State gymnastics meet set for Pierre; state B dual wrestling tourney for Watertown
Estelline-Hendricks is hoping to close out the 2023-24 South Dakota high school gymnastics season with another state A championship.
The Redhawks, who captured their first-ever state title last Feburary and recorded the score out of the eight teams that qualified for state in the Region 1A and 2A meets last week.
Estelline-Hendricks won the Region 1A meet at Madison with a 142.725. Fellow area schools Britton-Hecla (third, 132.6) and Deuel (fourth, 131.975) also will compete along with Region 1A runner-up Madison (138.475) and Region 2A schools Chamberlain, Vermillion, Hot Springs and Parkston-Ethan-Hanson-Mount Vernon in the state Class A team competition that opens at 10 a.m. Friday at Pierre High School.
The two-day meet, which also includes Class AA team compettiion on Friday evening, will end with the individual event and all-around championships in each class on Saturday. Many area gymnasts (also representing area schools Milbank and Sisseton) will compete in Class A competition that is also set for 10 a.m. on Saturday.
Sadie Johnson of Estelline-Hendricks won the balance beam, floor exercise, vault and all-around titles in Region 1A and will be favored to repeat as the Class A all-around champion on Saturday.
Here are the Region 1A meet results from last Thursday:
Team Scores — Estelline-Hendricks 142.725, Madison 138.475, Britton-Hecla 132.600, Deuel 131.975, Sisseton 125.600, Milbank 124.475, West Central 27.800.
Balance Beam — 1, Sadie Johnson, Estelline-Hendricks, 9.300; 2, Portia Trias, Estelline-Hendricks, 9.100; 3,Karlie Nelson, Madison, 9.075; 4, Jaylee Berwald, Estelline-Hendricks, 8.950; 5, Ellie Keller, Madison, 8.725; 6, Hannah Brown, Milbank, 8.600; 7, Paislee Cooney, Madison, 8.525; 8, Ava Teveldal, Britton-Hecla, 8.475.
Floor Exercise — 1, Sadie Johnson, Estelline-Hendricks, 9.700; 2, Karlie Nelson, Madison, 9.500; 3, Hannah Cutshaw, Deuel, 9.475; 4, Maggie Hausman, Estelline-Hendricks, 9.350; 5, Portia Trias, Estelline-Hendricks, 9.300; 6, Hannah Brown, Milbank, 9.200; 7, Payge Ebbers, Estelline-Hendricks, 9.125; 8, Sterling Mertens, Britton-Hecla, 9.075.
Uneven Bars — 1, Portia Trias, Estelline-Hendricks, 9.100; 2, Sadie Johnson, Estelline-Hendricks, 8.950; 3, Karlie Nelson, Madison, 8.800; 4, Hope Bjerke, Deuel, 8.775; 5, Sterling Mertens, Britton-Hecla, 8.550; 6, Hannah Cutshaw, Deuel, 8.500; 7, Sophia Sudenga, Madison, 8.400; 8, Kyra Wiese, Madison, 8.325.
Vault — 1, Sadie Johnson, Estelline-Hendricks, 9.525, 2, Karlie Nelson, Madison, 9.000; 3, Hannah Brown, Milbank, 8.925; 4, Sterling Mertens, Britton-Hecla, 8.875; 5, Izzy Metz, Sisseton, 8.800; 6, Kenzy Beare, Estelline-Hendricks, 8.775; 7, (tie) Kaegan Fredrickson, Britton-Hecla, 8.700, Hannah Cutshaw, Deuel, 8.700, and Hope Bjerke, Deuel, 8.700.
All-Around — 1, Sadie Johnson, Estelline-Hendricks, 37.475; 2, Karlie Nelson, Madison, 36.375; 3, Hannah Cutshaw, Deuel, 34.575; 4, Hope Bjerke, Deuel, 34.375; 5, Hannah Brown, Milbank, 34.225; 6, Sterling Mertens, Britton-Hecla, 34.100; 7, Payge Ebbers, Estelline-Hendricks, 33.900; 8, Maggie Hausman, Estelline-Hendricks, 33.575.
Other Gymnastics
In other Class A gymnastics Jan. 29-Feb. 3, Estelline-Hendricks defeated Class AA Yankton 142.65-133.9 in a home dual at The Barn in Hendricks, Minn. Johnson won the vault, uneven bars and all-around titles (37.8) in the meet. Teammate Maggie Hausman won the balance beam and was third in the all-around (34.6), followed by fellow Redhawks Payge Ebbers (33.7) and Jaylee Berwald (32.75).
Deuel finished second (132.8) in a home triangular that also included Madison (136.85) and Pipestone Area, Minn. (129.6). Hannah Cutshaw of Deuel won the uneven bars and all-around (35.15) titles and teammate Hope Bjerke won the vault. Bjerke was third (33.45) and teammate Laycee Anderson fourth (33.15) in the all-around competition.
More: Eighteen area wrestlers capture individual championships in weekend tournaments
AREA WRESTLING
Gymnasts across the state will wrap on their seasons this weekend and the end is near for high school wrestlers.
On Saturday, the Class B (Watertown Civic Arena) and Class A (Brookings Dacotah Bank Center) will be held. As of Sunday night (Feb. 4), the pairings have not been finalized. First-round matches are scheduled for 11 a.m., followed by semifinals and place matches (championship, third place and fifth place) at 2 p.m.
Individual region wrestling tournaments are scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 17 and the state boys and girls individual tourneys run Feb 22-24 at the Denny Sanford PREMIER Center in Sioux Falls.
Tournaments
Parker scored 177 points and won the 14-team Lake Central-Big East Conference tournament on Saturday in Volga. Kingsbury Country took second at 147.
Gannon Gilligan (126 pounds, 20-1) and Conner Giedd (138, 23-1) each won titles for Kingsbury County, which had eight place winners. Clark-Willow Lake adeded four and Sioux Valley and Deuel-Deubrook Area each two.
Tate Steffensen (41-5 at 132) and Owen Vandeweerd (39-4 at 285) of Sioux Valley also won titles.
Seven area wrestlers finished second including Cade Gaikowski (106), Cooper Pommer (113) and Elliot Bratland (165) of Clark-Willow Lake; Ryker Gauger (120) and Jaxon Quail of Deuel-Deubrook Area; and Greyson Nielson (132) and Connor Johnson (215) of Kingsbury County.
Five area wresters won division titles in the Redfield Invite on Saturday. Tri-Valley won the 11-team meet with 155.5 points. Sisseton and Redfield each had five place winners and Britton-Hecla three.
Kayden Tchida (28-6 at 113), Ian Metz (32-5 at 126) and Holden Hawkins (39-5 at 144) each won titles for Sisseton. Dylan Murray (18-3 at 175) and Grady Fey (41-0 at 285) each won for Redfield.
Runner-ups were Bryce Hawkinson of Britton-Hecla (144) and Maddon Odland of Redfield (106).
Other Wrestling Highlights
Tuesday — Deuel-Deubrook Area topped Flandreau 48-25, Hamlin-Castlewood 66-18 and Howard 48-30 in a quadrangular at White. Hamlin-Castlewood also lost to Flandreau 33-24 and Howard 42-24.
Tyson Hagberg (126), Zane Miller (138) and Hayden Cooper (150) each were 3-0 for DDA. Brody Randall (113) and Tate Everson (144) did the same for Hamlin-Castlewood.
Potter County beat Sunshine Bible Academy 39-12 and lost to Miller/Highmore-Harrold 59-12 in the SBA Triangular. SBA also fell to MHH 60-9.
Thursday — Faulkton Area downed Ipswich-Bowdle 61-0 and Warner-Northwestern 69-15 in the Lake Region Conference duals at Faulkton. WNW beat Ipswich-Bowdle 36-16 in the other dual.
Logan Smith (106), Sean Roseland (113), Cash Edgar (120), Tucker Baloun (126), Kamryn Rhodes (132), Carter Schulte (138-144), Garrett Cramer (150), Drake Mueller (175), Lincoln Dikoff (215) and Parker Bode (285) each won twice for Faulkton Area. Charlie Dulany (157), Dustin Dirksen (165) and Alex Pudwill (190) each were 2-0 for WNW.
In the North-South Duals at Webster, Milbank posted wins over Dell Rapids 61-18 and Lennox 63-15 and Webster Area topped Dell Rapids 42-25 and Lennox 49-18.
Andrew Karels (120), Owen Fischer (126), Joe French (150), Reese Raabe (165), Tate Schlueter (175), Jesse Schneck (190) Cody Wiik (215) and Landon Novy (285) of Milbank and Tacey Miller (120), Gavon Larson (126-132), Haeden Jorgenson (144), Gage Baumgarn (157), Isaac Nelson (190) and Matthew Angiolelli 215) of Webster Area each were 2-0.
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Friday — Britton-Hecla downed Potter County 48-34, Warner-Northwestern 54-30 and Ipswich-Bowdle 66-12 in a quadrangular at Mellette. WNW recorded wins over Ipswich-Bowdle 36-18 and Potter County 42-30 and Potter County turned back Ipswich-Bowdle 30-18.
Colt Hansen (126-132), Max Suther (126-132), Bryce Hawkinson (144), Collin Beaner (150-157) and Tucker Hardy (285) of Britton-Hecla; Charlie Dulany (157), Dustin Dirksen (165), Alex Pudwill (190) and Preston Cavalier (215) of Warner-Northwestern; Easton Rausch (106-113), Lance Stuwe (120-126), Tanne Vander Vorst (138-144) and Ivan Stuwe (150) of Potter County; and Justin Rohrbach (175-190) of Ipswich-Bowdle all were 3-0 on the night.
Parkston won by criteria in a dual against Redfield that ended in a 42-42 draw. Caleb Nelson (106), Maddon Odland (113), Kasey Hermann (120), Marken Cazeau (126), Dylan Murray (175), Camden Murray (215) and Grady Fey (285) each won by fall for Redfield.
Girls Wrestling
Wrestlers from Clark-Willow Lake, Ipswich-Bowdle, Kingsbury County, Milbank Area, Sioux Valley, Webster Area, Sisseton and Tiospa Zina each placed in the Harrisburg Tournament on Saturday.
Summer Guthmiller of Sioux Valley (30-3 at 132) and Brooke Grajczyk of Webster Area (23-5 at 138) each won division titles. Dani Batchelor of Clark-Willow Lake (107) and Vi Anderson of Sisseton (120) each took second.
In the first-ever Sioux Valley quad on Tuesday, the Cossacks went 2-1. They defeated Canistota 30-18 and Webster Area 36-12 and lost to Viborg-Hurley/Irene-Wakonda 30-24. Webster Area beat Canistota 24-18 and lost to VH/IW 42-6.
Anne Field (114), Skyler Virchow (120) and Guthmiller (132) each won three times for Sioux Valley. Grajczyk (138) was 3-0 for Webster Area.
Follow Watertown Public Opinion sports reporter Roger Merriam on X (formerly known as Twitter) @PO_Sports or email: rmerriam@thepublicopinion.com
This article originally appeared on Watertown Public Opinion: Area high school gymnastics and wrestling highlights for Jan. 29-Feb. 3
