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.

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.