.5, Huron 152, Madison 143 to round out the top 5.
Aberdeen's lone champion was Brenden Salfrank at 113 lbs. who continued his undefeated season with a bye then 3 straight tech falls. He beat Madison's Truman Stoller in the finals 17-1. The other finalist was at 195 with senior Dillon Stoebner who lost a close one to Jordan Gall of Bon Homme/Scotland.
Also placing was:
4th place - Jacob Bellefuille (106), Brock Martin (126), Sam Calvert (152), Garrett Mitzel (160), Dylan Schaunaman (170), and Connor Bockorny (285)
5th Place - Braden Senger (132), Calvin Beadle (145)
6th place - Samson Flakus.


While the Varsity was in Huron the middle schoolers sent 23 kids to Pierre for the Middle school state tournament. This is the 3rd year for this tourney and it is growing into the prestigious event I had hoped it would when it was introduced. It has grown to over 400 wrestlers and I am told they had to turn some away so they will need to look into some changes for it to allow all to wrestle in it that want to. There were several 32 man brackets with around 12 hours of wrestling. Of the 23 kids that made the trip 13 of them placed bringing home 4 State champions and a runner up! Here are the kids that placed:


80 lbs. Tate Huff - State Champ
95 lbs. Rayden Zens - State Champ
106 lbs. Mason Schrempp - State Champ
195 lbs. Bryce Beitelspacher - State Champ


Esten Foss - Runner Up
Eli Biegler - 3rd
Ridley Waldo - 4th
Cordel Rychlick - 4th
Brody Aesoph 5th
Beau Price - 6th
Ayden Gisi - 6th
Noah Kramer - 7th
Jacob Hieb - 8th


Of Note: Tate, Rayden, Mason and Bryce earned both ESD Conference Titles and MS State Titles. An incredible accomplishment for those guys! They will also have their names on the Middle School State Champions board located in the high school wrestling room.


the next day was the annual Midwest Youth Dual tournament held at the Barnett Center. This year the participating teams were: Aberdeen, Watertown, South Border, Carrington, The Bison Wrestling Club, Bismarck Gorillas and Sturgis.
Aberdeen won their 4 team bracket easily beating Carrington and the Bismarck Gorillas before facing Sturgis. Both teams were undefeated so the winner would come out of the bracket as the #1 seed. In one of the most exciting youth duals I have seen in a long time it came down to the heavyweight match. Aberdeen was trailing 38-37 when Jacob Hieb turned his opponent to his back in the second period and earned the fall securing the dual win! It was a great moment for Jacob and an exciting moment for the athletes, coaches, parents and fans. This win sent us to bracket play where we would face the two seed from the other bracket, South Border. Aberdeen, still riding the momentum from the win against Sturgis, took it to South Border in what turned into a blowout win. The championship would not be as easy facing the Bison Wrestling Club out of Fargo. This team has some very talented wrestlers but I don't think they expected to get the fight that they got. We took an early lead and held onto that throughout the first half of the dual but the 6th graders that the Fargo team brought showed us how talented they were and carried them to the title. We ended up falling short 47-33 to earn the runner up finish. A great day of wrestling for the youth and their families and what an atmosphere NSU Wrestling put on. All the kids got to run through the tunnel with the fog machine during team introductions. The place was rocking throughout the day with exciting duals and matches. The quality of wrestling was very impressive to watch and the face offs for the championship dual were awesome.


As I said at the beginning of this blog it was an incredible weekend of wrestling. The middle school season is now finished, hopefully all of those kids decide to participate in the AAU post season and practice with the youth club at NSU on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The high school has regions this Saturday right here in Aberdeen at Golden Eagles Arena. Wrestling starts at 10:00. The Varsity kids are hoping to punch their ticket to the state tournament next weekend in Sioux Falls. The youth club will be chartering a bus to Sidney Montana to wrestle in a K-8th grade dual tournament. Last year we won the tournament and are hopeful to repeat that feat. The AAU individual district tournament is March 7th. Aberdeen is also hosting the AAU Region tourney on Sunday, March 15th and we are looking for volunteers to mostly work a table. If interested please let us know. The AAU state tournament is in Rapid City this year on March 27-29.


Good luck to all Aberdeen wrestlers throughout the rest of the post season!











































































Friday, February 7, 2020

A Triangular the Lee Wolf and Senior Night

It's been a down year as far as dual results go for the team but there have been many bright spots. The team is filled with inexperience but has a group of Seniors that have been good leaders and are having success. On Jan 30th we went to Watertown for a triangular against Watertown and Harrisburg. Both duals didn't end well for Aberdeen as Watertown beat us 62-15 and Harrisburg won 55-14. Senior Brenden Salfrank continued his dominant season with a pair of tech falls. The only other wrestler to win both was Senior Connor Bockorny with a pin and a forfeit. Senior Garrett Mitzel won a match against his Harrisburg opponent and Sophomore, Brock Martin won against the Watertown kid.


Lee Wolf
Two days later was the annual Lee Wolf tournament held in Golden Eagles Arena. The team wrestled pretty well earning a 6th place finish in the 16 team field. Canton edged out Watertown for the title followed by Bismark Century, Winner and Chamberlain. Here is how we fared at each weight class.


106: Jacob Bellefuille 6th place finish 3-3 on the day with 1 pin
113: Brenden Salfrank Champion. after a tech fall then a pin he won a hard fought match in the semi finals 5-2 against Canton's Andy Meyer and in the finals a 6-3 win against Aden Braun from Jamestown to bring home the title.
113: Logan Optiz went 1-2 on the day picking up a major decision.
120: Avery Ligon went 1-2 on the day getting a pin.
126: Brock Martin 7th place finish 3-2 on the day. 2 pins and a major decision
132: Braden Senger 1-2 on the day.
138: Open
145: Brayden Steuck 2-3 on the day
152: Sam Calvert 1-2 with a tech fall.
160: Garrett Mitzel 4th place finish getting a pin in the quarter finals then another one in the wrestlebacks to advance to the 3rd place match.
170: Dyaln Schaunaman 6th place finish earning a fall along the way.
182: Open
195: Dillon Stoebner 3rd Place. A pin to advance to the semi's then a pin in the wrestlebacks. He followed that with a tech fall over Ristau from Chamberlain to finish in 3rd place.
220: Landon Merkel. The first year Sophomore went 0-2 on the day but you can see the improvement as the year has gone on.
285: Connor Bockorny He took down the 4 seed from Canton, Zach Richardson, to advance to the semi finals where he got to face National Champion Nash Hutmacher from Chamberlain. Connor ended up wrestling for 5th place where he beat Huron's Sebastian Cardona


Senior Night
The Brookings dual was the last dual for the season and an opportunity to recognize this years Seniors. Brookings was dealing with some sickness so they came to town with a limited squad. Aberdeen defeated them 52-19. There were a lot of forfeits but picking up wins for the Eagles were: Brock Martin with a major decision, Calvin Beadle with a pin, and Senior, Dillon Stoebner with a pin.  The Bobcats didn't bring any JV kids so the middle school held a Blue Gold dual. Lots of good wrestling during that dual.


This weekend the varsity travels to Yankton for a triangular against them and Brandon Valley on Friday night. The ESD Middle School tournament is Saturday in Watertown where a lot of Aberdeen kids will be participating. On Sunday the Aberdeen Central youth tourney will be happening. This tourney was pushed back this year because of the Super Bowl. Come on out to Golden Eagles Arena and see the little ones in action.


The following weekend is the Huron Tourney for the Varsity. This is the last event before the post season. That same day the JV will be wrestling in the Bob Gibbons JV tourney while most of the middle schoolers will be in Pierre for the Middle School State Tourney. This will wrap up the JV and middle school seasons. On Sunday, NSU and the youth club is hosting the Midwest Youth duals. right now we have 7 teams committed to it. They are: Aberdeen, Watertown, Sturgis, South Border, Carrington, Bismarck Gorillas and the Bison Wrestling Club. This event continues to grow with quality teams, we hope to continue that in the future.


On Feb 22 is the Region 3A tourney for the Varsity kids. The top 4 qualify for the state tournament in Sioux Falls. This region tourney will be held in Aberdeen this year so make it a point to stop out and watch some really good wrestling. There are 9 teams in our region, Aberdeen, Chamberlain, Cheyenne-Eagle Butte, Huron, Milbank, Mitchell, Pierre and Todd County. Lots of ranked kids from some of the best programs in the state. The action begins at 10:00


Additionally, Aberdeen is hosting the AAU Region tourney on Sunday, March 15th. We are looking for volunteers as this is a big event. If you would like to help out in any form let me know or email us at aberdeenwrestling@nvc.net
(concession help will be hired out so don't need volunteers for that) :)




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Monday, January 27, 2020

High School, Middle School and Youth Update

I've decided to retire the wrestling newsletter and just do everything through the blog. It makes more sense to do one format instead of two. This is the easier of the two formats so I will stick to sending out a link to the blog and update all levels of wrestling through that rather than an attachment. Because of that, this will be a little longer read as I have the weekend of Varsity to update along with a lot of middle school and youth. All 3 levels are fun to watch, I get real excited seeing the progress of the youth into the middle school and knowing what the future holds for Aberdeen wrestling. Ok, I will start with the high school.


Huron Dual on Friday.
What an exciting dual to attend. our varsity was amped up and came out firing. What looked to be a tough dual on paper turned into a blowout by Aberdeen. We simply outwrestled them up and down the lineup. Huron came into the dual with 5 kids in the rankings and the team is currently ranked 11th in the state. Aberdeen has 4 ranked individuals. Neither team is in the top 8 power points for dual rankings as tracked by the SDHSAA. Regardless of rankings. Things got off to an exciting start at 106. Jacob Bellefuille faced off against highly touted and #4 ranked Moses Gross, a 7th grader who I have seen wrestle the last few years. Gross scored on several takedowns and was looking to extend his lead when Bellefuille took him down and pinned him in an exciting change of events. This fired up the entire bench and the crowd sending what looked like it could be a major decision for Huron into a pin for Aberdeen and an early 10 point swing. Aberdeen then bumped up Brenden Salfrank to 120 and had Logan Opitz wrestle 113. Logan got the first takedown but a late surge by Cole Oschner gave him the 6-3 win. Salfrank then tech falled Will Radke to make the team score 11-3 Aberdeen. This move appeared to give us additional team points. Brock Martin then followed pinning Sammons in the 3rd period then Freshman Braden Senger kept the bonus points coming with an impressive first period pin over Aviles. a forfeit from Huron at 138 sent the score to a 29- 3 lead. Huron followed with a pin at 145 before giving Aberdeen a forfeit at 152. Garrett Mitzel got in on the pinning ways sticking Gonzales in the first period as well making the score 41-9 guaranteeing an Aberdeen win in the Huron arena. A pin at 170 and a forfeit at 182 gave Huron 12 more points but Dillon Stoebner stopped that with a pin of his own in only 24 seconds. A fall from Huron at 220 set up the final match of the night. 6th ranked Sebastian Cardona walked onto the mat for Huron facing Connor Bockorny. a close match with the score tied 1-1 late in the third. Connor secured a takedown with 1 second left on the clock to secure the upset win and punctuate the victory. a final score of 50-27.


Before the dual the middle school teams went at it. Aberdeen had 32 kids there, all getting a match as Huron had some wrestle 2 or 3 matches. Every kid competed hard, we won most of the matches and those we didn't win we still looked good. The JV had two matches and we won both of those as well.


Bishop Heelan Wrestling Invitational in Sioux City
This is the first year attending this tournament. a different format was used where if you made it to the semis you were guaranteed a top 4 finish. Aberdeen finished in 8th place for the 12 team tournament with 102.5 points. Watertown won it followed by Logan Magnolia IA, then Lincoln East NE in 3rd.
106: Jacob Bellefuille 2-3 for a 7th place finish. Getting a pin along the way.
113: Brenden Salfrank. The top seed dominated his way to the finals where he would face top ranked Brandon Baustert from Lincoln East NE. Brenden came out on top 7-4 to secure the championship.
113: Logan Opitz. 2-2 7th place finish securing a 3rd period fall in that 7th place match.
120: Open
126: Brock Martin 3-1 3rd place. Defeated Cael Sutton from Watertown in the 3rd place match 8-1
132:Braeden Senger 2-3 8th place finish. His two wins were via pin.
138: Open
145: Calvin Beadle 1-2 8th place finish. beat Kammrad 9-2
145: Brayden Steuck 3-2 4th place finish. earning 3 pins along the way.
152: Sam Calvert 2-1 7th place finish. Securing 2 pins
160: Garrett Mitzel. An overtime decision over Kettwig from Watertown put him in the semi finals against the top seed Mayfield from Lincoln East. Garrett would fall to him and end up in 4th place.
170: Dylan Schaunaman 1-3 for an 8th place finish. Earned a major decision over Combs from Lincoln East.
182: Open
195: Dillon Stoebner. 3rd place. The top seed got two pins before falling to Wirtjes in the semi's. Dillon would bounce back with a major decision in the 3rd place match.
220: Landon Merkel. 0-2 It's the sophomore's first year wrestling but you can see the improvement as the year goes on.
285: Connor Bockorny.2-1 5th place. Two wins both by pin.


Next up is a triangular against Watertown and Harrisburg in Watertown on Thursday then the Lee Wolf tourney Saturday at Golden Eagles Arena.




Middle School
Lots of wrestlers doing a lot of good things.
Faulkton Tourney: Champs were Deginet Hansen, Eli Biegler, Esten Foss, Tate Huff
Jamestown Tourney: Champs were Tate Huff, Avery Ligon Rayden Zens
Sisseton Tourney: Champs were Esten Foss, Ridley Walso, Roman Anderson, Cordel Rycklik
Pierre tourney: Champs were Esten Foss, Roman Anderson and Tate Huff
Groton Tourney: Champs were Cordel Rycklik, Esten Foss, Will Allen
Webster Tourney: Champs were Cordel Rycklik, Noah Kramer, Ryker Meister
Watertown Tourney: Champs were Eli Biegler, Mason Schrempp, Will Allen


The Faulkton Invite was a varsity tournament where we sent some JV kids.
Rayden Zens: 1st place at 95 lbs
Mason Schrempp: 5th place at 106
Eli Biegler: 3rd place at 113
Logan Optiz: 6th place at 120
Ricky Steuck 4th place at 182


Youth Dual Team
The Roncalli Rumble is a K-3rd grade dual. Aberdeen took second place losing a close one to Pierre.
We then had two teams at the Watertown duals where we earned second and 5th place. Another close battle in the championship losing to the host team. A great experience for all the youngsters on both squads.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Mitchell dual and the Bismarck Rotary

Christmas time always brings a nice gift to the wrestlers; a two pound allowance. Aberdeen didn't wrestle in the Rumble on the Red this year because of South Dakota's "no contact" rule over the holiday break so the first action after that two pound allowance was a Saturday afternoon dual in Mitchell. There Aberdeen mustered 4 wins losing to the Kernels 17-49. This is the first time Mitchell has defeated the Golden Eagles in quite a few years. They were the stronger team this time around with a lot of experienced wrestlers in their lineup. Getting wins for the Eagles were Brenden Salfrank and Dillon Stoebner by pin. Brock Martin and freshman Andrew Richardson won by decision.


The following weekend the team made its way to Bismarck for the always tough Rotary tournament. Aberdeen would finish in a respectable 10th place out of 30 with 85.5 points. We had 1 Champion, Brenden Salfrank at 113, a 3rd place finish with Dillon Stoebner at 195 and 4th place for Connor Bockorny at 285. Also had two kids just miss placing losing that match that would have gotten them on the awards stand. Below is a rundown from weight to weight.


106 Jacob Bellefuille: lost in the opening round then lost a tight one in the wrestlebacks


113 Brenden Salfrank: Back to back Rotary titles for Brenden. He, once again, defeated ND state champ and Fargo Greco Roman National Champion, Christian Tanefeu from Bismarck. This time the score was 8-4. Salfrank's dominance in the top position was too much for Tanefeu to handle. My guess in Tanefeu is glad they don't see Aberdeen anymore this year. Nobody in North Dakota can come close to him but Brenden has now beaten him 3 times this season. Brenden is now 21-0 on the year and hasn't lost since the state tourney two years ago (3rd place).


120 Open


126 Brock Martin: Brock had an opening round bye then lost to go to the wrestle backs. A couple wins via a decision got him to the blood round where he would lose to Johnsrud from Bismarck Century to just miss the podium.


132 Braden Senger: The freshman had a tough couple matches but gained some good experience.


138 Calvin Beadle: lost a couple


145 Braden Steuck: Some tough matches as well but good experience.


152 Samuel Calvert: Lost in the opening round then went on a winning streak in the wrestlebacks earning a pin and two decision victories before losing to VanScoy from Stevens in the blood round. Just missed the awards stand.


160 Dylan Schaunaman:  Lost his first match then lost in overtime in the wrestle back round.


170 Open


182 Andrew Richardson: Lost to the two seed in the opening round, bounced back with a pin before losing in the second round of wrestlebacks.


195 Dillon Stoebner: The 5th seed earned two falls to advance to the quarter finals where he would face the 4th seed in Serumgard from Devils Lake. The seeding didn't matter because Dillon pinned him in the second period to advance to the semi finals and guarantee placing. He succumbed to the eventual champion sending him to the wrestle backs where he defeated Glatt from Bismarck then Retzlaff from Carrington to earn a 3rd place finish. 5 wins for the tournament with 3 pins.


220 Samson Flakus is an 8th grader who gained some valuable experience.


285 Connor Bockorny : The unseeded Bockorny had a fabulous tournament. after a second period fall in the opening round he faced the 2 seed, Ortiz, from West Fargo. The seeding didn't matter to Connor as he pinned Ortiz in less than a minute to advance to the quarter finals. He continued his pinning ways with another 1st period pin sending him to the semi finals. There he would lose a close one but bounced back earning another pin before losing in the final match of the day for a 4th place finish. Connor had 4 wins on the day all via pin.


The next action for the Aberdeen Golden Eagles is a triangular against Brandon Valley on Friday then the Harrisburg tourney on Saturday.