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25 facts to know ahead of the South Dakota state wrestling championships in Sioux Falls

marcus traxler, the daily republic, mitchell, s.d.
·8 min read

Feb. 20—SIOUX FALLS — Another big weekend of wrestling and crowning state champions is upon us this week.

The South Dakota High School Activities Association's state wrestling championship — with more than 630 wrestlers and championships to be handed out in 40 weight classes to boys and girls — will be held over three days at the Premier Center in Sioux Falls.

Wrestling begins at 10 a.m. Thursday with the opening round, followed by the quarterfinals at 4 p.m. Thursday.

Of note this year, the individual championship is spread out to three days, with no duals involved. (Those were held separately on Feb. 10, with Sturgis winning in Class A and Canton emerging with the title in Class B.)

The state semifinal round will be held at 3 p.m. Friday, with the placement matches for third, fifth and seventh at 10 a.m. Saturday and the championship round at 1 p.m. Saturday.

Here's a look at what to know for the competition:

* Brandon Valley's Navarro Schunke has a chance at history in Class A, with the chance to become the state's first five-time champion in Class A history. If successful, he would be the seventh all-time regardless of class, joining Kirk Wallman, of Freeman; Webster's Logan Storley; Tri-Valley's Caden Lamer, Philip's Lincoln McIlravy, Bon Homme's Hannon Hisek and Wagner's Alex Kocer.

* Schunke has won 161 matches in a row, dating back to the region tournament in 2020 when he took second place. He's already matched the state's 285-pound state title record held by

Chamberlain alum and current Nebraska wrestler Nash Hutmacher

, who won the division from 2017-20, meaning the Class A state title at 285 pounds has been won by two people over the last eight years. Schunke won titles at 285 three times and 220 in 2021 over the last four seasons. (Hutmacher ended his career with 166 consecutive wins, a record Schunke will fall short of with only four maximum wins possible without a loss at state.)

* Schunke is the state's only nationally ranked wrestler, checking in at No. 4 in FloWrestling's 285-pound rankings. Schunke is planning to play football collegiately at Kansas State. His younger brother, Elijah, is also the No. 1 seed at the 190-pound weight class for the Lynx.

* Also for the Lynx, senior Trevon Oehme has a chance to win three titles in a row. Oehme was 22-4 this season and seeded No. 2 in the 120-pound weight class. Watertown's Gage Lohr is the No. 1 seed as a freshman with a 40-0 record.

* In Class A, only two wrestlers remain undefeated. Schunke is 38-0 at 285 pounds and Lohr has a 40-0 mark at 120 pounds.

* Watertown's Sloan Johanssen is shooting for a fourth consecutive state championship. He is 40-1 and a senior, wrestling in the 126-pound weight class.

* Aberdeen Central and Sturgis qualified wrestlers in all 14 weight classes for the second year in a row. Pierre and Rapid City Stevens will each send 13 wrestlers to this year's tournament, with 12 from Harrisburg.

* Four wrestlers are in the Class B state tournament with undefeated records. Parker's Levi Wieman is perfect at 215 pounds with a 48-0 record as a senior. Redfield's Grady Fey is undefeated with a 45-0 mark at 285 pounds as a senior. Howard senior Jackson Remmers is 43-0 at 157 pounds, and Hamlin/Castlewood's Brody Randall is 40-0 at 113 pounds. Wieman is tied with Custer's Tray Weiss (48-3 at 113 pounds) for the Class B lead in overall victories this season at 48.

* Brothers Jace and Burk Blasius both have No. 1 seeds for Philip/Kadoka Area/Wall entering the state tournament. Jace Blasius, who is 31-4 as a junior, is the top seed at 144 pounds, while Burk Blasius, a senior with a 32-2 record, is the top seed at 175 pounds.

* Burk Blasius has a chance at a fourth Class B wrestling title, something done by only one other Badlands Brawler in the program's history. Philip legend Lincoln McIllravy won five titles in a row from 1988-92.

* Also going for four titles is Canton's Ayson Rice, who is going for the title at 150 pounds as the No. 1 seed with a record of 38-1. Rice can match former C-Hawk wrestler Kellyn March (2017-20) as the only wrestlers in program history with four titles. Like former Winner Area wrestler Kaden Keiser, who closed out four titles in a row in 2022, Rice is committed to wrestle collegiately at Appalachian State in North Carolina.

* Remmers has a chance to win three state titles but his first at Howard. Remmers and his brother Weston, the No. 3 seed at 165 pounds, transferred from nearby McCook Central/Montrose before the school year. Jackson Remmers has 101 takedowns this season without giving one up.

* Fey is the state's pin leader this season, entering the state tournament with 35 wins by fall. He won all three matches at the Region 1B tournament in a total of 86 seconds, including a quarterfinal win in 5 seconds and his championship victory in 18 seconds for the Pheasants.

* Judd Hansen, of Burke/Gregory, is tops in the state in wins by technical fall. He's scored 14 victories in that manner this season. He is the No. 3 seeded wrestler at 106 pounds in Class B.

* Heavy favorites once again, Canton is going for a ninth state title in Class B in the team points race and its seventh in a row. It is the longest streak in South Dakota team wrestling history for either class. The C-Hawks lead Class B with 13 individual qualifiers, while Custer and Philip/Kadoka Area/Wall are sending 11 to Sioux Falls.

* Four wrestlers in the state girls wrestling tournament enter with undefeated records. Harrisburg sophomore Regina Stoeser is 36-0 at 126 pounds, Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon junior Peyton Hellmann is 38-0 and the No. 1 seed at 138 pounds, Brookings junior Johanna Steinlicht is 29-0 at 145 pounds and Pierre freshman Abbigail Lewis is 37-0 and the top seed at 152 pounds.

* Watertown eighth-grader Olivia Anderson is the No. 1 seed at the 100-pound weight class. She has a state-best 43 victories to her name this year with a 43-1 record.

* Canton leads the state competition with an entry in all 12 weight classes in the girls weights. Pierre, Aberdeen Central and Lakota Tech tied for second-most with 11 qualifiers. In all, 60 different schools qualified at least one girls wrestler to the state meet, which is being contested for the fourth time this year.

* Pierre and Canton are the expected favorites for the girls team points title as they have been in the last two seasons. Pierre won in 2023 with 167 points, followed by Canton at 134.5. In an unofficial eight-team dual state tournament in Canton on Feb. 2, Pierre won the head-to-head in the championship 39-25.

* Hellmann, of Bon Homme/Scotland/Avon, is in the running to become the state's first four-time girls champion. She's 38-0 and is the No. 1 seed at 138 pounds, with 36 of those wins by fall to lead all girls in the state. She's won 79 matches in a row and 62 of her last 64 victories dating back to the middle of the 2022-23 season have been via pins.

* Harrisburg's Regina Stoeser leads the state in takedowns with 174, while allowing only one takedown against this season. Hellmann is second with 146 takedowns and only three allowed. No other South Dakota girls wrestler this season has recorded more than 77 takedowns.

* Hellmann, Stoeser and BHSA's Britney Rueb are all nationally ranked in the most recent USA Wrestling rankings. Stoeser is ranked No. 12 at 125 pounds, Hellmann is 17th at 140 pounds and Rueb is 30th at 120 pounds.

* Rueb has a chance to win her third state championship in four seasons, although she's in the same weight class as Lemmon/McIntosh's Quinn Butler, the top seed with a 33-1 record. Rueb and Butler were second and third last year, respectively, behind Stoeser at 120 pounds, and Rueb defeated Butler for a state title in 2022 at 113 pounds.

* Mitchell's Frankie Kranz and Canton's Kenzie King are tied for the most reversals in the state this season, each with 21. Kranz wrestles at 114 pounds, while King is at 145.

* After 10 weight classes awarded championships in 2022 and 2023, South Dakota has competed with 12 girls weight classes this season, falling in line with national guidelines. It will be the most state championships awarded since the inaugural high school season in 2021, with 13 titles split across two classes.